Fresh Creamed Corn

This is NOT your mama's can of creamed corn! Instead, it's Alton Brown's recipe for homemade creamed corn, full of summer-fresh corn sweetness and real corn kernels, accented with fresh rosemary or fresh lavender. This is absolutely gorgeous, a must-make recipe when summer's sweet corn is at its finest.

Fresh & Seasonal. Weight Watchers Friendly. Nothing Like Canned Creamed Corn.

~ Skip Straight to the Recipe ~

Family Talk at the Table

Families sometimes give special names to special foods and even not-so-special but favorite dishes.

• Alphabet Names: Ask for HMO when you’d like my friend Elise to cook up hamburger with macaroni and onions.
• Toddler Names: Ask for a poo-bah fafa in my family and you’ll get a peanut butter sandwich in my then-baby sister’s lingo.

As a kid, my personal Deluxe was mashed potatoes topped by creamed corn poured from a can, my mother’s attempt to extend leftovers with an incongruous air of haute. I loved that comfort-food combination of mashed potatoes 'n' creamed corn then. Truth be told, I still do!

Re-Discovering the Fresh Versions

As an adult, a cook and a foodie, however, I revel in re-discovering the fresh versions of vegetables today known in their less-than-fresh forms.

FRESH CREAMED CORN is n-o-t-h-i-n-g like the toothless stuff from a can. The kernels are plump and full of corn flavor. All on its own, no mashed potatoes required, Fresh Creamed Corn is a luxurious side vegetable, deluxe indeed.

Calling All Sweet Corn Lovers!

Who loves fresh sweet corn the most? Midwesterners? Southerners? I'm not sure but put me on the list and hey, I hope you'll add your name too. At A Veggie Venture, I collect all the corn recipes from both there and Kitchen Parade, check out all the Corn Recipes!

For quick meals, I just throw fresh corn kernels into salads and vegetable hashes and really, just about anything that emerges from my kitchen during July and August.

For easy weekday dinners, it's super-easy to just throw an ear or two into the microwave, Quick Microwave Sweet Corn or if the grill's hot, then this works too, Grilled Sweet Corn. There's even a microwave version of Fresh Creamed Corn, it's Microwave Summer Cream Corn.

But here are a few more ideas for corn lovers, recipes I won't let the season pass without making at least once!

• Summer's Best Corn Chowder
• Sweet-Corn Soup with Shrimp
• Fresh Corn & Tomato Salad
• Summer Corn Bread with Fresh Blueberries

---

FRESH CREAMED CORN

Garden luxury, straight to the table

Hand-on time: 20 minutes (mostly husking)
Time to table: 30 minutes
Makes about 4 cups (easy to halve or double or otherwise scale)

• 8 ears fresh corn

• 1 tablespoon bacon fat or butter
• 1/2 an onion, diced small
• Kosher salt to taste
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric (or curry powder, for color only so optional)
• 2 tablespoons yellow cornmeal (not stone-ground)
• Sprig of fresh rosemary or fresh lavender, optional
• 1 cup whole milk (see TIPS)
• Salt & especially pepper to taste

PREP THE CORN Leaving the stems on for handles, husk the corn (see TIPS). Then cut the kernels off the ears. (How? With one hand, hold an ear tip-down in center of a large bowl. With a knife, slice off swaths of corn kernels top to bottom.) When the kernels are off, "milk" the ear. (How? Use the knife’s dull edge to scrape the cob top to bottom on all sides, collecting remaining pulp and milk in the bowl (see RESOURCES).

COOK THE CORN In a large skillet, melt the bacon fat on medium til shimmery. Add the onion and cook gently til translucent (see TIPS). Add the corn and salt, cook for 2 – 3 minutes, stirring often, just until the liquid begins to cook off. Stir in the sugar, turmeric, cornmeal and rosemary or lavender. Add the milk and cook until the corn is soft, 2 – 3 minutes. Remove rosemary or lavender, then season to taste.

Serve and savor, immediately or if you like, make in advance and gently rewarm.

RESOURCES All that corn prep? To "husk" corn is to remove the outer inedible leaves and silk. Husking is a messy job, one best done on the back step or with newspaper lining the sink. I call the scraping technique "milking" the cob. It bumps up the sweet corn flavor. If step-by-step photos will help, check out How to Cut Corn Off the Cob, Keeping All Ten Fingers, Capturing Every Delicious Kernel and Every Drop of Sweet Corn "Milk".

ALANNA's TIPS The yellow cornmeal acts as a thickener but I suppose, a tablespoon of flour would work too. Unfortunately, the stone-ground cornmeal that makes the best cornbred just doesn't work, it's too coarse and grainy and isn't on the stove long enough to cook through. I've learned to keep both yellow cornmeal and stone-ground cornmeal on hand, they serve different purposes. Half & half may be substituted for milk but at least to my taste, cream is too rich. To gently cook onions until they’re translucent, without browning, is called "sweating". The leftovers reheat beautifully so don't hesitate to make a big batch. Leftover Fresh Creamed Corn will keep for several days.

NUTRITION INFORMATION Per Half Cup: 176 Calories; 4g Tot Fat; 1g Sat Fat; 4mg Cholesterol; 34mg Sodium; 33g Carb; 4g Fiber; 8g Sugar; 6g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS Old Points 3 & PointsPlus 5 & SmartPoints 6 & Freestyle 2

Adapted from Better Than Grannie's Creamed Corn from Alton Brown where cooks describe the recipe with words like "excellent" and "divine". This recipe has been "Alanna-sized".

---

For Local Print Readers

This is the last Kitchen Parade column to appear in print in my local papers, as the owners tighten their belts to face a weak economy. It’s been a thrill to write for you, to hear from readers touched by the stories or inspired by the recipes, to carry on the column my mom started nearly 50 years ago.

I thank you. And I thank Dwight and Don and all the staff at the papers.

But good news – new Kitchen Parade recipes will continue to be published here online at KitchenParade.com.

• First, I've already written nearly a year's worth of new columns.
• Second, I also publish online only recipes, family favorites like my Mom's Blueberry Coffeecake and Homemade Frozen Yogurt with Blackberry Sauce.
• Plus e-mail subscriptions are free, just sign up to receive recipes via e-mail. There’s no distinctive red bag but home delivery is free, just like the local newspapers.

Once you're subscribed, watch your InBox for more recipes with that special Kitchen Parade style: fresh and seasonal ingredients; classic recipes, though often with a twist and often simplified; real ingredients, especially pantry ingredients; an emphasis on getting supper on the table; recipes for family gatherings and special occasions.

Plus there are occasional extras, right now I'm thinking about How to Save Money on Groceries.

---

More Recipes for Summer's Best Sweet Corn

(hover with a mouse for a description; otherwise click a photo to view the recipe)

~ more corn recipes ~
from Kitchen Parade

Quick Corn in the Microwave
Grilled Corn with Chipotle Lime Browned Butter
Warm Tomato, Corn & Okra Salad
~ more corn recipes ~
from A Veggie Venture, my food blog about vegetables

---

More Easy Summer Vegetable Recipes

(hover with a mouse for a description; otherwise click a photo to view the recipe)

~ more vegetable recipes ~
~ more salad recipes ~
~ more summer recipes ~

---

Recent Favorites from A Veggie Venture

~ Seared Radicchio, deliciousness in 10 minutes flat ~
~ Weight Watchers Zero Point Italian Soup ~
~ Rhubarb Pizza, better than it sounds! ~

If you like Kitchen Parade's recipes, you'll love A Veggie Venture, my food blog about vegetables with more from-scratch recipes using whole, healthful ingredients, home to the famous Alphabet of Vegetables and vegetables in every course, seasonal to staples, savory to sweet, salads to sides, soups to supper, simple to special.

---

Shop Your Pantry First

(helping home cooks save money on groceries)

~ corn recipes ~
~ cornmeal ~

~ All Recipes, By Ingredient ~
~ How to Save Money on Groceries ~

---

Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

---

© Copyright Kitchen Parade 2008, 2010 & 2019