SC - maquechoux/smothered corn recipe

[Stefan li Rous]

Selene replied to my comments about my adventure is cooking smothered
corn with:

> Had you done it at my house, I would have offered my paella pan, which is about
> 18 inches across but the pan's thickness helps distribute the heat pretty
> evenly.  It is the only pan in which I'll cook rice while camping anymore, so it
> would probably work well for this recipe too.  In the meantime, two overlapping
> widths of Al foil would have done you just fine in lieu of a lid, just fold them
> into a 'french seam' and don't peek while cooking.

I should have guessed there would be a pan especially for cooking paella.

Actually my first skillet is a cast alluminum one about 3/16th to 1/4 inch
thick. The bigger one though is just stamped alluminum. But unlike the first,
it does have most of it's teflon coating left. :-)

Part of the problem with the foil idea is that you have to frequently
take off the lid, stir and then replace the lid. I had hoped to get some
of the house tidied up while this dish was cooking. No such luck. 

For those who might want to see this recipe, and because I have more time
tonight than last, here is the recipe:

> To: spca-wascaerfrig at egroups.com
> From: PBLoomis at aol.com
> Date: Sun, 29 Oct 2000 14:40:14 EST
> Subject: Re: [spca-wascaerfrig] pennsic chandlering
> 
> stefan at texas.net writes:
> > Huh? What is maquechoux/smothered corn?
>   
> From "Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen":
>     My mother cooked a lot of sweet or semisweet dishes.  One of these 
> was Corn Maguechoux, which we ate with rice and gravy.  Every Cajun 
> family has its own recipe for Maquechoux.
>     4 Tbs       unsalted butter
>     1/4 cup     vegetable oil
>     7 cups      fresh corn cut off the cob (about 17 ears), or frozen corn
>     1 cup       onion, chopped very fine
>     1/4 cup     sugar
>     1 tsp       white pepper    
>     1/2 tsp     salt
>     1/2 tsp     ground cayenne  
>     2-1/4 cups  stock (chicken, pork, or beef)
>     4 Tbs       margarine
>     1 cup       evaporated milk
>     2           eggs    
>     Makes 10-12 side-dish servings
> 
>     Cooking instructions as per Book.
> 
>     Scotti

I later prevailed upon Scotti to provide the directions. These are a lot more
complicated than I had assumed they would be from the ingredient list. And
I will be looking for Paul Prudhomme's book.
 
> 	"In a large skillet, combine the butter and oil with the corn, onions, sugar, white pepper, salt, and red pepper.  Cook over high heat until the corn is tender and starch starts to form a crust on the pan bottom, about 12 to 14 minutes, stirring occasionally, and stirring more as mixture starts sticking.  Gradually stir in 1 cup of the stock, scraping the pan bottom to remove crust as you stir.  Continue cooking 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the margarine, stir until melted, and cook about 5 minutes, stirring frequently and scraping pan bottom as needed.  Reduce heat to low and cook about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, then add 1/4 cup additional stock and cook about 15 minutes, stirring fairly frequently.  Add the remaining 1 cup stock and cook about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Stir in 1/2 cup of the milk and continue cooking until most of the liquid is absorbed, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat.
> 
> 	In a bowl combine the eggs and the remaining 1/2 cup milk; beat with a metal whisk until very frothy, about 1 minute.  Add to the corn, stirring well.  Serve immediately, allowing about 1/2 cup per person.
> 
> 	Lagniappe: It’s been my experience in dealing with starches and eggs in this type of recipe that you have to cook the hell out of one (starches) and leave the other alone.  The heat from the corn is ample to do everything necessary to the eggs to give the dish a rich, frothy texture.  -- Prudhomme
> 

This really was quite good. It did seem like that 1/2 teaspoon of Cayenne
Pepper was not going to go very far in all that corn. So I doubled it. That
was a bit too much. I used a mix of frozen nibblet and sweet corn.

The other two items I cooked for family Thanksgiving dinner were some
Oyster Dressing and period gingerbread.

I was originally looking at an Oyster Dressing recipe that someone on
this list
posted in the past, but it had ingredients I wasn't sure I could get. Then
I saw the recipe I used on a recipe card at the grocery. Conveniently stacked
next to the bin of iced, fresh oysters. :-)

I had originally made the gingerbread for a recent demo where I was doing
the New World/Old World food game. The game went over real well. Unfortunately,
the gingerbread was too soft and the balls slowly oozed into one big blob.
Even when I remade the gingerbread balls, they gradually oozed into individual
blobs. Boy was that a sticky affair. Luckily there was a restroom with
water to wash my hands off with nearby. While some were eaten, and
liked, 
I think the appearance disuaded others from trying them. I took them
home 
and melted them down in a pot again and added more bread crumbs. Then 
I rolled them in bread crumbs and cinnamon to make them less sticky. 
They were a lot better than before.

Then I went off and left them at home when we went to Thanksgiving
dinner. :-(

The first time I tried the gingerbread recipe, the stuff was as hard
as a rock after a few days. The next time, too soft. Maybe the next
time I will get it right.
- -- 
THLord  Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris             Austin, Texas         stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****