[Sca-cooks] Soupe du jour -- nota bene
marilyn traber 011221
phlip at 99main.com
Tue Dec 20 19:02:39 PST 2005
> Well, okay. Thanks!
>
> I knew the canned stuff didn't have the same proportions of the kind
> of stuff I'd put in "creamed corn" or "creamed anything else" if I
> were making The Real McCoy, but I didn't realize those things would
> be totally absent. And I still think the sugar makes a big difference.
>
> SWMBO came home and ate the soup without complaint. I asked if it
> was all right, and she said, and I quote, "Hey, what do I know
> about barbarian food?"
>
> Adamantius
I think you're confusing the classic French recipe with what New World
farming types do. I strongly suspect that you may never have had truly fresh
corn in your life- it's not something that urban folks get, since corn
noticeably loses a considerable amount of its freshness within an hour of
picking- it's even noticeable after 15 minutes or so. Most city folks are
lucky to get corn less than a day or three old.
The original "recipe" that the canned stuff is attempting to imitate, is
fresh ears, the kernals immediately cut off the cobs and heated in its own
milk and eaten. Because the canned stuff is also relatively old, the canners
attempt to imitate the delectable fresh corn by adding the starch, water, and
sugar, then cooking in the canning process.
Fresh sweet corn is very sweet- even the not-so-sweet varieties are sweeter
than what most urban types are used to getting, because once picked, the
kernals immediately start converting the sugars to starch. Country folks
talking about boiling the water, going into the garden, picking the ears, and
stripping tham on the way back and dumping them into the boiling water aren't
kidding- the quick immersion in the hot water stops the conversion process,
and you lucky diner gets corn almost as sweet as candy.
You're a chef, not a farmer, oh beloved UUY ;-) Some things just don't
translate into the big city ;-)
Phlip
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