My All-Time Favorite Way To Make Corn on the Cob
While I used to simply pressure cook my corn on the cob and slather it with butter, I’ve found a new way to enjoy the summer veg. Trinidadian boiled corn is the most flavorful corn on the cob ever.
Living in the rural Midwest, corn on the cob is practically a food group for my family in the summertime. A few times a week, we get freshly picked ears of corn at our favorite farm stand and cook them the very same day.
Usually it’s simple–I like to pressure cook my corn on the cob and serve it plain because it’s so dang good–but a few years ago I came across a way of preparing it that’s unlike anything I’ve ever had before. It’s since joined our repertoire, and I make it with the season’s first corn.
A Traditional Recipe of the Caribbean
When I first read Alica Ramkirpal-Senhouse’s Trinidadian boiled corn recipe, I knew I’d have to make it myself. Alica’s recipes are always as full of heart as they are of flavor.
Unlike American corn on the cob, which is boiled and then topped with melting pats of butter, this Trini boiled corn is cooked in a rich broth of coconut milk enlivened with Scotch bonnet or habanero peppers, plus tons of herbs (most notably thyme) and garlic. As the coconut milk simmers and reduces, it creates a “butter” of its own. When my boyfriend and I eat it, we need piles of napkins because it’s so deliciously messy–I often have the ear I’m eating shoot right out of my hand since it’s so lubricated with good fatty broth.
The heat from the peppers cuts through the sweetness of the corn and the heaviness of the coconut milk. It’s such an intense sensory experience. When I clean up, I lick the pot clean of broth for dessert. It’s that good.
Alica’s Trini boiled corn uses the sweet corn you get in America, but she writes that in Trinidad and Tobago it would be made with tougher corn that needs to be boiled longer. “You won't find Trinidadian boiled corn at a restaurant. It is always made by a street vendor or at home. It’s common to find a pot of boiled corn at a casual get-together or a ‘corn man’ outside local Trinidadian festivals and parties serving up hot seasoned corn on the cob or corn soup (which is just what you’d need after a late night).”
Well, I’m sold. I keep on dreaming of a Caribbean vacation to Trinidad so I can get some of this corn.
How To Make and Serve Boiled Corn
I like to serve this with something to help soak up that luxurious broth, like Jamaican rice and peas or Alica’s Puerto Rican-style yellow rice and beans. We may do some jerk tofu on the side. But these things feel extraneous next to the boiled corn, which is really the main event.
When you cook the corn, you simmer it slowly with whole habaneros floating in the broth. I find it’s next level to mash the cooked peppers a bit before serving the whole thing so there’s more heat in there. I also use about double the salt, 1 teaspoon instead of the half teaspoon called for in the recipe. Since I buy my corn on the cob by the half-dozen, I make the recipe with 6 ears of corn, not just the 5 that the recipe calls for, and it still works great for me.
Save the Extra Broth!
Alica’s Trinidadian boiled corn is a recipe that keeps on giving. After you’ve devoured the corn itself, you’ll have extra broth. Save it! I freeze the extras and then thaw it to add in Caribbean rice dishes or improvised vegetable curries for a kick of flavor and fat.
If, unlike me, you’ve had Trinidadian boiled corn somewhere besides your own house in Ohio, I’d love to hear any differences or variations you’d like to share. And if you’ve never had it at all, grab some cans of coconut milk and expect to have your mind blown.
