Number One

Quick. No thinking: what's the number one crop in the United States? Betcha you got it wrong. It's not wheat. It's corn. By several factors. Yup, corn.

It may surprise you, but remember, I didn't say what crop produces the most "food." Think of corn oil, corn syrup, corn starch, corn meal, and also keep in mind that corn is a major food crop for animals. So that corn on the cob that you had in the summer and miss right now, is merely a fraction of the corn crop every year.

In fact, that corn on the cob is considered "green corn," or "unripe corn." when corn is ripe, it's hard, almost indigestible without help ( we know the preparation as posole), and really does not look very pretty.

Now I'm writing this as someone who , in a very unamerican way, does NOT LIKE CORN ON THE COB. I could eat six ears of it, and need to go back and eat pasta in order to feel like I've eaten. It just does nothing for me. Maybe it's the Italian side. There's no corn on the cob in Italian cooking, and I can't really think of a recipe in any European cuisine that does. But it doesn't mean that I don't like corn. Polenta, corn tortillas, posole, yup, love em all. I'm going to be exploring the uses of corn, other than cob, niblets, and cream for the rest of the week. Wanna come along?

Let's start with an underappreciated ingredient: corn STARCH. You probably have a box of it in the cupboard somewhere, and I would suggest you immediately dump it and get a new box. It's probably rancid. If you've used it at all, you've probably used it as a thickener, and indeed, it does an excellent job in thickening fruit liquids for pies, or in thickening milk for custards and that kind of thing. I'm going to suggest that you use it the way you would use flour: not to make bread, but as a coating.

If you eat a lot of "Chinese food," and especially if you eat a lot of FRIED Chinese food, you're eating cornstarch. "How do they get this pork so crisp?" It's the cornstarch. Again, think of corn fritters, corn tortillas, corn chips, and you'll see: corn fries to a lovely crunch. So, let's use it to coat something.


How about fish? Well, yes, that sounds like a good idea. I knew you'd like it. Mix equal amounts of white flour, and cornstarch in a bowl, and add a good pinch of salt. If you like spicy, add some cayenne pepper or something like that, too, but you don't have to.

I used cod to do this. The nice thick firm pieces were a good contrast to the crispy coating. I simply coated the fish fillets in the mixture, and then put them into a pan of hot oil. I cooked them for five minutes on one side, and then turned and finished them for another three on the other, drained them on paper towels, and BAM. Dinner was ready. With some spicy Thai dipping sauce, spinach and mustard greens, and rice, there was dinner.

Some hints. Fish can be hard to turn in a pan, and the bigger the piece, the harder it is. If your fish is longer than, say five inches, cut the pieces in half. Also, and this is very important. Make sure your oil is very hot before you put the fish in . A good way to tell is to drop a teaspoon or so of the flour/cornstarch mixture in, and see if it browns fast and sizzles. If it's not good and hot, your fish will stick to the pan, making it harder to turn.

Ok, I KNOW you like fried fish. And this is so tasty, you should make it often. Well, maybe not THAT often. It IS fried you know.

Tomorrow? We're going to visit posole. And you'll be glad we did