Revisiting an old one: corn soup

Annalena has been keeping this blog since 2007, and hesitates to repeat herself; however, she will do so in the cause of a good recipe. The readership of this blog seems to be fairly constant, and likes to look at "what's new." I imagine that if folks are wondering "has Annalena ever cooked..." they will use the search function (which isn't very good, let me tell you), but otherwise, I think you all check in, see what's on this evil mind, and look at the blog for ideas on what to cook.

Am I wrong? I didnt' think so. And it is with that spirit in mind, that I turn to a repeat of a favorite: corn soup.

I make this recipe once a year, sometimes twice. It is one of the rare treatments of cob corn which Annalena can handle. I warn you ahead of time: this soup is SWEET in the way sweet corn is, only magnified. You may want to keep in mind something like bacon, or hot peppers, or that kind of thing to modify the sweetness.

It is in so many ways the apotheosis of the way I cook. The ingredients are minimalist to the point of "HUH???" Yet, you wind up with something that is so transcendantly good, you will not believe it. Come with me, and you will see.

Here is what you need: 10 ears of corn, three cups of water, and salt. There are your ingredients. I'm not kidding, that's it. You will also need a blender, and either a good colander, or a food mill. Now, let's get to work.

You need to get the kernels off of the corn, after you shuck it (now, let's review how to buy corn: do we tear open the husks at the market and toss aside what we don't like? NO... What we do is feel the corn, top to bottom, to make sure that it is full and even. Then, how do we bag our corn? We put it so that the cut end is up in the bag. Why? That end is sharp. You want to risk carrying a plastic bag with ten ears of corn in it tearing as you go home? Hmmmm?).

So you've shucked the corn and, as I have said, none of those kernel picking thingamajigs work. Get yourself a sharp knife and go down the corn. Do it slowly, to avoid the kernels hopping everywhere. After you've gotten the kernels off the cob, take the back of your knife, and run it up and down the cob. Look at all that white juice. Taste it. Pure corn sugar, huh? Now you know why you did it, and why it's going into the corn.

But first: take those cobs that you've shucked and taken the juice out of, and put them in a big pot with the water. Break the cobs in half if you need to (you probably will). Bring it to a boil, and let it simmer for fifteen minutes. Get rid of the cobs. Now, you have corn stock (you can do the same thing with pea pods by the way, getting peastock).

Put the kernels into this enriched liquid, and bring it to a slow boil, for about 10 minutes. Add some salt. Let it cool, and then puree it in batches in a blender. If it's looking too thick to you (it might), add more water.

What you have done is liberated the good stuff from the undigestable part of the corn. It's all still mixed together though, so now you pass it through the colander or food mill, and you have a slightly thick, lovely yellow (or white) soup that will be very, VERY sweet, but in a good way.

You will get a surprisingly small amount out of this. I got six cups of soup from mine. But it is an intense eat. I cannot imagine eating this any way but cold, but if you prefer, do warm it up.

The corn is still here, but for how much longer, we do not know. While the gettins' good, get yourself some corn, and make this soup. It may be your favorite soup, ever.