Take a Sweet Bite Out of Summer with Chef Eric's Sous Vide Sweet Corn Recipe!
Sous Vide Sweet Corn
PREP TIME: 30 minutes | COOK TIME: 30 minutes | SERVES: 4
When faced with cooking anything it’s always a good idea to know your prey. It might have a culinary Achilles heel or, in this case, a sweet spot that can be exploited or avoided to get the best on your plate. When broken down a corn cob is studded with dozens of luscious sweet corn kernels and if we investigate even further we find that each kernel contains an endosperm which is mostly made up of sugar. How much sugar? Well, that depends on the variety of sweet corn. A curious thing though, when the ear is plucked from the stalk the cob deploys an enzyme which quickly converts the deliciously sweet sugar to starch which is why older sweet corn isn’t so sweet, and can be tough and mealy. The key takeaway here, regardless of how you prepare your corn - fresh-ah is bett-ah!
As boiling seems to be the standard in cooking sweet corn I have to say the Sous Vide method is just plain better. All that water, which does a great job in cooking the corn, also tends to dilute that beautiful corn sweetness and flavor. When the ears of sweet corn are vacuum packed, either seasoned or plain, the vacuum packing allows as much water as possible to cook the corn but the culinary key is that it also prevents the water from actually touching the corn leaving all that luscious summer flavor intact. All that delicious flavor stays in the corn waiting for someone like you to bite into it! Do yourself a favor, try it out now, right now, before the season passes you by!
Ingredients:
4 whole ears Sweet Corn, fresh, shucked, cleaned and trimmed if necessary
1/2 4 ounces unsalted butter, cut into cubes if cooking with the corn or melted and served in a small dish on the side kosher salt, ground fine, to taste
Directions:
1. Fill and preheat your sous vide container or stock pot with water (according to SV1 specifications) to 180°F (82°C) using your VacMaster SV1.
2. Place the prepared corn ears in one or multiple vacuum bags and make sure they are arranged in a single layer.
(Chef Tip: In addition to the corn you may add the butter cut into small cubes and salt to taste at this point and cook together. I originally cooked my corn in that manner but as time went by i found i preferred my cooked corn plain (i found it had a slightly more intense corn flavor) and would then paint on melted butter and season with the fine salt after cooking. Both ways are wonderful and truly the best way i can see to cook sweet corn at the height of the season.)
3. Using your VacMaster machine, vacuum and seal your pouches
4. Submerge sealed bag(s) in the preheated SV1 container and cook for 30 minutes
5. Carefully remove the pouch from the SV1 container and remove the corn.
6. Serve immediately with the melted butter and salt on the side.