Corn-in-a-cup From Stephen’s Unorthodox Cookbook

Wednesday morning Haiku for you…

claims he eats like wren

while cooks spam from can superb

and that’s no bird seed!

Before Google

After Google

I’m a little late with this, and had intended on posting it in November but; if you follow my blog, you will remember it was a hectic time at our house then. 

Stephen was inspired to make corn-in-a-cup after having it at Jack-n-Grill in Denver.  I love corn and the name intrigued me, and then I realized that he really didn’t give measurements or directions for it.   I took the plunge, anyway, and whipped the dish together quickly and snapped a couple of photos.  How hard could cooking it be?   A cup of corn, some chile powder, hot sauce and parmesan, easy, easy and actually, pretty good. 

Then, I had second thoughts about it:

If you’re acquainted with Stephen’s blog, The Obsessive Chef, you’re aware of his colorful, entertaining writing and his cookbook is no different.  “Unorthodox” is the word that comes to mind!  I agree with Stephen though, it’s good to “think outside the box” when cooking and exact measurements aren’t needed most of the time, unless you are dealing with baked goods. 

What I’m trying to say is --- this is not your standard cookbook!  Stephen is a little long-winded and rants too; for example:  about the proper temperature for cooked pork.  He stated a blogger roasted herb-crusted pork loin to 165 degrees.  I am “old school” with my mother and Grandma lecturing me about cooking pork until no longer pink (Beware the danger of trichinosis ruining your intestines!)  Since that’s actually no longer a danger, Stephen says, the FDA lowered the temperature to 145 degrees.  I eat beef, as in a roast like prime rib, and hamburgers, and all steaks only until “warm” with the “bloody red juices” flowing; however, on the packaging for the pork loin roasts I buy, it says cook until thermometer reaches 160, which is what I do; we refuse to eat “pink” pork in this house.

Now, back to the corn and my second thoughts; I decided to Google “Jack-n-Grill” for the recipe.  The photo of it there looked nothing like my first attempt, so I made it again with the parmesan cheese sprinkled over the top, as in their photo.  It really made little difference taste wise, other than a tad more parmesan flavor, but I liked the texture better as the cheese wasn’t thoroughly melted in the corn.  In the end, Stephen’s right ~ cook it your way; experiment and have fun cooking!

Anyway, I think Stephen is a unique individual ~ he makes me laugh and sometimes he ticks me off too!   That’s what’s so great about him, you just never know!  You may not agree with everything he says, but you will have many laughs and maybe a rant or two yourself, if you read the Obsessive Chef’s cookbook, ACook’s Book for Cooks.   It’s filled with delicious creative recipes like this corn dish and like this lima bean dish and it may, or may not have a list of ingredients with exact measurements!

Here’s Stephen’s corn recipe:

Corn-in-a cup

You will need (per serving):

1 cup thawed frozen corn kernels or 1 cup canned, drained and rinsed corn kernels

1 Tbs butter

Hot sauce to taste

Chile powder to taste

Salt to taste

Parmesan cheese to taste

Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the corn.  Add the other ingredients and heat through.  The corn doesn’t really need to be “cooked,” just made hot.

I’ve been a “blogger friend” of Stephen’s for a long while so, believe me, you will be entertained with his remarkable cookbook ~ his wit and his “spicy” outlook on cooking and life in general!

And try this corn ~ it’s great!

Be sure to visit my friend, Linda’s blog @My Kind of Cooking for great tips, recipes.