RECIPE : ROASTED CORN A LA NERO WOLFE

Carole Osterink ccSCOOP Editor ( Printer Friendly Version ) Early on, I perfected my way of cooking corn on the cob. I think I learned it from a Betty Crocker cookbook, but it was subtly different from the way everyone else cooked sweet corn, and that was enough to satisfy me. The first time I watched Nero Wolfe on A&E and heard the dictatorial foodie discourse on the proper way to prepare sweet corn, I dismissed it. After all, I was once married to a man who insisted, as Nero Wolfe does, that the proper way to prepare scrambled eggs takes 45 minutes.

But somehow, a few weeks ago, when I was about to cook an ear of corn for my solitary dinner, Nero Wolfe’s opinion of cooking sweet corn in water came thundering into my memory: “Millions of American women commit that atrocity every summer day. They are turning a superb treat into mere provender.” That, combined with the general panic about how we’re all going to be able to afford to heat our homes this winter, made me loath to bring a great vat of water to a boil on top of the stove while heating the oven to prepare the rest of my simple meal, so I decided to give Nero Wolfe’s technique a try.

Working from logic and memory, I carefully pulled back the husk and the removed the silk. Then I folded the husk back around the cob and secured it with a band of aluminum foil. String or twine would have done the trick, but I could find neither in my kitchen.

I recalled that Nero Wolfe said corn should be roasted in the husk “at the hottest possible temperature, in an oven, for 40 minutes.” That seemed excessive, so I opted for a preheated 425-degree oven for 20 minutes.

The result was memorable. The kernels were tender-crisp and worlds more flavorful than corn stripped of its husk and boiled or steamed. With the slightest slathering of butter and some salt and pepper, it was what the fictional detective and gourmet claimed it would be: ambrosia!