RATTLE THOSE POTS & PANS / 10.02.08
Leigh Barnes comes from a long line of strong, somewhat eccentric Carolina women. And when she is making something dear to her heart and stomach in the kitchen of her Towson home – Southern goodies like pickled watermelon rind – she can hear their voices.
“My grandmother and her sister always said ‘tah-mah-tahs,’ for tomato,” said Barnes, who owns Companion Plantings, a gardening business. “One of their favorite recipes has a name I always thought was ugly – corn mush.”
Though it is late in the season, there is still about a week left for fresh Maryland corn, according to the folks at Baugher’s farm in Westminster. The Whole Foods Market on Fleet Street in the Inner Harbor expects to have corn on the cob for at least another week, maybe two.
“I think of it as ‘labor of love corn’ and it’s one of my dishes that my kids love,” said Barnes, a native of Charlotte, N.C., who landed in Crabtown the year the Beatles played Ed Sullivan. “They are always happy when I make it.”
The traditional “mush” is served in small bowls with a slice of ham. Barnes’ homage to her adopted hometown is to add a crab cake and a thickly sliced garden tomato. There’s always a simple secret to these family recipes, that little thing that may not be obvious to the eye but is revealed in the eating.
“With corn mush, it’s all about NOT cutting the whole kernel off the cob – just the insides of each,” said Barnes, who has begun writing essays about her family’s traditions.
One of Barnes’ favorite writers is a fellow Southerner, the Mississippi legend Eudora Welty. In her 1943 collection of stories – “The Wide Net” – Welty describes the rich and unpretentious pleasures of Dixie cuisine.
Welty, who died this past April at age 92 and is buried in Jackson, Mississippi, will live forever through her stories. Barnes is not so sure about the future corn mush in her family.
“It is time consuming and I am the only one of my siblings who makes it,” she said. “The daughter of an old friend emailed me from California for the recipe – she remembers fighting with her brothers and sisters over the last bits in the bowl.
“But my kids all know how to make it and I find that as they years go by, they are getting more and more nostalgic.”
Carolina corn mush
For five to six servings
- Shuck 12 to 14 ears of fresh, mature corn on the cob. Remove silk.
- Holding cob in palm of your hand, use the point of a sharp paring knife to slit the center of each row of kernels, exposing the “meat” inside the kernels.
- Use dull side of blade to scrape corn meat into a deep bowl. To avoid splatter, set bowl in sink.
- To get every last shard of corn “essence,” scrape upward on the cob as well. Important: Do not cut kernels from the cob — only remove what is inside.
- Place scraped corn into a heavy pot with a hearty dollop of butter. Bring to simmer on medium-high heat. With silicone spatula [Cuisipro makes a good one, $11.95 through Amazon] mix mush as it heats.
- Cover pot, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Make sure corn doesn’t stick to bottom of pan. Thin with milk or cream if necessary. Salt and pepper to taste.
