Southern Fried Corn
From the Kitchen of Deep South Dish
4 slices of bacon
10-12 ears of corn, shucked, stripped and scraped
(Silver Queen variety when possible)
1/2 tablespoon of granulated sugar
4 tablespoons of butter
About 1/2 cup of whole milk, half and half, or heavy cream
Fresh cracked black pepper, to taste
Salt, only if needed (taste first!)
Parsley, to garnish, optional
Cook the bacon to crisp; remove, chop and set aside, reserving the bacon drippings in the skillet. While that is cooking, clean the corn, except remove on the tops of the corn kernels. Then, using the blunt side of the knife, scrape the remaining pulp and milk from the cob. Sprinkle the kernels with the sugar; stir and set aside.
In the same skillet that you fried the bacon in, add all of the butter to the bacon drippings and melt over medium heat. Add all of the corn, pulp and juices, and about 1/2 tablespoon of the cream. Continue cooking over medium heat, stirring often, and adding just a splash of cream as the corn begins to dry, just enough to keep the corn just lightly moist. Continue cooking, stirring and turning the corn occasionally, for roughly 35 to 40, or until tender. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Turn the heat up to medium high and fry the corn until the corn begins to brown.
Transfer corn to a serving dish, crumble bacon on top and sprinkle with parsley, if desired.
Makes about 4 cups.
Substitute well-drained canned or frozen corn in this recipe - 3/4 cup of kernels is roughly equal to 1 ear. Allow frozen corn to thaw slightly before using it. Reduce the cooking time as you will not need to cook the corn as long if it is frozen or canned.
