Oil the Corn War Games Style
I have a summer tradition of screaming raw corn on the Internet . Raw corn is good and I think more people should be eating it, so every summer I just start screaming and posting this little blog I wrote a few years ago. This inevitably leads to a lot of speculation about corn, and this year someone sent me this clip from War Games (1983), a great movie that I once watched on videotape as a kid.
The funniest (and most appropriate) part is when my dad yells, “This corn is raw!” He takes a piece of soft white bread (regular bread at my kid’s dinner), butter it (actually, it’s probably margarine), then wraps it around a corncob and rotates the corn to cover it completely.
For decades now, I have eaten corn in many forms. I have never seen this particular oil methodology and I am in awe of it. But my editor-in-chief Joel told me that this is perhaps quite common in the Midwest; at least his maternal father and grandmother always used this butter on corn. I have to say that I approve. Not only is the corn completely buttered, but your hand remains clean and you have a piece of soft, buttered bread to wipe your plate with. It’s a great little system.
Of course, the butter needs to be soft for this, which means that you will either have to store it at room temperature or use some kind of prayer (which you can make yourself ). However, if you only have cold butter, you should hold the stick upright and rub the rows of gold kernels with it like glue, or (if you are using regular butter) cut a piece of butter from the stick and pierce it with a knife. with a fork and grate the corn. It is not as elegant as a whirlwind of bread, but it does the job.
Yes, and if you do plan on eating some raw corn — and you should — none of this applies. Simply remove the kernels from the cob, sauté a little oil in a skillet, and pour this hot, toasted butter over the cold crispy kernels. Season with salt on top if the butter is unsalted and eat.