Home Style Southern Corn Pudding

Max, what finally converted you to keeping Drunken Raisins on hand? Could it be the pickup nibbling a couple of iron-rich Drunk Raisins? I keep mine right above the stove so they are handy anytime I want a snack.

Recently I had a terrible Corn Pudding at a pot luck dinner. It was thin, runny and obviously made with a can of corn. I know that puddings are usually soft, but Corn Pudding, at least where I grew up, is dense and has little filler between the kernels of corn.

I suspect that Corn Pudding originated as a way to use fresh corn after it got a little tough for eating off the cob. At any rate, the old fashioned kind always had a slightly chewy top.

The secret to real Southern Corn Pudding is using fresh corn and scraping the milky part off the cob. That makes a thick binder of the milk part. When you make it with just plain corn kernels it isn’t thick, and even canned creamed corn won’t substitute satisfactorily.

Through the week, we had corn on the cob, or pan fried corn every day. On Sunday Corn Pudding would appear on the menu as a change of pace. It was also a staple on picnics as it was easy to carry and was good at room temperature.

Corn Pudding:

2 cups corn, cut from the cob
1/3 cup sugar
½ tea spoon salt
2 eggs, beaten
Scant 2 cups rich milk, or evaporated milk
3 tablespoons melted butter
½ teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
1 green or red pepper, cut into rings, Optional

Cut the corn off the cob with a downward slice. Then take your sharp knife and scrape all the remaining pulp into the bowl. (It is this lack of corn pulp that makes Corn Pudding made with canned or frozen corn not the real thing.) Beat the eggs and milk with a whip. Add the butter and corn pulp and stir well.

Butter the insides well of a 1 ½ quart casserole like the Corningware French Casserole. Sprinkle the nutmeg on top. Top with thin pepper rings if desired. They are mostly for color.

Bake at 350 for 35 to 45 minutes. A clean knife inserted in the pudding should come out clean and the top should be golden. The kernels on the top are supposed to be slightly chewy.

This makes 4 to 6 servings.