Iron Skillet Southern Fried Corn

[Jherrith]

Iron Skillet Southern Fried Corn

Ingredients:

4 slices of bacon
10-12 ears of white, yellow or bi-color corn on the cob, shucked, stripped and scraped
1/2 tablespoon of granulated sugar
4 tablespoons of unsalted butter
Up to 1/2 cup of whole milk, half and half, or heavy cream, optional
Fresh cracked black pepper, to taste
Kosher salt, only if needed (taste first!)
Fresh herbs, such as parsley, to garnish, optional

Directions:

In a large cast iron skillet, chop bacon and cook to crisp; remove and set aside, reserving the drippings in the skillet. While that is cooking, clean the corn, except remove only 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 tablespoon of the cream. Continue cooking over medium low heat, stirring often and adding additional cream as the corn begins to dry, just enough to keep the corn slightly moist. Reduce to low and cook about 30 minutes, or until corn is tender. Add pepper and half of the bacon; taste and adjust for salt only as needed. Transfer corn to serving dish, crumble remaining bacon on top and sprinkle with parsley, if desired. Recipe may easily be halved.

Cook's Notes: Turn heat up to medium high at the end to brown, if desired. Substitute well-drained canned or frozen corn when fresh is out of season - 3/4 cup of kernels is roughly equal to 1 ear. Allow frozen corn to thaw slightly before using it and for canned or frozen, cook only until corn is heated through well.

Fiesta Corn: Prepare as above, except add 1/2 cup chopped sweet onion and 1/4 cup each green and red bell pepper with the bacon drippings. Omit milk/cream and add 1/2 teaspoon each chili powder and cumin.