Boiled Corn

Ingredients

• 1 fresh corn with husk
• 50 ml water
• 2 g salt
• sugar

Method

Strip back the outer papery husks but leave the pale inner layers attached — they insulate the kernels and keep them tender during cooking. Place the whole ear in a wide pot and cover with cold water until the corn is submerged by roughly a centimetre. Add the salt and a pinch of sugar (about half a gram) to the water.

The salt raises the boiling point slightly and seasons the kernels evenly as they cook. The sugar amplifies the corn's natural sweetness without making it detectable as added sugar — this is simple-preparation done properly, not a disguise of technique. Bring the water to a rolling boil uncovered. Once bubbling, cover the pot and reduce the heat so the water maintains a gentle, steady simmer rather than a furious boil, which toughens the exterior before the starch at the centre softens.

Cook for 12–15 minutes. Test doneness by piercing a kernel with a knife; you want almost no resistance. The liquid should taste noticeably salty — if you can barely detect salt on your tongue, the corn won't taste seasoned. Overcooked corn becomes mealy and loses its vegetables|vegetable bite; undercooked corn stays starchy and bland. The line is sharp.

Once the kernels yield to gentle pressure, drain immediately and sit the corn on a board to cool slightly. Do not leave it in the cooking water, which will continue hydrating the starch and turn it to mush. If you're eating it at once, a small knob of cold butter melts into the seams between kernels and seasons better than salt sprinkled after cooking — the heat distributes the fat uniformly. This is a quick-preparation economical-cooking|economical breakfast or side that depends entirely on kernel ripeness and precise timing. A truly fresh ear will taste sweet without added sugar; an old one will taste like starch no matter what you do.