Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and it’s time to start taste-testing possible side dishes. Of course you need a turkey or ham or even a Tofurkey — but what does the aspiring Retro-Chef serve to go with?
Let’s try some Corn Pudding!
AuthorRetroRuth
From Newspaper Clipping, 1965
Tested Recipe!
[cooked-sharing]
Cut the kernels from the corn and then scrape all the milk and pulp into the bowl. Or: Open can and pour into a bowl. Add beaten egg yolks, milk, sugar, salt, bell pepper pimiento, flour, melted butter, and mix well.
Fold in the well-beaten egg whites. Bake at 325 degrees in a buttered casserole for 1 hour or until pudding is set.
Ingredients
Directions
Cut the kernels from the corn and then scrape all the milk and pulp into the bowl. Or: Open can and pour into a bowl. Add beaten egg yolks, milk, sugar, salt, bell pepper pimiento, flour, melted butter, and mix well.
Fold in the well-beaten egg whites. Bake at 325 degrees in a buttered casserole for 1 hour or until pudding is set.
Notes
This recipe was clipped and saved from the newspaper. Do you remember when newspapers had recipes?
(Do you remember newspapers?)
I really like dishes that involve brightly-colored vegetables stirred into something — they’re just so darn pretty. (And usually healthy and tasty, but definitely pretty.)
Mixing it up, though, things got weird. The flour and sugar stuck to all the vegetables, and didn’t incorporate evenly with the milk or butter. I was expecting a sort of cake batter, and was stirring a loose pudding with lots of goopy chunks in the bottom.
Folding in the egg whites made the loose pudding part fluffier, and the goopy chunks still sank to the bottom.
Regardless, I poured it all into a casserole dish and threw it in the oven and hoped.
It needed 75 minutes to cook enough that it wasn’t sloshy in the middle.
“It looks terrific. Wow, it’s got two different layers, is that cornbread on top?”
“Uh… I don’t think so, actually.”
“Argh, oh, aaaah!”
“Well, I didn’t expect it to be that bad, did you even have time to taste—-”
“Not flavor, hot! Aaaaooow…”
The puffy top layer was edible, but the vegetables underneath were still incredibly hot. Once it had cooled, he tried again.
“Hmm. Vegetables and corn pudding. Needs pepper.”
Verdict: Unremarkable and a little strange.
From the tasting notes:
Tasted like corn pudding with slight favors of green peppers. Couldn’t really get any pimiento flavor. The different layers were a little strange (and probably not correct).
Pimentoes don’t have much flavor, do they? they were probably added just for color. (I like the corn pudding made with a box of Jiffy cornbread mix and I think adding green and red peppers or a can of Mexicali corn would be a nice version.)
There’s a little bit of flavor, but it wasn’t noticeable in this much corn.
(Great site, BTW!) I periodically grieve the loss of the newspaper over our weekend breakfasts. But then, the real department stores have gone on to retail heaven, so I guess there’s no point.
I think they might have screwed up the way this recipe was written. Being a Southerner, I think what they meant was to cut the tops off of the corn kernels (this takes a little practice and a pretty sharp paring knife- or a whole bunch of corn), then you can scrape the milk and pulp out of the kernels that have remained attached to the cob. If the whole kernels are cut off there’s nothing left to scrape out.
(There is a dish called “Fried Corn” made this way with a little bacon grease, a little milk, and a pinch of sugar- cooked down in an iron skillet that’s just out of this world. It’s what cream style corn ought to be. But I digress. Oh. ps The scraping is REALLY messy. If you can do it on the patio, you’re all to the good.)
I grew up on a similar recipe for corn pudding with minor differences and adored it. My mom & I could never get it quite like my grandmother’s. The flour in this one may serve a purpose (to thicken it), but I would take it slow, adding about a half teaspoon at a time, until the thickness feels right. I’m definitely going to try this! Maybe sift it in.
3 eggs beaten at #4 speed.
add
1 T grated onion
¼ C finely chopped bell pepper
2 T white sugar
2 T melted butter
2 cans cream style corn. (I think that csc is thinner than it used to be. Here, your recipe is vastly superior. 🙂 Is 6 ears enough?)
(I leave the pimento out because I hate it on general principles)
Mix. add
1 C scalded milk (The original recipe calls for 2 C, but it’s too wet, even after about an hour and 15 mins)
Pour into a buttered casserole and sprinkle with paprika.
Bake at 325 for 50 minutes or until mixture is set and a knife into the center comes out clean.
Apologies if this comment is too long. Corn pudding is just too wonderful to not be enjoyed so I felt compelled to try and fix it.