You Don't Need Any Dairy To Make Fried Corn Super Creamy

Fried corn is a beloved Southern side dish — a flavorful concoction that's not deep-fried (though you can certainly fry whole corn cobs this way), but rather softened and cooked in a pan or skillet. Most recipes call for at least one source of fat: butter. And are we surprised? Butter makes the world go round in countless recipes when you need to bring out flavors, brown ingredients, and add a touch of creaminess. When it comes to fried corn, however, dairy is not a vital element. Fresh corn provides its own plant-based, dairy-like ingredient. 

Enter corn milk: a starchy liquid that's embedded in a fresh corn cob. Luckily, extracting corn milk is fairly simple. After you've cut the kernels from your corn cob, continue scraping the cob with the back of a knife or a spoon to extract the remaining liquid. When raw, corn milk will appear watery and thin. To bring out the thickness in this aqueous type of starch, it's crucial to apply thorough heat that exceeds 140 degrees Fahrenheit. This allows the starch particles to enlarge, and you'll be left with a fried corn that's smooth and velvety, yet completely dairy-free.

Once you've discovered corn milk, you'll find yourself looking for ways to incorporate it into every dish imaginable. For a tasty batch of fried corn, stir it with fresh corn kernels, salt, and pepper over medium-high heat until the kernels are soft and juicy. To further thicken your fried corn, you can also whisk some cornstarch and water in before throwing the slurry into your skillet. The magic of corn milk, however, doesn't stop there. Try scraping the "milk" from your corn cobs — as we mentioned above — and steep that liquid, along with the corn cobs, in a pot of water and aromatics. What do you get? 

A milky, corn-based stock that miraculously has no dairy to it. Use it for corn chowder, a more flavorful corn risotto, or to bulk up the starchy taste of cornbread. You can also use corn milk to make ice cream or a refreshing, dessert-like drink. To do this, steep the corn cobs and freshly extracted corn milk with a dash of sugar and your preferred variety of milk, be it regular dairy, coconut, or almond. You can even add corn milk to iced coffee for a sweet boost! We're not reinventing the wheel, here. Countries across the world, ranging from Vietnam to Guatemala, have harnessed the flavor of corn for sweet drinks. We think it's time to follow their lead.