A Buttery Milk Bath Is The Southern Secret To Perfect Corn On The Cob

In Southern kitchens, everything is soaked in comforting, heart-warming flavors, even if it's corn on the cob that ends up on your plate. Through the cuisine's masterful utilization of simple ingredients, this summertime staple becomes steeped in richness and aroma — a notch above the simple, fresh sweetness you've come to expect from it. The secret is not to settle for plain water during boiling, but also fill the pot with milk, slip in a generous pat of butter, and let the simmering heat do its thing. Yes, it's a little different from the dish you're familiar with, and an even further stretch from grilled corn on the cob, and yet, it's still irresistible all the same.

Milk and butter never disappoint, especially when you simmer them with corn on the cob. Delicate layers of flavors wrap around every tiny, sweet kernel: The milk's mellow sweetness, the butter's rich, subtly salty tone, and a velvety finish that enthralls the taste buds. And that's only the start. You can always get a bit more creative and add other ingredients — herbs, spices, and condiments — for little nuances that make the corn even more outstanding. The fat in the milk carries all those right into the kernels, infusing your corn from the inside out and melting the flavors right onto the tip of your tongue.

A buttery milk bath for your corn cobs starts with boiling water, followed by milk and butter. Six corn cobs usually call for about 1 cup of milk and one stick of butter, and possibly a pinch of salt or brown sugar for extra flavoring. Once the heat has been reduced to a medium simmer, throw in the corn cobs, and cook for roughly five to 10 minutes until they have softened. Remove them from the liquid (which you can save for a chowder or cold corn soup), and serve immediately with a slather of butter.

Branching beyond the baseline recipe, there are plenty of ways to have fun with your butter bath corn. Inspired by elotes (Mexican street corn), sprinkle chili powder, cumin, and lime juice, plus add mayonnaise into the simmering pot. Then, cover the corn cobs with cojita cheese and freshly chopped cilantro when you serve them. Hot honey is another delightful twist that's also very simple to make, requiring only an extra half a cup of honey and some red pepper flakes. During game days, try hot sauce and beer for flavor-packed companions to those chicken wings. You can also swap out the plain water for chicken broth to lace a savory undertone into the dish, or switch from 2% milk to whole milk for extra richness. And since you already have the butter, a garlic butter twist with smashed garlic and fresh herbs just makes perfect sense, doesn't it?