This is one of those ‘tips and hacks’ that’s been dangling itself in front of us our whole culinary lives, but was missed. Maybe because it was too obvious! It’s a genius way to elevate any creamy sauce! And the more I think about it, the more I love it!
Let’s revv up the newstalgia engine for a moment, and check out an absolutely brilliant update/upgrade for creamed sauces of almost any kind…
A genius move…
It’s truly a genius move, and it’s potentially applicable to a wide variety of dishes that feature a thick, creamy sauce. It’s hard to describe what adding creamed corn to bechamel does for both the flavour and the texture…
An ‘EPF’?
Creamed corn may seem like an ‘Evilly Processed Food’ at first glance. But it’s really just puréed, cooked kernel corn. It’s naturally a bit sweet. And the canned kind may actually have sugar added. But it’s really easy to make your own! And, as a grain, it’s basically starchy, which means it will nat-urally thicken anything you add it to.
And if you haven’t already glomed onto this crucial fact – its flavour goes wonderfully with cheese!
Making your own…
There’s one notable challenge to making your own creamed corn. That’s eliminating the corn kernel skins. I start with a can of store-bought sweet corn kernels, or the same volume of frozen nibblets – fully thawed. They have to be soft for the food processor to properly grind them out.
After you’ve run the corn through a few good pulses in the processor, strain in a medium-screen sieve to separate the skins. Discard them, and shift your attention back to the pure white corn innards. Pulse a few more times until you get a fine, consistently textured purée.
How to add it
The source post for today’s tip/hack provides some invaluable insights into the incorporation of creamed corn into an existing sauce.
For Alfredo, the sauce should be prepared separately from the pasta – not the traditional way, where cheese(s) are combined with a splash of starchy pasta cooking water and some butter right in the pan with the pasta. “Melt butter in a large skillet. Stir in Parmesan cheese, Pecorino Romano cheese, heavy cream, garlic, salt, nutmeg, and black pepper. Bring to a simmer and stir frequently until it thickens. Once the sauce is thickened, pour in a 15-ounce can of creamed corn and stir to combine.”
Then add the pasta and combine gently until completely and evenly covered with sauce.
For other creamy sauces, I recommend making the Béchamel really thick, and diluting it to the desired creamy consistency with the creamed corn.
My take
All that being said… Do NOT make the cardinal error most folks commit when preparing Alfredo (or any cheese sauce, for that matter). For Alfredo, add a pinch or two of freshly grated nutmeg. For Béchamel-based sauces, add nutmeg and a pinch or two of dry mustard. You don’t want to actually taste either flavour – just ‘feel’ it in your taste buds…
~ Maggie J.