Sweet Kula Corn Pudding

By 1982

Southern
Chef Tylun Pang
Emeril Lagasse presented a classic Southern-style corn pudding. My recipe uses fresh, plump Kula corn. We stepped up the presentation by lining the muffin tins with the corn husks to create a mini cupcake serving. This recipe is understated! Try it and you’ll understand. --Chef Tylun Pang

Ingredients

• 6 ears fresh Kula sweet corn (or the freshest corn you can buy)
• 2 tablespoons finely diced
• Kula onions (or local sweet onions)
• 1 ⁄2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup milk
• 6 whole eggs
• 1 ⁄2 cup corn meal
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 ⁄4 teaspoon white pepper
• 1 ⁄8 teaspoon nutmeg

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Shuck the corn, saving the husks. Using a coarse grater, grate the corn kernels off the cob and into a bowl. Dice the onions. Grate the Parmesan cheese if you aren't using commercial pre-grated cheese.

Heat the butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Sautée the onions in the butter until they have softened; add the grated corn and continue to sautée on moderate heat for another 3 minutes. Put the cream, milk, eggs, and cheese in a mixing bowl and whisk together. Add this to the corn mixture, stirring constantly over low heat. Gradually add the corn meal, salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and continue cooking and stirring for another 11⁄2 minutes.

Spray a 6-cup muffin tin with non-stick spray and line the cups with the saved corn husks. The husks make natural muffin cups. Divide the batter evenly between the cups. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 20 minutes or until the tops are nicely browned and the centers of the muffins are no longer liquid. (Use a toothpick or paring knife to test.)