the best corn on the cob

My advice to you that in starting out in making butter, follow the K.I.S.S method(keep it simple, stupid) You can do this by just using a mayo jar or similiar with a tight fastening lid. This site has pretty good instructions on how to accomplish this:
http://www.crowsdairy.com/class%20activity.htm

Also, if you can, no matter what method of butter-making you attempt, make pals with a dairy farmer and get fresh cream from them if at all possible. You can use the Heavy Cream from the grocery ailse, but it really doesn't match up to fresh from the farm.

I have two butter churns. One is a smaller DAZEY Glass Churn, that has small paddles. My other one is a Dash style churn, that holds 8 gallons of cream. It's a wooden heirloom one, brought over from Ireland by my great-great-great-great -great grandmother in the early 1800's. I've used it a couple times, but it is a huge amount of work, but actually does the best. It's more of a decorative item in my home now.

As far as longetivity of butter, tradition has it that if you store it in a very strong salt brine, you may keep it up to a year. Mine, however has never had the chance to test that theory, we use it up lickety split. Here's a rather neat site taken from an 1800's cookbook on buttermaking:

http://www.geocities.com/Nashville/6000/butter.html

Hope this gives you a good start!

Hi Emily in Paris:
By the way, I love that movie Amelie that's
set in Paris... I wonder if that Greengrocer in the movie had corn in his market??? Prob. not.
I grew up on Cape Cod and we had amazing corn every summer, grown by a guy in East Falmouth called Tony Andrews. My mom still goes to "tonyandrews" for corn each year.
My Dad always cooks corn on the cob in a big pot of boiling water with sugar and a splash of milk in it. (????i know, odd) But always delicious corn, which we ate with the little corn on the cob yellow plastic poky things stuck in each end with tons of butter and salt and pepper.
I moved to Oregon many years ago and all I ate the first month I lived here was corn on the cob. Out in the Hood River Valley the Corn is just simply fantastic! I have cooked it by boiling it and grilling it with and with out the husk ( i agree with Rick Bayless, that somebody mentioned in their post, that grilling IN THE HUSK is basically just steaming the corn.)
I have also wrapped it in foil and shoved it in the middle of a campfire, but that again really just steams it. ( good, though!)
Sometimes I cut fresh corn off the cobs and saute it and then make corn " stock" by simmering the cobs for a while ( corn chowder! yum)
I bet all this corn talk makes you want it BAAAAAD, Emily, I hope you can make up for not having corn by reveling in the wines,cheeses and breads that you can get in Paris that we cannot in the states!

quote:

Originally posted by redtressed

My advice to you that in starting out in making butter, follow the K.I.S.S method(keep it simple, stupid) You can do this by just using a mayo jar or similiar with a tight fastening lid. This site has pretty good instructions on how to accomplish this:
http://www.crowsdairy.com/class%20activity.htm

Also, if you can, no matter what method of butter-making you attempt, make pals with a dairy farmer and get fresh cream from them if at all possible. You can use the Heavy Cream from the grocery ailse, but it really doesn't match up to fresh from the farm.

I have two butter churns. One is a smaller DAZEY Glass Churn, that has small paddles. My other one is a Dash style churn, that holds 8 gallons of cream. It's a wooden heirloom one, brought over from Ireland by my great-great-great-great -great grandmother in the early 1800's. I've used it a couple times, but it is a huge amount of work, but actually does the best. It's more of a decorative item in my home now.

As far as longetivity of butter, tradition has it that if you store it in a very strong salt brine, you may keep it up to a year. Mine, however has never had the chance to test that theory, we use it up lickety split. Here's a rather neat site taken from an 1800's cookbook on buttermaking:

http://www.geocities.com/Nashville/6000/butter.html

Hope this gives you a good start!

Thanks for the info and links, redtressed. I was looking in to this a couple of weeks ago and came across the Gem Dandy churns: http://www.wisementrading.com/butterchurns.htm I think I read that the Dazey churns are no longer made. I'll try the mayo jar method first (minus the marbles - I lost all mine ).

I was having dinner at a restaurant recently and the meal was accompanied by a personal-sized skillet of fresh made cornbread (the best part of the meal, as it happened) and as I was unwrapping yet another packet of butter to slather on it I happened to think "Gee, this'd be even better with fresh butter." That must have come from some childhood experience, but I haven't been able to flesh it out.

I can remember a dash style churn and 'helping out' to make butter at least once (I'm sure I was a big help!). I think it was probably at an aunt and uncle's farm in the country - they didn't even have electricity. Their son still lives on the farm so I'll see if he knows whatever happened to that churn. I'm hoping to be able to get fresh cream from him.

My father's father ran a small dairy in the Houston Heights in the 20s and 30s, way before my time, so I'm sure there were churns in the family.

I'm sure it won't last long around here either if I make it, I was just wondering if it was a matter of a few days or so.

Thanks again!

I can remember my Dad telling about the best way to cook and serve sweet corn:

Have the water boiling. Go out to the garden (or cornfield, if you will). Pick what you need. RUN back toward the kitchen (if you happen to fall or drop an ear, forget it, go back and pick more). Husk the corn as quickly as you can, drop it in the boiling water and let the water come back to a full boil for three minutes (not a second more!). Then out of the pot and serve with butter and salt. That's it.

Of course since then, the plant breeders have developed improved varities whcih remain stable for a little longer, so I guess if you drop an ear, it's now ok to bend over and pick it up!

Wally