I’ve always thought that there were only two right ways to cook corn on the cob: to either steam it or to grill it. But, boy, was I wrong. There is a third way, which might be even better: cover the corn in butter.
It’s easy to make butter bath corn, but that’s not why people do it. It makes corn on the cob that is soft and a little bit sweeter, with a taste of milk and a buttery bite. It’s like corn on the cob, but with a little something extra, and you should start making it.
Besides corn, you only need three things. (If you count water, it’s four.) Milk, butter, and salt are those things. You can either break the corn in half or leave it whole. You decide.
Get a pot, which can be a Dutch oven or a smaller pan, and fill it halfway with water.Bring it to a boil, then add a cup of milk, a large pinch of salt, and a whole stick of butter. Then add your corn.
Turn down the heat so that nothing is boiling too quickly, and let the corn cook for eight minutes. You don’t have to cover it or do anything else… just wait. And in less than ten minutes, you’ll be able to eat a sweet, soft ear of corn. Don’t wait as long as I did to boil corn in butter.