How do I cook corn on the cob?

Sweetcorn starts converting its sugar to starch the moment it is picked, so freshness dominates everything. A cob bought in the husk from a farm shop in August and cooked the same day needs almost nothing done to it; a cob that has travelled needs a method that adds flavour back.

Step by step

1. Buy well and use it fast.Husks green and tight, silks soft and pale gold rather than dry and black, and the cob heavy for its size. Press a kernel through the husk — it should be plump and burst slightly. Cook it the day you buy it if you can, and keep it in the fridge in the husk until then.
2. Boil it briefly in unsalted water.Strip the husk and silks, drop into a large pan of unsalted boiling water and cook four to six minutes — five is usually right. Salt in the water toughens the kernel skins. A spoonful of sugar or a splash of milk in the water is a common addition and does help older corn.
3. Or griddle it for the best flavour.Husked, brushed with oil, on a hot griddle pan or barbecue for 8–10 minutes, turning every couple of minutes until charred in patches all over. The direct heat caramelises the sugars and it is by a distance the best-tasting method.
4. Or roast it in the husk.Leave the husk on, pull off any loose outer leaves, and roast at 200°C for 25–30 minutes, or put it straight on a barbecue. The husk steams the corn in its own moisture and comes away easily, silks and all, once cooked.
5. Or microwave it, which is genuinely good.Whole in the husk, three to four minutes per cob on full power. Let it stand a minute, cut off the base end, and the cob slides out clean with the silks left behind in the husk. Fast, tidy and it retains flavour well.
6. Season after cooking, not before.Butter, flaky salt and black pepper is the standard for a reason. Lime, chilli, smoked paprika, grated hard cheese and coriander is the Mexican street corn direction and works beautifully with a griddled cob.
7. Strip the kernels if you want them off the cob.Stand the cooked cob upright in a wide bowl, or on an upturned small bowl inside a large one, and run a knife down the sides. The bowl catches the kernels instead of scattering them across the kitchen.

Tips

• Frozen sweetcorn is picked and frozen within hours, which often makes it sweeter than a fresh cob that has spent three days in transit. It is not a poor substitute.
• Do not throw the stripped cobs away — simmered in milk or stock they make an excellent base for a corn chowder.
• Baby corn is a different vegetable in practice, harvested immature, and wants a quick stir fry or a brief steam rather than boiling.
• Corn holders or two forks stop the burnt fingers. A hot cob holds heat for a surprisingly long time.

Common mistakes

• Boiling for fifteen or twenty minutes — It is a hangover from much starchier field-corn varieties. Modern supersweet corn is ready in five and goes chewy well before ten.
• Salting the cooking water — Salt firms the kernel skins and makes them tough. Salt the butter instead.
• Buying husked corn on polystyrene trays and keeping it for days — The sugar has been converting to starch since it was picked. Corn is one of the few vegetables where a day genuinely matters.

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