Oshkosh 2011: Something for Oshkosh

Photograph by Scott DeSimon

Am I the only person who hasn't heard of "cooler corn"?

As an obsessive food nerd, you'd expect that I would have

at least heard of it, but over the weekend I was blindsided

by the simple genius of this method for cooking loads of

corn on the cob (which is still in season, no matter that

summer already seems like a sad memory) perfectly.

I was hepped to it while visiting my family in Maine. Short

story: We like corn on the cob. And with eight adults at

the table, that means a couple of dozen ears. We would

have used the lobster pot to cook them all, but the lobster

pot was busy steaming lobster. (And please don't spell it

"lobstah". It's not funny.) Then my sister, a capable Maine

cook with years of camping experience says "let's do cooler

corn!" Before I can ask "what the hell is cooler corn?" a

Coleman cooler appears from the garage, is wiped clean,

then filled with the shucked ears. Next, two kettles-full of

boiling water are poured over the corn and the top closed.

Then nothing.

When we sat down to dinner 30 minutes later and opened it,

the corn was perfectly cooked. My mind was blown. And I'm

told that the corn will remain at the perfect level of doneness

for a couple of hours.

Turns out, Cooler Corn is pretty well known among the

outdoorsy set (I found a handful of mentions on various

camping websites). But for those of us who avoid tents as

much as possible, it's perfect for large barbecues and way

less of mess than grilling. In fact, I may even buy another

cooler just so I'm ready for next summer. Now that I'm in

the know.

Oshkosh 2011