Cooler corn

[Lee Borgersen]

    The Best Way to Cook Corn on the Cob for a Crowd?
 
                                  It's Cooler Corn!


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 blind-sided by the simple genius of this method for cooking loads of corn on the cob 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.
 
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  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.

[kenhuntin]

Great idea but I wonder if the boiling water would melt or warp the plastic so the cooler is shot. Has anyone had that experience?

[Lee Borgersen]

Great idea but I wonder if the boiling water would melt or warp the plastic so the cooler is shot. Has anyone had that experience?

Now you ruined the whole thing for all of us by trying to applying  commonsense. If you could just try this on your own cooler and report back to us, you would be our hero.

                                   

[Bobby Bass]

I don't think boiling water is goiong to hurt the cooler, needs to be hotter then that to damage the plastic. Can't remember when I have last eaten boiled corn, think it aways tastes so much better roasted in the husk on a grill or nuked in a microwave for a few minutes and left to steam itself. But might be something to try with the mother in laws cooler  just in case.