Skillet Fried Corn

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It doesn’t have to be fried in bacon grease, but seriously, it gives everything a killer flavor! Even Jenny Craig would wince with a once over of this classic southern recipe.

6-8 ears fresh sweet corn
6 slices of bacon
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 tablespoon sugar
salt and black pepper (coarse ground or from a pepper mill) to taste
Cook the bacon in a skillet until crisp. Remove from heat and drain, reserving about three tablespoons of rendered bacon fat. Cool bacon, crumble and set aside.
While the bacon is cooking, shuck the ears of corn and remove the silk.
Hold the ears upright and shave the corn kernels off the cob with a sharp knife. (If you do this on a clean kitchen towel, the kernels won’t go flying around all over the counter.)

Over a bowl, use the back of the knife to scrape the cobs and release the bits of milky juice left after the kernels are removed.
Put the corn in the bowl, sprinkle with sugar and mix well.
Return the reserved bacon fat to the skillet. Turn the heat to medium high, add the diced bell pepper and sauté for 2 minutes.
Add the corn and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring the corn and scraping the bottom of the skillet regularly to bring the darker, browned kernels of corn to the top.
While corn is cooking, add salt to taste and grind in black pepper. The more pepper the better, according to some cooks.

Spoon into serving dish and top with crumbled bacon.

Yields 6 to 8 servings

Photo by Jacki Lee for jimmages