In this Maque Choux recipe you’ll find a flavorful way to prepare your sweet corn this summer. In this recipe you will add the ‘holy trinity’ of vegetables (onion, bell pepper and celery) to sweet corn. Sautéing with the fat from bacon or sausage which will add a layer of flavor to your dish. When you add a poblano pepper to this, you will be adding a little heat, not much. This will allow you to keep the dish more suitable for a variety of palettes.
What is Maque choux?
Maque choux is a traditional dish from the Creole and Cajun styles of cooking. Typically made by sauteing fresh corn with other vegetables. Many versions add pork or shrimp to the dish to make it a more complete meal. Most agree that this dish is a blend of Native American and French Acadian settlers including some influences from the Caribbean. Served as a side dish or spooned over rice, maque choux highlights sweet summer corn in a flavorful, gently spiced preparation.
Maque choux (pronounced “mock shoe”) This is a French slang term from South of Louisiana. Some believe that this may be a slang term adapted from a Native American possibly from the Atakapa or Choctaw languages for a sauteed corn dish.
You’ll find a layered flavor profile for this dish. What do I mean? You’ll find many flavors in this dish without one being overly intrusive.
Sweetness: which comes from sweet corn. You’ll find that this is a main flavor in this recipe.
Salty: which comes from bacon or sausage and salt and pepper.
Heat: which comes from poblano pepper.
Smokey: which comes from bacon or sausage and smoked paprika.
This dish will pair nicely with a maple thyme chicken recipe you can find here.
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Remove the husks and de-cob the corn.
- Using the back of the knife run it along the cob to 'milk' the cob. Set aside.
- This is the results from triming and milking the cob.
- Cut the bacon into small pieces, set aside.
- Dice the peppers, cellery and set aside.
- Cut up the onion/shallots, set aside.
- In a 12 inch skillet or Dutch oven heat over medium heat and add bacon. Fry until crisp. Remove bacon from pan and set aside.
- Add poblano, bell peppers and celery to fry pan and sauté the vegetables. Deglaze the pan with vegetables for about 4-5 minutes while scraping the pan.
- To the pan add salt, pepper and shallots/onions and continue cooking for about 2-3 minutes.
- To the pan add chicken/vegetable stock and the corn and the milked part of the corn. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes
- Add salt, pepper and butter as needed.
- Return the bacon to the pan and simmer uncovered for a few minutes to get the consistency you like. About 3-5 minutes.
- Remove from heat. Add cream and stir toughly.
- Remove from heat and serve. Bon Appetite!
