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| From Nola Cuisine Images – (reedited) |
Maque Choux (pronounced Mock-shoe) is creamy, rich stewed corn dish that is most certainly Cajun. The trick to good Maque Choux is using very fresh corn so that you can scrape the pulp and milk out of the cobs which will give the dish it’s distinctive creaminess.
I also like to add some Tasso as a seasoning meat for the pleasant smokiness that it adds to the dish. Bacon also works well, and by all means substitute Bacon drippings for the unsalted butter if you like. Here is the recipe:
Maque Choux Recipe
4 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
1/4 cup Tasso, finely diced
3 Ears of Corn
1/2 cup Onion, finely diced
1/4 cup Celery, finely diced
1/2 cup Green Pepper, finely diced
1 Tbsp Fresh Thyme leaves
1/8 cup Garlic, minced
1 Cup Tomato, diced
1/2 Cup Green Onions, finely sliced
Kosher salt, black pepper and Cayenne to taste
Cut the corn off the cobs using a very sharp knife. The trick is to cut about half way through the kernels, then go back and scrape the cobs with your knife to extract all of the milk into a bowl. Reserve the corn milk.
Melt the butter in a two quart sauce pan, add the Tasso and cook on medium-high heat until slightly brown. Add the corn, onion, celery, bell pepper, Thyme and a healthy pinch of salt and reduce the heat to medium. Cook stirring often for about 15 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.
Add the garlic, tomatoes, reserved corn milk and another pinch of salt. Cook for another 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the green onions, salt, black pepper and cayenne to your taste.
Serves 2-3.
Be sure and check out my Index of Creole & Cajun Recipes which provides links to all recipes featured on Nola Cuisine!
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My mom and aunts make delicious maque choux and always use fresh corn. I still love this site and, seriously, your photography is great.
I’m bookmarking this recipe. Thanks!
Beautiful.
I love cooking this dish–there are so many variations on it and its delicious–I eat it for breakfast when I have leftovers!
One thing you might want to experiment with is making a “dusting’ of a roux–i.e. after browning the meat, dust the butter/oil with some flour and cook it till it is mahogany colored, then add your trinity. I have done this a few times and it adds a nice complexity to the dish.
But then, there is a lot to be said for letting the vegetables do the talking.
Another great post Danno,
Thanks,
t.
Beautiful photography (as usual) and terrific recipe, also, by now, expected from this site.
One small correction, though, in your history of the dish.
It originated, not with the cajuns, but with southeastern American Indians, (in your neck of the woods, probably Choctaw),long before the arrival of the Acadians. It evolved, modified to taste, by the successive waves of “intruders” settling in an area.
My maternal grandmother, who was a Creek from the hills of northern Alabama (and never got south of Birmingham), made a virtually identical dish she called fried corn and tomatoes (to distinguish it from fried corn). Her fried corn was just fresh sweet corn (prepared by the same 2 – 3 cut and scrape method), bacon or salt pork drippings, a little cream, salt/pepper, and sometimes a little flour, if it didn’t thicken enough for her. It was cooked in a very hot iron skillet, and a browned crust allowed to form under the corn before it was stirred, kinda like scrambling eggs. She and my grandfather (of Creek-English decent) raised, butchered, then salted or smoked all the pork they ate. She maintained (by hand) an almost 2-acre garden in which she grew all their table vegetables and herbs. Like early settlers on the Gulf Coast, if they couldn’t raise it, preserve it, or catch it, they didn’t have it. Necessity can be a mother, but it also produces wonderful stuff like macque choux.
Keep up the great work. You’re really good at what you do, even though a touch historically-impaired.
Nice point Diane, I did fail to mention the Native American origins, I should kick myself for that one. A quote from the wonderful book “Stir the Pot: The History of Cajun Cuisine”, referring to Maque Choux:
As one would suspect, the dish has Native American origins. Early European explorers noted that Native American tribes residing along the lower Mississippi River consumed a dish known to the French as sagamite: maize stewed in bear oil, succotash, and fried cornmeal.
Thanks for calling me out on that. I meant no disrespect to Native American influence, believe me, just pointing to the Cajun evolution of that influence which is Maque Choux.
My Grandmother also tells me of another almost identical “Fried Corn” recipe that you described which was prepared by her Mother. Thanks for sharing.
Have you had Maque Choux over rice? It seems maybe a number of things could be put in this dish to streach it into a one dish meal.
Your a talented man Danno!
Tom
Dano,
For a truly wonderful tasting twist, try adding a pound of crawfish and 2 cups of potatos!
Thats how MawMaw Marceaux did it!
Tony
Any suggestions for making this more “substantial”. To bake it possibly like a cornbread pudding.
Very delicious!
I sometimes add shrimp or even lumb crab.
You photos are beautiful, and thank you so much for your wonderful, mouth watering recipes.
My mama loves to make this dish and I think hers is one of the best. She has a secret ingredient that might make your hair curl: ketchup. Just a touch. Being somewhat of a food snob, I try making her recipe without it and it just doesn’t taste as good.
I live in California and am about to turn a bunch of these folks onto Maque Choux at the Kindergarten potluck. Poo Yie Yie!
I just like to eat it straight out of the pan standing up…. and scrape the carmelized gratin and eat that off the spatula…. call me a purist.
I was thinking about this and some gumbo. Hmmmm, maybe I’ll just add some andouille and shrimp and call it dinner. I could make some cornsticks to go along side.