The Cooke’s Inn – Corn Pudding

My favorite restaurant in Huntington, New York, where I live, closed about 10 years ago. The Cooke’s Inn was a quirky place, run by an imaginative owner. Juanita Cooke was a retired 6^th grade teacher who lined the walls of the restaurant with children’s books. Everyone read them while they waited for their meal. She used to sit herself down in a chair while you were eating and start talking to you as if she were part of the family. Not awkward, just the way that it was. In the restaurant’s first location, a tiny storefront, we once witnessed her move a couple – in the middle of their meal – to a new table that they now had to share with others. It was a busy night, and she needed to make room. They carried their own plates. On another occasion as I was out for a stroll with our dog, I saw Ms. Cooke assisting her elderly parents into a doctor’s office in town. She noticed me from about a block away and bellowed a greeting down the street. She was a character.

The menu at The Cooke’s Inn was a patchwork of Soul Food and Caribbean dishes, with a little Italian thrown in because, well, this is Long Island and every menu has some Italian food on it. It don’t think I ever saw anyone order an Italian dish; it’s not why you went. Before she moved to a larger location, every meal started with a plate of honeydew melon with maraschino cherries. Then came the buttery corn bread and salad. I vaguely remember a bowl of soup – split pea or black-eyed peas with smoked neck bones. For a main course you could get jerk chicken, barbeque or jerk ribs, fried catfish, spicy rice with shrimp, gumbo, roast pork loin, BBQ baked kielbasa, gumbo, and much more. And she was famous for her fried chicken.

Then came the sides. Served family style, every table got a plate of fried potatoes, a bowl of sweet and smoky collard greens, and a dish of fried sweet potatoes dusted with powdered sugar. But my favorite was the corn pudding. More like a corn-flavored bread pudding than a corn-based dessert pudding, it had some heft to it. It was sweet and salty with a little bit of cinnamon, and just delicious. Health food, The Cooke’s Inn was not, but it sure was tasty.

And then she closed. “Time for a real retirement,” she told us. “The restaurant business isn’t worth it.” We were dismayed. I think the last month she was open, we must have eaten there three or four times.

After she closed, I couldn’t get the corn pudding out of my head. Most of the other dishes we wanted we could find in some form or other at different restaurants – although rarely was it as good as The Cooke’s Inn. But that corn pudding was nowhere to be found. I had to re-create it. The internet was no help, mostly recipes for a custardy or creamy corn casserole. They were not the same. However, over the course of a couple of years, I figured it out. Corn kernels, of course, plus canned creamed corn for flavor. Cinnamon with brown sugar to make it sweeter, and cream and butter in abundance. Bread to give it texture. It baked up with crisp edges and was an excellent replica of the original.

I don’t make corn pudding very often; after all, I do want to live to next year. But corn pudding makes a delicious side in place of stuffing at your Thanksgiving table. It may not be traditional like stuffing, but it sure would fit; no one would think it out of place.

After 10 years, I still miss The Cooke’s Inn. I miss the warmth of the place, the familiarity, the eccentricity and character, the children’s books, and of course the food. But I am thankful that I can make my own corn pudding.

Corn Pudding

makes a 13 x 9-inch pan, about 1 hour, including baking time

1 loaf unseeded, day old (or slightly toasted) supermarket French or Italian bread, cut into ¾-inch cubes (about 8 to 10 cups)

4 Tbsp. (½ stick) salted butter

2 (14.75 oz.) cans cream style corn

1 cup frozen corn

½ cup heavy cream

½ cup packed brown sugar, divided

½ tsp. kosher salt

½ tsp. cinnamon

cooking spray (or additional butter) for greasing pan

1. Preheat oven to 350 ^oF.
2. Cut or tear bread into roughly ¾-inch cubes and toast very lightly. Alternatively, leave the cut bread out overnight to let it get a bit stale. Set aside in a large bowl.
3. Add the butter, cream style corn, frozen corn, heavy cream, ¼ cup of brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon to a saucepan. Stir together and heat over medium until the butter melts.
4. Add the heated corn mixture to the bread cubes. Stir to combine. It will be a somewhat soggy mess.
5. Grease a 13 x 9-inch lasagna pan with cooking spray or additional butter.
6. Place the corn and bread mixture into the pan and spread into an even layer.
7. Bake uncovered until warmed through and set, about 45 minutes, sprinkling the remaining ¼ cup of brown sugar evenly over the top about halfway through.
8. Watching carefully so it does not burn, brown the top by broiling for a minute or two under a hot broiler.
9. Serve warm, preferably family-style.

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