“I can’t remember a Thanksgiving growing up in Louisville that we didn’t have corn pudding as part of the abundance of good food. And through the years it’s grown to where I hardly ever make or eat it except at Thanksgiving. Simple as any dish on the table, corn pudding blends that wonderful Southern summer staple (I recommend using summer corn that was cut off the cob and frozen. White, yellow or a combination is just fine.) with the decadence of a thick, sweet, egg-rich casserole. Nothing could be easier to make and nothing is as integral to my own sense of Thanksgiving.”
4 eggs
1 cup heavy cream or half and half
¼ cup sugar
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. black pepper, or to taste
5 cups frozen corn, thawed
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
In a large bowl, beat the eggs, cream, sugar, salt and pepper. Add the corn to the mixture and stir. Fully butter a 2-quart casserole dish. Pour the corn mixture into the dish evenly. Slice butter very thin and arrange on top of the corn mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour, or until golden brown on top. You’ll know it’s done when the casserole doesn’t shake when it’s moved. Serves 8.
A photographer and writer, Tom is a native of Kentucky. He directs the Master of Fine Arts in Experimental and Documentary Arts at Duke University where he is Professor of the Practice of Art and Documentary. He is the former director of the Center for Documentary Studies (July 1998–June 2013).
