Perrerreque

Ingredients

The corn

• 8fresh corn cobs
• young and milky
• kernels cut off
• about 800 g kernels

The rest

• 200 gwhite cheese, grated
• queso fresco or similar
• 200 mlcream
• or evaporated milk
• 150 gsugar
• 80 gbutter, melted
• 2eggs
• 1 teaspoonsalt

Sometimes added

• 50 grice flour
• or masa harina
• if the batter is loose
• 1 teaspoonvanilla

To bake

• a deep buttered tin
• or lined with banana leaf
• a moderate oven

Directions

1. Press a kernel and it should spurt. Older corn is starchy and dry instead. Strip the husks from the cobs. Pull all of them off carefully. A dry cloth helps remove them.
2. Stand a cob upright in a bowl. Cut down the sides with a knife. They fly everywhere otherwise. Cut close to the cob without hitting it. Hold it firmly down at the top. Cut downward and away from your hand. Take your proper time over it. Do not skip over that step at all. Blend the kernels and their milk. Blend it to a coarse thick batter.
3. Leave some real texture in it. Do not puree it completely smooth. Pour the ground corn into a bowl. Add the sugar and the salt to it. Add the melted butter and cream. Add all the beaten eggs to them. Stir most of the grated cheese in.
4. Keep some of it back for the top. Judging the batter takes a look. Add rice flour if it is very loose. Add it in a spoonful at a time. Add a splash of cream if it is too stiff. Adjust it all in small amounts. Butter a deep tin very thoroughly. This is a deep cake rather than a thin one.
5. Use a tin with real deep sides. Line the tin with banana leaf. It also stops the cake sticking. Pour all the batter into the tin. Scatter the reserved cheese over it.
6. Heat the oven to one hundred and eighty degrees. Bake it for about one whole hour. A wet corn batter needs real time. Cover it loosely with foil if it darkens. Do that after about forty minutes.
7. Take the foil off near the end. Judging it takes a skewer test. Let it cool right down in the tin. Cutting it warm gives a sloppy slab. Cut it into good thick squares. Cut it generously into thick slabs. It keeps three days covered over.

Technique

• This uses fresh corn at the young milky stage rather than dried maize: press a kernel and it should spurt. That milky liquid is what binds the cake as it bakes, and older starchy corn gives a dry crumbly result — so the stage of the corn genuinely matters, and the cake is a seasonal one.
• Scrape the cut cobs with the back of a knife after cutting the kernels off: a great deal of the milk stays on the cob, and that milk is exactly what binds the cake. Do not skip it.
• Stand each cob upright in a deep bowl to cut the kernels off, which catches them where a board sends them flying. Hold it firmly at the top, cut downward and away from your hand, and take your time — the cob can slip.

Substitutions

• Frozen sweetcorn kernels are the better substitute, being picked young; tinned corn is too soft and watery. Neither matches fresh corn, and the different liquid content may mean adding a little rice flour.
• Add rice flour a spoonful at a time if the batter is very loose, or a splash of cream if it is too stiff — corn varies a great deal in moisture.

Variations

• The salty white cheese balances the sweetness and gives pockets of savoury flavour; the cake is sweet and salty together, which is characteristic, and sits between bread and cake.
• Pulse the kernels to a coarse thick batter rather than pureeing them smooth, which approximates the stone or mill grinding it traditionally had.
• Let it cool in the tin at least an hour, since it sets considerably as it cools and cutting it warm gives a sloppy slab.

History

A Nicaraguan corn bread made when maize is young and milky, sold from baskets and country ovens.

Frequently asked questions

What is Perrerreque?

Perrerreque is a bread & pastry from Nicaragua: baked cake of ground fresh corn with cheese and cream, cut in slabs. A Nicaraguan corn bread made when maize is young and milky, sold from baskets and country ovens.

How long does Perrerreque take to make?

Perrerreque takes 25 minutes of preparation and 1 hour of cooking. The recipe makes serves 10. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Perrerreque?

Yes, within limits. Frozen sweetcorn kernels are the better substitute, being picked young; tinned corn is too soft and watery. Neither matches fresh corn, and the different liquid content may mean adding a little rice flour. Add rice flour a spoonful at a time if the batter is very loose, or a splash of cream if it is too stiff — corn varies a great deal in moisture.

What is the most important thing to get right in Perrerreque?

Stand a cob upright in a bowl. Cut down the sides with a knife. They fly everywhere otherwise. Cut close to the cob without hitting it. Hold it firmly down at the top. Cut downward and away from your hand. Take your proper time over it. Do not skip over that step at all. Blend the kernels and their milk. Blend it to a coarse thick batter.