Ann Kim loves using corn in unexpected ways. Kim is the head chef at the Garden & Gun Club in Atlanta (founded by this magazine in 2018), and when she interviewed for the job, she had to cook a meal that would impress her future bosses. The main dish featured a Korean braised short rib, but she sealed the deal with brûléed corn butter cake with kumquat compote.
Corn played a role again when she was competing in a tournament on Chopped in 2023. She made it all the way to the finals after turning a “mystery” ingredient of corn mousse cake into polenta she served with a surf-and-turf entree.
“Corn is one of those flavors I grew up on,” says Kim, whose parents emigrated from Korea to the Bay Area of California shortly before she was born. She has fond memories of the corn tea her grandparents made during family visits to Korea, which embraced corn following the Korean War. They’d soak dried roasted kernels in boiling water and strain it into a pitcher. “It was so refreshing,” she says. In California, her family were regulars at Korean bakeries where corn found its way into sweet and savory offerings alike.
Kim’s recipe for corn crème brûlée is a beautiful way to highlight the South’s sweet summer corn, producing a sophisticated dessert that doesn’t take a lot of work to put together. She starts by simmering kernels with a bit of heavy cream, then pureeing and straining the mixture and adding it into a pot of more warm cream to steep with a vanilla bean. The dessert is lovely flavored simply with the corn and vanilla, as in this recipe, but you can also punch it up by adding a half teaspoon or so of lemon or orange zest to steep in the warm cream, which allows the oils to bloom. Or Kim sometimes slips in a bag of Earl Grey tea or even a sprig of thyme.
Texture is key to a good custard, so she suggests straining it three times before you bake for maximum silkiness. “I always add that third time in case you missed something on the first two,” she says, “but if you’re confident, you can skip the last one.” The final step, after the custard has cooled, is the signature caramelized sugar topping. A kitchen torch is ideal, but you can also brown the sugar under a broiler. Keep the layer of sugar light so the topping doesn’t become unpleasantly hard.
Frozen kernels work fine, too, for a year-round dessert. But Kim says she especially likes it with Southern corn harvested late in the summer. “It’s so sweet and delicious just by itself,” she says. “Sometimes I just cut it off the cob and eat it raw.”
Meet the Chef: Ann Kim
Hometown: San Jose, California
Usual drink order: Crown Royal on the rocks
Ingredient that makes her cooking better: Old kimchi, by which she means the stuff that has been sitting in the fridge long enough to get even tangier. “I’ll make kimchi pancakes or stir-fry pork belly. It really mellows out when you cook it.”
Item she would save if the kitchen were on fire: Her thick wooden cutting board, which she oils religiously and uses for everything but meat or fish. A former flame tried to talk her into replacing it. “It’s one of many reasons we are not together anymore.”
Hobby: Poker. “My family would play poker and blackjack for real money when we got together for holidays. Koreans love to gamble.”
