Jennifer Garner is her Pretend Cooking Show It’s no fake news: The actress took to Instagram earlier this week with her mother, Patricia Ann “Pat” Garner, to share one of her favorite childhood recipes.
The dish is actually the creation of her mother, Pat, and is affectionately known as “Grandma Corn.” “My sisters and I grew up eating this corn. It tastes like summer,” she wrote in the post. “I make it without sugar and it’s delicious. Of course, my kids prefer the corn made by the Queen herself. We love Grandma.”
The creamed corn recipe that Jen’s mom adapted from her West Virginia neighbor, Marge Aldredge, calls for “rough” measurements of eight ears of corn, 3/4 cup water, 1/4 cup butter (although Jen thinks “you could use less”), 2 tablespoons sugar (which Jen also calls optional), a pinch of salt and pepper, 1/2 cup milk, and 2 tablespoons flour.
Garner and her mother walked us through the recipe step by step, engaging in some funny mother-daughter banter along the way.
“Mom? Mom? Don’t cut on yourself,” Jennifer warned, before making a cut of her own and admitting, “Mom, I don’t question you, but the whole of America is worried about you right now, and so is England, Brazil and other countries.”
Jennifer admitted that she’d been making this dish wrong for “18 years of parenting,” and it wasn’t until she and Pat made it that she realized: Learn from Jen’s mistake and use only the tips of the kernels, rather than the whole kernel (following Pat’s technique), for tenderness.
At the end of the episode, Jen and Pat indulged in a recipe for beloved creamed corn. “It’s so good. Thank you, Mom,” Jennifer said.
Fans flooded the comments section with heartfelt messages for mother and daughter. “I couldn’t love you more if I tried,” one fan wrote, while another added, “Your mom is a national treasure ❤️. Thanks for the recipe!!”
