P
American
Succotash
Fresh corn kernels (cut from the cob) and fresh or frozen lima beans (or butter beans), sautéed together in butter with salt, pepper, and sometimes diced onion or bell pepper. Optionally: diced salt pork or bacon rendered first, with the vegetables cooked in the rendered fat. The corn should be sweet and barely cooked; the limas should be tender but not mushy. The butter (or pork fat) coats both vegetables with a glossy richness.
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I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
4
ears of corn
kernels cut from the cob
Origin · MexicoNot yet stocked in British Columbia
300 g
fresh or frozen lima beans (or butter beans)
shelled; thawed if frozen
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
40 g
unsalted butter
generous
Your own market
1 small
onion
diced; optional
Your own market
1 small
bell pepper
diced; optional
Your own market
100 g
salt pork or bacon
diced; optional — rendered first, fat reserved in place of butter
Your own market
1 tsp
fine salt
Your own market
½ tsp
black pepper
freshly ground
Your own market
II
The Method
1
If using salt pork or bacon: place the diced meat in a cold wide pan and set over medium heat. Render slowly until the fat runs clear and the pieces are golden and crisp. Remove the solids with a slotted spoon and reserve. Retain the rendered fat in the pan in place of butter. If not using salt pork, melt the butter in a wide pan over medium heat until it foams and subsides.
2
Add the diced onion and bell pepper, if using, to the fat. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion turns translucent and softens — about 3 minutes. The pan should smell sweet and faintly caramelised.
3
Add the lima beans. Stir to coat them in the fat. Cook for 3–4 minutes, until they are just tender when pressed between two fingers — yielding but not collapsing. This is where the dish lives or dies: the limas must be cooked through yet hold their shape, and the corn, added next, must retain its sweetness; once either vegetable overcooks it cannot be recovered.
4
Add the corn kernels and salt and pepper. Stir and cook for a further 2–3 minutes only, until the corn is just heated through and glistens with the butter or fat. A kernel tasted should be sweet, barely cooked, and still slightly firm at its centre.
5
If rendered salt pork or bacon was used, scatter the reserved crisp pieces back over the vegetables. The finished dish should glisten across its surface — add a small knob of butter off the heat if needed to achieve this. Serve immediately.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Freshly picked corn — shucked and cut within hours — and freshly shelled lima or butter beans at the height of summer; butter from a small regional creamery; hand-rendered leaf lard or artisan smoked salt pork.
02
Estate — Corn bought same-day from a farmers' market, unrefrigerated; fresh-shelled limas from the same stall; good-quality unsalted cultured butter; thick-cut unsmoked artisan bacon if using pork.
03
Market — Supermarket corn on the cob (used the same day of purchase); frozen baby lima or butter beans, fully thawed before cooking; standard unsalted butter; commercially smoked bacon.
04
House — Frozen corn kernels (acceptable only in the off-season) and frozen limas; salted butter; streaky bacon from any reliable supplier. Canned corn is not acceptable at any rung.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Sight. The finished dish glistens uniformly — every kernel and bean coated in butter or rendered fat, with no dry or floury patches.
◇Touch. A lima bean pressed between two fingers yields but does not collapse or smear; a corn kernel offers slight resistance before giving way.
◇Smell. The pan smells of sweet corn and fresh butter, not of starch or toasted flour — any hint of starchy heaviness signals overcooking.
◇Sight. The corn kernels retain their bright yellow colour; the limas hold their shape without splitting at the seam.
◇Where it lives or dies. The dish cannot cross the line of overcooking: both corn and limas must be removed from the heat while still distinct and alive — mealy limas or dulled corn sweetness cannot be corrected.
Pillar V
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VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Buffalo Trace Distillery · Kentucky Bourbon Country
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Whisky
From British Columbia
Wine
Without alcohol
GT's Synergy Organic Kombucha — Gingerade
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Non-alcoholic
Why each one works is part of membership — Enter · from $49 a year →
The whole pairingPillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
Enter · from $49 a year