This blog may contain affiliate links. These links will take you to websites that sell items. If you use these links to buy items from these sellers you are helping to support Professor Kitchen at no extra charge to you. Thank you very much!!
_____
You've got your grill fired up and you've prepped all of your meat, but what about veggies?? Can you do corn on the cobb on the grill?? Why, yes. Yes, you can!!
_____
_____
Putting Your Plan into Place
A grill cooks differently than an oven. They are very similar, but they are different. Things that are different are not the same!
Think of your grill as primarily a broiler turned upside down. (Or perhaps, right side up. Whichever you prefer.)
While the grill can function as an oven, it takes a bit of finagling to get it to work that way. Plus,
controlling the temperature of an enclosed grill is way more complicated than you might think. We're going to take out some insurance by not trying to get too complicated. We're going to stick to using the grill just for the things it's good at. (...at which it's good. Whatever.)
 |
| Grill it like you like it!! |
If your corn is frozen, make sure you get it out of the freezer in time to mostly thaw. Since we're not eating the cobb, we don't need to cook that bit. However, if the core is too frozen it will cause the parts we do eat to cook unevenly and get cold much sooner than we want.
Corn cooks very quickly compared to veggies that need to be cooked through. Your corn should be one of the last things you put on the grill. Make sure the thicker things (like potatoes) are done before you attempt to put the corn on.
Meat also cooks quickly on a grill but needs some rest time afterwords so that the juices end up in your mouth and not on your plate. Your ears of corn should be one of the last things to go on your grill. You should be able to put your ears on about the time you're removing your meat. When the corn is done the meat should be rested enough to serve.
_____
_____
Prep Your Corn
Now that you've got your grill timing worked out, let's get to preparing!
 |
| Both Shucking and Jiving! |
Because the grill and the broiler are so similar, you can use the method I laid out for the broiler for cooking your ears on the grill. I won't rehash that recipe. Click here if you missed it.
Instead of that rehash, let's talk about an even more direct way of cooking the ears.
"More direct that putting the corn directly on the grates?" I hear you say. To which I reply, "Yes, indeed!!"
...though not by much. I may have indulged in a bit of hyperbole.
Anyway... Let's start by removing any extra stem on the end of the cobb, shucking the corn, and removing as much of the silks as we easily can. No need to get too picky with pulling the silks off. The heat from the grill is going to help us out by burning many of the errant silks off.
Now that we have naked ears (how embarrassing!!) we need to get some oil on them. The oil will do
two things. It will help the kernels not to stick to the grill grates and it will help the heat move more evenly into the corn thus cooking each kernel better.
You're going to want to choose a high-smoke point oil for this. Go for regular olive oil, refined peanut oil, sunflower oil, or avocado oil.
Stay clear of your fancy extra-virgin olive oils or coconut oils. Their smoke point is way too low. When oil hits its smoke point it not only takes on a nasty flavor but it also starts being converted to carcinogenic compounds. Food is supposed to be healthy not cause cancer!! Keep your lower smoke point oils for salads and pestos or lower cooking temperature applications.
"More direct that putting the corn directly on the grates?" I hear you say. To which I reply, "Yes, indeed!!"
...though not by much. I may have indulged in a bit of hyperbole.
Anyway... Let's start by removing any extra stem on the end of the cobb, shucking the corn, and removing as much of the silks as we easily can. No need to get too picky with pulling the silks off. The heat from the grill is going to help us out by burning many of the errant silks off.
_____
_____
Oil it up!
Now that we have naked ears (how embarrassing!!) we need to get some oil on them. The oil will do
 |
| Ooooohhh... Pretty!! |
You're going to want to choose a high-smoke point oil for this. Go for regular olive oil, refined peanut oil, sunflower oil, or avocado oil.
Stay clear of your fancy extra-virgin olive oils or coconut oils. Their smoke point is way too low. When oil hits its smoke point it not only takes on a nasty flavor but it also starts being converted to carcinogenic compounds. Food is supposed to be healthy not cause cancer!! Keep your lower smoke point oils for salads and pestos or lower cooking temperature applications.
Sprinkle on the Seasoning
Now that your corn looks like it just won a pig wrestling contest, let's season it up.
You can use just regular salt & pepper if you want. S&P really elevates corn.
You can also use something a little more interesting if that's your thing. Try some pre-boxed spice mixes or make your own. Something a little spicy would accent the sweetness of the corn very nicely!!
_____
_____
Corn Meets Grill
Place your corn on the grill over the heat. No time to try and fineness things. Get the heat to the ear.
Rotate 1/4 of a turn about every 2 minutes. You're going to want a few grill markings but not too much. If the kernels get too black they will be chewy. After 4 turns, you should be good to go!
Serve with butter and a shaker of whatever seasonings you used in case your guests want to add more.
You can also cut the corn off the cobb to change things up. Here are my directions on how to cut the kernels off without making a mess. Try serving the kernels by themselves or in a bean salad. They make a great addition to regular leaf salad as well.
Is There More?
How do you prefer to cook your corn on the cobb?? Did I miss a favorite method? Let me know what you think!!
Here's a link to my video on the History of Corn.
Thank you for coming to class today.
God bless.
Class... Dismissed!!
No comments:
Post a Comment