I’ve been asked, not infrequently, how to grill corn. Unfortunately, the explanation is so long and intense that, unless I have a ton of spare time, I’m usually not able to explain it to them. Enter Blogsville. I can finally put it here, one time, and not have to go through hours and hours of tutorial every time someone asks me. So, are you ready for some serious note taking? Here we go.
Do this:
…what? Sure, it may look easy, but trust me when I say it’s totally… ok fine, it’s like the easiest thing on this planet to do. For real, just take your corn and put it on the grill, medium-high heat. Flip it around every few minutes – takes like 10-15 minutes total. The husk will get charred and burnt, and that’s fine. Some of that char will get through the husk to the kernels, and that’s also fine. In fact, that’s encouraged. Some people shuck the corn first, then wrap it in tin foil. What the wha??? Why on earth? You realize that some cultures wrap food in corn husk to cook it, right?
Another thing people do is shuck the corn and just toss it on the grill without anything wrapped around it. I don’t suggest this, because corn is best when cooked with liquid. By leaving the husk on, it steams the corn, and makes it taste awesome. Cooking it without the husk, it gets more char, but the kernels also shrivel up and get leathery and have a weird texture. So…just leave the husk on.
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As a bonus to this post, I’ma show you how to make one of my favorite, favorite, favorite summer salads. Here’s what you need:
4 ears of corn, grilled and kernels cut from the cob, like so:
2 Tomatoes, diced
1 Cucumber, peeled and diced
3 Green Onions, chopped
1-2 Tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
2 Tablespoons lime juice
1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon honey
Salt & Pepper
I had some heirloom tomatoes left over from the Caprese this week, so I used those. But you can use any tomato you want. Add everything together, stir it up, and ideally you’d let it chill in the fridge for at least an hour before serving. You can also add a can of black beans (drained and rinsed), but I usually skip it.
There are two types of side dish – those that are meant to accompany something specific, and those that are versatile enough to accompany just about anything. This salad falls into the second group, and really shines with grilled meats, like chicken or pork chops. So bust it out and impress everyone. I’d be willing to put money down that you’ll get compliments on it. Just don’t botch the meat. ;)
Turn the corn(in husk) 1/4 turn for 5 minutes each. Been doing it this way for 50 years!
I just made this tonight for my Bunco group and it was a huge hit! Thanks for a fresh and easy side dish.
This looks so good! I’m going to try it this weekend. Any alternate seasoning suggestions for a cilantro hater? Parsley?
Parsley could be good, but don’t use as much of it. A better option might be basil, but if someone doesn’t like cilantro, they may not like basil either. You could also skip the herb part altogether. It definitely adds, but the salad would still be good without it.
Made this last nice – delicious, light and fresh tasting. Thanks for the recipe!
shoot – night
Oh man! This looks so good! Definitely giving this a try this summer!