Corn . . . Yummy, Yummy Corn
Tis the season for Florida corn . . . oh, how we love that Florida corn . . . yellow to be exact. I thought I would share some quick and easy ways to prepare the beautiful bounty.
If you’re going to prepare your corn indoors then I have found boiling it to be the yummiest. Ever since Mother’s Day I have heard my sister chanting the instructions in my ear . . . “boil the water, season the water (butter, salt & pepper), add corn, ten minutes, and its perfect.” Needless to say, to boil corn you’ll need to completely shuck and remove the silk.
Now for the great outdoors: I speak of grilling, preferably over medium to medium high heat (for both versions). I’ll offer up two versions of grilled corn, one with foil, and the other au’natural.
First, grab some aluminum foil, a large bowl of water, whatever seasonings you would typically use on your corn before eating, and your hot mitts. After prepping the corn by removing husks and silks, place in the bowl of cold water for up to ten minutes. Remove, slather with seasoning, and roll in aluminum foil pinching the ends to prevent leakage. Place on grill for 15 minutes (sometime more – depends on the heat), turning once. Use your hot mitts to turn and remove from the grill . . . there’s no one to impress with your burnt hands. FYI – I opt to blend my own seasoned butter for this style of corn . . . I mix a spreadable butter with salt, pepper, fresh garlic, and a dash of cayenne.
This next type of grilled corn requires you to leave the husks on when prepping; do remove the silks though. Once prepped, place entire thing, husks and all, in water for at least ten minutes. When you remove it from the water go ahead and season it how you would like. Again, I use the spreadable butter mixture I mentioned previously. Now, the debate begins . . . you can either pull the husks back up and throw those babies right on the grill or you can tie the husks closed with kitchen string (or whatever variation you can arrange). I have found that my corn cooks more evenly when I close the husks. And for the record – I do not own kitchen string. I can never remember it when I am shopping at places that carry it. So, I peel the paper off of twist-ties and use the thin metal to tie the husks shut . . . works like a charm!
Hope you all enjoy your corn helf as much as I do . . . and if you’ve prepared too much, just give me a call – I’ll help!
It is very good – had it on Mother’s Day.
Another tip – if you don’t want to tear paper off the twist ties – make your own twist ties using a length of aluminum foil folded over several times, cut to the size you need, and twist those husk ends in place.
BTW – kitchen string is simply all cotton string — you can pick up very inexpensive (cheap) kite string at the dollar stores or toy stores. Works fine.