Ditto for barbecued corn
We babysat today and at one point I was flicking through the Women's Weekly (really not very interesting) and came across some quick toppings for barbecued corn on the cob. And why did this strike a chord? Well the Coles Magazine had also featured barbecued corn, done with the same decorative way of tying back the husks. And I thought it was all of a piece with the avocado toast really.
I first tasted corn on the cob in America - of course. I don't think it was available in England at the time. At first I didn't like it, though I politely ate it when offered it at barbecues (though I don't think they barbecued the corn). But because we had so much of it - it was almost inevitably served to us when we were invited into people' homes - I eventually decided I quite liked it - and I did like corn chowder. I had this for my lunch very frequently. Slathered with butter and a bit of salt corn on the cob was really quite delicious though bits of the skin did tend to get stuck in my teeth.
When I returned home, or maybe a bit later in life I set out to learn how to cook it and found Bert Greene's recommendation to add a little sugar to the water it was boiled in was a good one. Today, however, the fashionable thing to do with corn seems to be to barbecue it. And the photo above (which is typical) does make it look tempting. Opinion seems to vary as to whether you par cook the corn first. The Women's Weekly article that started all this recommended boiling the corn (still wrapped in its husk) for a short burst, before peeling back the outer husk, and tying it back. At the same time you remove the silk. Then you barbecue it.
They don't say to put any oil on it, but I'm pretty sure others do. And their picture (at left) doesn't show it being cooked on a barbecue either - they use a griddle on a cook top. But the same principle would apply to a barbecue.
The big thing though was the alternative toppings that you then put on to the corn. So I looked around and found a few more too. Theirs are:
Dukkah - brush with oil and roll in dukkah
Coriander and lime - process 125g butter, half a clove of garlic and 1 cup fresh coriander. Add 2 teaspoons lime juice. Spread over corn and sprinkle with green chilli.
Mexican style mayo - process 3/4 cup mayonnaise and 1 chilli in adobo sauce (or 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika and 1/4 teaspoon chilli powder). Spread over cobs then sprinkle with one cup grated parmesan and a little smoked paprika.
Avocado and feta - Bingo! Mash two small avocados with 1 clove garlic, 1/2 teaspoon each cumin and salt and 2 teaspoons lime juice. Spread over corn and sprinkle with 75g feta.
Tomato and bacon crumbs - Fry 2 finely chopped slices of bacon until crisp. Stir in 1 tablespoon tomato paste and 1 cup panko crumbs. Cook, stirring for 8 minutes or until crisp. Cover corn with mayonnaise and crumb mixture.
There's also one more weird one with miso and wasabi but I'm giving up here.
I also found another website with some more ideas.
Pesto and Parmesan - slather with pesto and cover with parmesan
Bacon wrapped - What it says - wrap in a couple of slices of bacon
Caesar and feta - drizzle with Caesar salad dressing and sprinkle with feta
Weirdly - sprinkle with crushed potato chips, having first rolled in BBQ sauce!
Well I think you get the idea - just barbecue the corn and then put stuff on top. I'll finish with a reference to a Jamie recipe - he likes barbecues. He actually has two recipes but they are very similar really. This is a picture of the one I have linked to.
It's called (in typical Jamie fashion):
It's actually very similar to one of the Women's Weekly ones.
So give it a go next time you have a barbecue - I reckon you'd definitely get a lot of oohs and aahs. And it seems to be pretty trendy.
My guess is that keeping it pretty simple is best - though bacon does go well with corn. Maybe just butter and chilli salt. With a touch of lime - which is sort of what the Coles Magazine version was -
Drizzle with a mixture of 80g melted butter, 2 tsp smoked paprika and 2 tbsp lime juice and sprinkle with chopped coriander and lime zest.
"Grilling intensifies not the sweetness but the flavour of this vegetable. To me this is important. The new varieties of corn are bred more for their sugar content than their depth of flavour. So a while over the coals is my preferred way with what could otherwise be a simple sugar-fest."
Nigel Slater
