95. Grilled Corn with Soy-Honey Glaze

Date Cooked: August 10, 2009
Page: 158
Rating: B-

This dish was an afterthought as I was cooking up some leftovers. This recipe is basically grilled corn that gets a glaze after the initial grilling and then spends a few more minutes on the grill to caramelize it. We had some grilled corn the night before with several cobs left over. I figured this would be a good use for the corn.

An extremely simple recipe to make, I basically reduced equal parts honey and soy sauce and then generously coated the cobs of corn before putting them on the grill for a few minutes.

Rating: B-. I don’t know if it the fact that they get grilled a second time or because I used corn that had been sitting in the fridge overnight but the corn was definitely cooked a little too much. The kernels didn’t have enough crispness to them. The flavor was good but the soy sauce was definitely dominant and not sweetened enough by the honey. If doing this again I would cook the corn a little less the first time on the grill and I would probably use more honey than soy sauce.

23. Corn Chowder

Date Cooked: September 28th, 2008
Page: 66
Rating: B

This was another of those recipes that was itching the back of my mind. As autumn sets in I always begin to crave hearty soups and stews and the idea of corn chowder seemed perfect to me. The only problem with corn chowder is that by the time I am craving soups, corn is nearing the end of its season. Many of my local grocery stores are already done with corn in the husk, which leaves me with hunting down a roadside corn stand or hitting up the local farmers markets. It just so happened that when picking up some ingredients to make Pad Thai a second time the grocery store had a big bin of corn, so I grabbed a dozen. Lots of people would say “You can use frozen corn or canned corn,” and to them I say “No”. The recipe calls for 10 ears of corn and specifies the lovely process of milking the corn. See my previous post about corn fritters to find out how I felt about that. You know the idea of milking anything but a cow sounds deviant to me. Picture for a moment if you will a cow being milked. Now replace the cow with a cob of corn. You see my problem. I think I will refer to the technique as shaving the corn, since that seems much more similar.

Okay, so after processing 10 cobs of corn I am left with 3 cups of kernels (cut from 4 cobs) and 3 cups of corn pulp (shaved from 6). I believe I may have figured out where I went wrong with the corn fritters from August. The book assumes after shaving the corn you will have 2 cups of pulp. Apparently I am really efficient at shaving corn since I was able to extract 50% more than required, which means my corn fritters had more liquid to start than required. I figured I would only use the assumed amount for the chowder this time and will make a note to reduce the amount of corn shaved for future attempts at this recipe. The kernels and pulp where set aside for later as I prepped the rest of the ingredients.

I did have to make one substitution in this recipe. I only had 1 small onion when the recipe calls for 1 large onion. So I also added two shallots and figured that quantity wise it would equal out and that the flavor while slightly different wouldn’t be overly affected by this change of plans. Since I brought up shallots lets discuss their emotional impact on me. Every time I cut into a shallot my eyes well up with tears. We are not talking moist eyes irritated from the mild sulfuric acid created by the highly volatile propanethiol S-oxide gas released from the onion reacting with the water in my eyes (how’s that for some chemistry!). I’m talking about the onslaught of pain that mimics having my eyes scoured with sandpaper and then washed with bleach and rinsed with a strong sulfuric acid. I can’t see through the tears as much as you can’t see through Niagara Falls. I usually have to stop chopping for fear of severing a digit or two. Oddly this occurs with shallots. Onions are only a slight discomfort.

With all the ingredients prepped and measured and my eyesight returning I began by sautéing some salt pork. The directions are simple. Sauté until crisp and the fat has rendered. For some reason they don’t discuss how much smoke will be produced. I was happily sautéing away and flipping the pieces when I look up and had my vision obscured by the low hanging cloud of grease smoke. The blue haze was quickly filling the kitchen and creeping into adjoining rooms. I frantically opened the kitchen windows to get the air flowing before the smoke alarms started blaring. Unfortunately my exhaust fan does not vent to the outside but merely filters the smoke created while cooking and re-circulates the air. Apparently it is not very good at that. With the air finally clearing I moved onto the next steps of the recipe. It is straightforward enough at this point that the rest of the ingredients get added one-by-one and then brought to a boil and left to simmer. A raft kept forming in the chowder and I was tempted to remove it but the book mentions nothing about this so I just kept stirring it back in. Stirring also kept the heavier potatoes and corn from adhering to the bottom of the pot.

Once complete I sampled a bowl. I think I like it. It was pretty tasty but not quite as thick as I was hoping for. I was also a little concerned about the cream used. I don’t always get along with cream. Cream and I have a love hate relationship. I love it. It hates me.

Rating: B. It was really good chowder. In the future I will definitely need to find away to thicken it a bit more and switch out the heavy cream for a lighter alternative. I’ve also noticed recipes that use bacon in the final stages of cooking instead of rendering fat from salt pork in the beginning. I think I will go the extra mile and add some bacon next time (while continuing to render salt pork… you can never have enough pork!)

15. Grilled Corn

Date Cooked: September 7th, 2008
Page: 157
Rating: A-

Grilled corn, where should I begin? I’ve already prepared corn on the grill several times this summer but I will admit I am new to grilling corn. My brother-in-law mentioned how much he enjoyed it that way, so I figured why not give it a go. I’ll run through the various learning highlights.

The first attempt prior to this project was just throwing the whole cob on the grill with husk and silk intact. This was fun as the husk blackened and fine wisps of ash and charred silk wafted all around covering everything in close proximity to the grill. It was even more fun when the corn was done and I had to peel these crumbling charred messes. In this paragraph you can interchangeably use ‘fun’ and ‘horrible’. The corn though was amazing!

The next attempt came at the instruction of the book where all but the inner layer of husk was removed and the silk was trimmed. This had a better roasted flavor to the corn, especially where the corn kernels were exposed to the grill and developed as nice deep brown color. I really liked the darkened kernels.

So for this latest attempt I went with the same instructions as the book but cooked the corn a little longer. Amazing! I love the blackened kernels. They practically burst with flavor (and a few actually did burst) as the sweet flavor concentrated as the water evaporated. I really wish corn wasn’t going out of season.

The corn was served with the lime-cilantro butter and it was good. The sweet corn paired nicely with the butter. I am a fan of grilled corn and I can’t imagine going back to boiled corn on the cob. Of course I have to simply because there is a recipe for boiled corn on the cob. Maybe I’ll boil it, snap some photos and then toss it on the grill!

I have seen several mentions lately of soaking the corn in water before grilling it. I assume this probably cuts down on the charring of the husk before it is completely cooked. I may try this in the future since husking charred corn is not a character building task. It’s just plain horrible.

Rating: This dish gets an A- since it is now my benchmark for all future corn recipes. I love grilled corn.

Corn Fritters (Supplemental Recipe #1) – Keep The Phone Handy

Date Cooked: August 19, 2008
Source: The Best Vegetable Recipe

Mashed potatoes weren’t a real challenge so I decided to step it up by introducing an element of danger to the meal! I have no problem cooking with oil but it is not something I do often. When I mention cooking in oil I am referring to deep-frying and/or using any amount over a tablespoon or so.We had a fair bit of corn in the house from a Sunday feast so I felt if I was to cook a recipe I might as well try one involving corn. My wife suggested the corn fritters and I thought they looked pretty good so we set to work.

Four cobs of corn got the ‘treatment’. This involved either cutting off the kernels or more violently grating them off. After this comes the lovely process of milking the cob… not exactly pleasant imagery but basically you scrape the remaining corn pulp off the cob. Word of caution, this process can be a bit messy. I’m sure I will be finding corn bits for days no matter how thorough I clean.

Mix all the other ingredients together to form a thick batter. Easier said than done. Apparently my four cobs of corn contained a lot of water so the recipe as stated pretty much gave me soup. I didn’t really want to deviate so I carefully scaled the recipe up in batch sizes and realized I probably had closer to double the amount of corn needed. Once I got a reasonably thick batter I moved on to the final stage, frying the fritters in oil.

I think this is where I made sure all flammable items were kept away from the stove and this was the perfect time for those kids to have a bath… far away from the stove. I basically learned a few things making these corn fritters that I will remember for future recipes involving frying in large quantities of oil.

• I need to invest in a larger splatter screen.
• I need to invest in a longer handle thin metal spatula.
• I’m out of burn ointment.

All things considered they turned out surprisingly well and I didn’t burn or undercook them which surprised me greatly. At the end of this recipe I would have to say they were a little dense (most likely the result of me trying to correct the batter) and they could have been seasoned more (which is a personal preference a pinch of cayenne should have been a teaspoon).

The Next Day
I had these reheated for lunch at work the next day since my batch size left me with plenty. Same thoughts as before but now they weren’t even crisp. What do I expect when I only have a microwave for reheating.