1 HOT SUMMER, 2 HOT CORNS

1 HOT SUMMER, 2 HOT CORNS

GRAB THE END OF SUMMER BY ITS HORNS, MAKING THESE HOT SPICY GRILLED CORNS…

Crazy week.  Barely anytime to chat!  But let’s grab the end of summer by its horns, by making these 2 versions of hot spicy grilled corns.  Worthy of a – I don’t know about you but from where I stand – still brutally hot summer.  So good that I couldn’t decide which one was better so I figured, you wouldn’t mind making the choices yourself.

The first one is a spicy and tangy mixture of soy sauce, brown sugar, balsamic vinegar and shit loads of cayenne pepper.  Super caramelized and sticky, leaving a tingling, addictive pain on your lips with every bite.

Then the second version involves rubbing your corns with lots of miso-infused butter, grilled until nutty and charred, then showered with a soothing rain of Parmigiano cheese and seven-spiced togarashi powder.  You didn’t know corns can hurt so good.  Now let’s get to it.

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Makes 4 grilled corns

Sweet soy sauce, balsamic vinegar and cayenne:

• 4 sweet summer corns
• 1/4 cup (70 grams) of soy ssauce
• 3 tbsp (45 grams) of granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp (15 grams) of dark brown sugar
• 2 tbsp (30 grams) of balsamic vinegar
• 1 1/2 tbsp of all-purpose flour
• 3 cloves of smashed garlics
• 2 tsp of cayenne pepper, plus  more to dust

Whisk together soy sauce, granulated sugar, dark brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, all-purpose flour, smashed garlic and cayenne pepper in a small pot.  Bring to a simmer over low heat while continuously whisking, until the sugar has fully melted and mixture has thickened.  Set aside until needed.

Preheat the top-broiler on high.  If you are using corns still in husks, peel the husks away then braid them into a natural handle for turning the cobs.  Place the corns on a baking-rack over a baking-sheet lined with parchment.  Bake 3″ (7.5 cm) under the broiler for a couple minutes, turning them half way, until partially cooked through (the corn will look “yellower”). Then brush the corns evenly with the sauce (the sauce is quite thick so you’ll need to try a bit harder to get it into the folds of the corn kernels), and return under the broiler, turning them once, until the sauce starts to bubble and caramelize on both sides.  Re-apply the sauce again and repeat.

To serve, give the corns a final brush of sauce and dust with more ground cayenne pepper.

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Makes 4 grilled corns

Miso butter, Parmigiano and togarashi:

• 4 sweet summer corns
• 2 tbsp (28 grams) of unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp (34 grams) of dark miso paste
• 2 tsp of granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup (50 grams) of grated Parmigiano cheese
• 2 ~ 3 tbsp of togarashi powder

Mix unsalted butter, dark miso paste and sugar together until smooth.  Evenly mix together Parmigiano cheese and 2 ~ 3 tbsp of togarashi powder (depending on how spicy you like it), then set aside.

Preheat the top-broiler on high.  If you are using corns still in husks, peel the husks away then braid them into a natural handle for turning the cobs.  Place the corns on a baking-rack over a baking-sheet lined with parchment.  Bake 3″ (7.5 cm) under the broiler for a couple minutes, turning them half way, until partially cooked through (the corn will look “yellower”).  Then coat the corns evenly with the miso-butter and return them under the broiler, turning once or twice, until the miso-butter has slightly caramelized.

Roll the grilled corns in Parmigiano-togarashi powder before serving.