- 5 months ago
In this edition of Epicurious 101, professional chef and culinary instructor Frank Proto demonstrates how to make three corn dishes to level up your parties and picnics. Frank teaches you how to perfectly grill, boil, and sauté so you never serve undercooked or overcooked corn again.
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00:00I know people tend to overcook or undercook their corn and they don't really find that good middle ground.
00:04There's nothing worse than going to like a party or a picnic and someone gives you a ear of corn that's been overcooked.
00:11It's wet, soggy and mushy and it's easily avoidable.
00:14Good corn is sweet and juicy and tastes really great on its own.
00:18So today I'm going to show you three different ways to make it slightly better.
00:24So we're going to grill this corn.
00:25And what I love about grilled corn is that it changes the texture.
00:30The corn is still sweet, it's still delicious, but when you grill the corn on the cob, the outside gets caramelized.
00:37It gets a little smoky, it gets a little char on it.
00:41Elote is a street corn originating in Mexico.
00:43It's on the cob, it's usually just with mayo, cheese, lime juice and some sort of spicy topping.
00:49I don't have an outside grill so I'm going to do it on this grill plate.
00:52And what I like to do is just take off some of the outside leaves, not a lot, because we still need the leaves.
00:56We're going to make a handle with the leaves.
00:59So I'll get my corn, I'll pull it back, I'll leave the bottom part on.
01:03And then what you can do is get a little piece of husk and I like to tie it there.
01:08It'll hold it nice and tight so that when you actually pick this up, it'll be a nice handle.
01:13We always want to pick corn that's heavy for its size.
01:15Weight matters because that means that it's got some liquid in it, it's not dried out.
01:19After you pick things, the moisture in the vegetable starts to evaporate and it gets lighter.
01:24So if it's heavy, it means it's retained most of its water and it's going to be nice and juicy.
01:28When we peel back the top, if the silk is wet, you're going to have some moisture at the tip of your corn.
01:33And it's going to get not necessarily rotten, but it just gets soft and mushy.
01:38This piece, the top is just a little dry.
01:40It's not bad.
01:41I'll just snap the top off.
01:43So you won't get a beautiful piece of corn from that, but it's still a nice edible piece of corn.
01:47So again, heavy for its size, silk is dry.
01:50Let's pull it back.
01:52See how the kernels are all plump?
01:54They're not really shrunken or shriveled.
01:57So this is a really nice cob of corn.
01:59I don't think it's any real tricks or tips on how to shuck corn.
02:02It's pretty darn easy.
02:03I like to remove the silk because it does not have good flavor.
02:07It actually has a texture kind of like hair and nobody likes eating hair.
02:11The next step before the corn goes on the grill is we want to oil it lightly.
02:14It's going to add a little bit of flavor, but for the most part, it's going to kickstart
02:17that caramelization and charring process.
02:20You can use olive, you can use vegetable, you can use avocado oil, but any sort of oil.
02:25You notice the reason I'm using a brush is because this is going to give me that nice
02:29light coating.
02:30Now, I'm going to put it on my preheated griddle.
02:33If you don't have a griddle, put it on the grill outside.
02:36Basically, you want to put it on the griddle and let it char on every side.
02:41You want to do this in a well-ventilated area, so if you're not doing it outside and you're
02:45doing the inside on your griddle, make sure you have a hood on or a vent fan on.
02:48So the handle on this might char a little.
02:51Chances are it won't burst into flames because the husk is so moist.
02:54So that moisture is going to burn off.
02:56It's going to smoke, but for the most part, it should not go up in flames.
02:59If it does, just like tamp it down with a towel, get a little water, spritz it with a
03:04little water, it's fine.
03:06What we're looking for here is that we're starting to get that char.
03:09Notice how I push those handles off to the side a little.
03:12We want to get it charred on every side.
03:13We want the corn to cook thoroughly, so don't rust it.
03:16Take a little time.
03:17Our corn is almost done, and you might hear a snap, crackle, or pop once in a while.
03:22Don't worry about the popping.
03:23It's not going to hurt you.
03:24It's not going to hurt the corn.
03:26So you can see my corn is getting nice and caramelized.
03:29It's got some nice charring on it.
03:30It's got some blistering.
03:32You'll know when the corn is cooked when the kernels start to go from really opaque to kind
03:36of clearing up.
03:37They were dull before, and now they're starting to get shiny, and that means the corn inside
03:41is cooked.
03:41We're going to start out with the mayonnaise, and we're going to be pretty liberal with
03:45the mayonnaise just for the fact that you want everything to stick to this corn.
03:49Basically, what I'm going to do is take the corn, brush it with the mayonnaise, tap it into
03:54my cheese.
03:55We're using Cotija cheese, which is a Mexican-aged cheese.
03:58It has a little zing to it.
04:00It's a little salty.
04:01If I can't find Cotija, I use Pecorino Romano.
04:05It's not the exact same thing, but it is still delicious.
04:08The tajin is just a spice blend.
04:10It has a little lime seasoning in it.
04:12It has a little bit of chili.
04:13It's readily available in most supermarkets.
04:16So I like to get it on the plate.
04:17I dust it with a little more tajin, and then I put the limes on the side because as you
04:22take your corn, you can dress it with the lime.
04:24All right, time to get in there.
04:25I grab my handle.
04:30The corn is sweet.
04:32It's got some good crunch.
04:33You can taste like the smokiness.
04:35The cheese, mayo, and tajin just complements the corn.
04:38It's one of the best ways to put corn on the table.
04:43Boiled corn is the classic.
04:45And what boiling does is it allows us to kind of enjoy the pure corn flavor with a little
04:49bit of butter, a little bit of salt.
04:51So get a pot of boiling water up.
04:53I'm going to salt my water and go fairly heavily.
04:55You can always add more salt later on if you want.
04:58The water is boiling, and all you really have to do is drop it in.
05:00You can see right now the corn is kind of opaque.
05:02We want it to go translucent and change color to a bright yellow color.
05:06Okay, so get all that corn in there.
05:08I got a pair of tongs.
05:09I just spin it around once in a while.
05:11It takes only about like three to four minutes for this corn to cook fully.
05:15We want it to get hot all the way through.
05:17Whatever kind of starchiness is in the corn will cook away as the corn boils.
05:21So we'll get that nice sweet bite of corn.
05:23Try not to overcook it.
05:24Let it simmer for about three or four minutes.
05:26It can sit in the hot water.
05:28So as this corn cooks, you can see that the corn is turning colors.
05:32The small one's got shiny and translucent.
05:34It's not as milky looking.
05:35It's not as opaque.
05:36So I'm going to take those out because I think that they're pretty close to being ready.
05:40One thing you have to remember as a cook is that things tend to carry over cook,
05:43which means even after you take it out of the liquid or you take it out of the oven,
05:46things do tend to continue to cook because they retain a lot of heat.
05:50So I'm going to give this corn, the big ones, another minute.
05:53One thing you want to make sure is to serve your corn hot.
05:55Take it out of the water right before you're going to serve it.
05:58You want that butter to melt, so serve it hot.
06:00I think this is done.
06:01I'm going to shut it off.
06:02I'm going to take my corn out, let it drain.
06:04So just so you can see, I have a raw piece of corn in my hand, and that's a cooked piece.
06:09So it goes from this really kind of dull, opaque corn to really something nice and shiny,
06:14and it's starting to get really translucent.
06:16It's time to dress our corn, and I know that it seems like a waste that I'm using a whole stick of butter,
06:21but this butter is not going to go to waste.
06:22We're only rubbing the corn on it.
06:24It's not contaminating the butter.
06:25We want to make sure that we get this corn buttered up really well.
06:29It's nice and glistening.
06:31Get your corn cob holders, stick them in.
06:34The butter is almost the same size as the corn, and everyone's going to be like,
06:37oh, Chef Frank, why are you wasting that butter?
06:40Why are you using that whole thing?
06:40No, I'm not going to waste the butter.
06:42I'm not that person.
06:43I like to put a little salt on this as well.
06:47So these things on the end, I don't know exactly what they're called.
06:49I just call them corn holders.
06:51Usually you'll see them at your local supermarket around summertime.
06:54It's not necessary, but I find it to be a nice, nostalgic, like, little touch.
06:58We used a fair amount of butter on this corn.
06:59That's four ears of corn, and we're probably about one-third of the way of that butter.
07:03So if you're serving a crowd, this whole thing of butter is going to go.
07:05I know it might seem obvious or simple, but this is the best way to boil corn.
07:10It's easy, and it yields a good result every single time.
07:15We're going to saute some corn now.
07:17This dish is a sauteed corn dish I used to make when I worked in restaurants.
07:21It's basically corn with some chili, some garlic, a little bit of oil, and cilantro.
07:25Some people don't like to get their hands messy, and you have to cut the corn off the cob for them.
07:29This really works good as a side dish as well.
07:32I'm going to show you the way that I like to do it.
07:34I get a tray.
07:35I get my corn that has been shucked.
07:37I get a kitchen towel.
07:38I put the tip down, and I just run the knife along the side.
07:44The corn kind of just zips right off and falls onto the tray.
07:48You get a maximum amount of corn.
07:51You can see that I'm not going too close to the center.
07:53I'm going to be on the outside of the cob.
07:55So I'm just going to get as close as I can to that, and then cut straight down.
07:59So now that we have that done, we have all of our corn kernels ready to saute.
08:03So you can also go through this if you have any silk, corn husk, or any kernels that don't look good,
08:08and pick anything out that's not really nice like that.
08:11I cut the really simple here.
08:13I like my corn to be a little spicy and savory because it's so sweet already.
08:17So I have a pan on.
08:18I'm going to put some oil in the pan.
08:20Don't be shy with the oil.
08:21We don't want to put a lot, but we want to coat the bottom of our pan.
08:24And what I'm going to do is I'm going to get my garlic just to start getting some flavor or some color to it.
08:30I'm not going to go crazy.
08:31I don't want it to be too brown, but I do want it to get it toasty.
08:34Once the garlic starts to sizzle, we can add our chilies.
08:37These are Fresno chilies.
08:38And once you start to smell your garlic getting toasty, we can add our corn.
08:43You can see my garlic's getting toasty around my edges.
08:46All the corn can go in.
08:48So we'll add a little bit of salt to this.
08:49And you'll see, like, when you shuck the corn like this or when you take it off the cob,
08:54it comes together in, like, minutes.
08:55A really good side dish, especially if corn doesn't need to take a long time.
09:00Basically cooks in about three minutes.
09:02Make sure you season it really well.
09:05Remember, corn is really sweet.
09:07We add the garlic.
09:08We add the chilies.
09:09Add a little spice, a little savoriness.
09:11A little more oil.
09:12And once the corn starts to get soft, and it goes from that opaque to that translucent color,
09:18showing us that it's cooked.
09:21Now we can take our cilantro.
09:23I just like to tear it up.
09:25I'm not lowering the heat.
09:26I'm going on high heat for a short amount of time.
09:29It only takes a few minutes to get it nice.
09:32I shut the heat off.
09:33I add my lime juice.
09:36Give it a quick stir.
09:38And then we can drop it onto the plate.
09:41You have a quick and easy side for any meal during the week.
09:44Let's give it a taste.
09:48It's hot, but it's delicious.
09:51It's got all those components.
09:52A little bit of heat.
09:53A lot of sweetness from the corn.
09:55Some nice savoriness from the garlic.
09:57It's got pretty much everything.
09:58All three of these corn dishes are sure to satisfy someone in your friend or family group.
10:03No matter which way you go with this, you're going to make someone happy.
10:06All these methods are easy.
10:08All of them make a great dish.
10:10I hope you try them out.
10:12Today I'm going to tell you everything you need to know about corn.
10:21Right on my head.
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