3 Corn Recipes to Level Up Your Cooking

I notice most people tend to overcook

or undercook their corn

and they don't really find that good middle ground.

There's nothing worse than going to like a party or a picnic

and someone gives you a ear of corn that's been overcooked.

It is wet, soggy and mushy and it's easily avoidable.

Good corn is sweet and juicy

and tastes really great on its own.

So today, I'm gonna show you three different ways

to make it slightly better.

[bright music] [hands clapping]

So, we're gonna grill this corn

and what I love about grilled corn is

that it changes the texture.

The corn is still sweet, it's still delicious.

But when you grill the corn on the cob,

the outside gets caramelized, it gets a little smoky,

it gets a little char on it.

Elotes is a street corn originated in Mexico.

It's on the cob.

It's usually just with mayo, cheese, lime juice,

and some sort of spicy topping.

I don't have an outside grill,

so I'm gonna do it on this grill plate.

And what I like to do is just take off some

of the outside leaves.

Not a lot 'cause we still need the leaves.

We're gonna make a handle with the leaves.

So, I'll get my corn, I'll pull it back,

I'll leave the bottom part on.

And then what you can do is get a little piece of husk

and I like to tie it there.

It'll hold it nice and tight

so that when you actually pick this up

it'll be a nice handle.

We always wanna pick corn that's heavy for its size.

Weight matters because that means

that it's got some liquid in it.

It's not dried out.

After you pick things, the moisture in the vessel starts

to evaporate and it gets lighter.

So, if it's heavy, it means it's retained most of its water

and it's gonna be nice and juicy.

When we peel back the top, if the silk is wet,

you're gonna have some moisture at the tip of your corn

and it's gonna get, not necessarily rotten,

but it just gets soft and mushy.

This piece, the top is just a little dry.

It's not bad, I'll just snap the top off

so you won't get a beautiful piece of corn from that,

but it's still a nice edible piece of corn.

So again, heavy for its size, silk is dry.

Let's pull it back.

See how the kernels are all plump.

They're not really shrunken or shriveled.

So, this is a really nice cob of corn.

I don't think there's any real tricks

or tips on how to shuck corn.

It's pretty darn easy.

I like to remove the silk

because it does not have good flavor.

It actually has a texture kinda like hair

and nobody likes eating hair.

The next step before the corn goes on the grill is

we want to oil it lightly.

It's gonna add a little bit of flavor,

but for the most part it's gonna kickstart

that caramelization and charring process.

You can use olive, you can use vegetable,

you can use avocado oil, but any sort of oil.

And you notice the reason I'm using a brush is

because this is gonna gimme that nice light coating.

Now, I'm gonna put it on my preheated griddle.

If you don't have a griddle, put it on the grill outside.

Basically, you want to put it on the griddle

and let it char on every side.

You wanna do this in a well ventilated area.

So, if you're not doing it outside

and you're doing any inside on your griddle,

make sure you have a hood on or a vent fan on.

So, the handle on this might char a little.

Chances are it won't burst into flames

because the husk is so moist.

So, that moisture is gonna burn off, it's gonna smoke,

but for the most part it should not go up in flames.

If it does, just like tamp it down with a towel,

get a little water,

spritz it with a little water, it's fine.

What we're looking for here is

that we're starting to get that char.

Notice how I push those handles off to the side a little.

We want to get it charred on every side.

We want the corn to cook thoroughly so don't rush it,

take a little time.

Our corn is almost done

and you might hear a snap, crackle or pop once in a while.

Don't worry about the popping.

It's not gonna hurt you.

It's not gonna hurt the corn.

So, you can see my corn is getting nice and caramelized.

Got some nice charring on it.

It's got some blistering.

You'll know when the corn is cooked, when the kernels start

to go from really opaque to kind of clearing up.

They were dull before and now they're starting to get shiny.

And that means the corn inside is cooked.

We're gonna start out with the mayonnaise

and we're gonna be pretty liberal with the mayonnaise,

just for the fact that you want everything

to stick to this corn.

Basically, what I'm gonna do is take the corn,

brush it with the mayonnaise, tap it into my cheese.

We're using Cotija cheese, which is a Mexican aged cheese.

It has a little zing to it, it's a little salty.

If I can't find Cotija, I use Pecorino or Romano.

It's not the exact same thing, but it is still delicious.

The tajín is just a spice blend.

It has a little lime seasoning in it,

it has a little bit of chili.

It's readily available in most supermarkets.

So, I'd like to get it on the plate.

I dust it with a little more tajín

and then I put the limes on the side

because as you take your corn you can dress it

with the lime.

All right, time to get in there, I grab my handle.

Hmm, the corn is sweet.

It's got some good crunch.

You can taste like the smokiness,

the cheese, mayo and tajín just compliments the corn.

It's one of the best ways to put corn on the table.

[bright music] [hands clapping]

Boiled corn is the classic

and what boiling does is it allows us

to kind of enjoy the pure corn flavor

with a little bit of butter, a little bit of salt.

So, get a pot of boiling water up.

I'm gonna salt my water and go fairly heavily.

You can always add more salt later on if you want.

The water's boiling

and all you really have to do is drop it in.

You can see right now the corn is kind of opaque.

We want it to go translucent and change color

to a bright yellow color.

Okay, so get all that corn in there.

I got a pair of tongs.

I just spin it around once in a while.

It takes only about like three to four minutes

for this corn to cook fully.

We want it to get hot all the way through.

Whatever kinda starchiness is in the corn

will cook away as the corn boils.

So, we'll get that nice sweet bite of corn.

Try not to overcook it.

Let it simmer for about three or four minutes.

It can sit in the hot water.

So, as this corn cooks,

you can see that the corn is turning colors.

The small one's got shiny and translucent

and it's not as milky looking, it's not as opaque.

So, I'm gonna take those out

'cause I think that they're pretty close to being ready.

One thing you have to remember as a cook is

that things tend to carry over cook,

which means even after you take it out of the liquid

or you take it outta the oven,

things do tend to continue to cook

'cause they retain a lot of heat.

So, I'm gonna give this corn, the big ones, another minute.

One thing you wanna make sure is to serve your corn hot.

Take it out of the water right before you're gonna serve it.

You want that butter to melt, so serve it hot.

I think this is done, I'm gonna shut it off.

And I'm gonna take my corn, let it drain.

So, just so you can see,

I have a raw piece of corn in my hand

and that's a cooked piece.

So, it goes from this really kind of dull, opaque corn

to really something nice and shiny

and it's starting to get really translucent.

It's time to dress our corn.

And I know that it seems like a waste

that I'm using a whole stick of butter,

but this butter's not gonna go to waste.

We're only rubbing the corn on it.

It's not contaminating the butter.

We wanna make sure

that we get this corn buttered up really well.

It's nice and glistening.

Get your corn cob holders, stick 'em in.

The butter's almost the same size as the corn

and everyone's gonna be like,

Oh Chef Frank, why are you wasting that butter?

Why are you using that whole thing?

No, I'm not gonna waste the butter.

I'm not that person.

I like to put a little salt on this as well.

So, these things on the end, I don't know exactly

what they're called, I just call them corn holders.

Usually you'll see 'em

at your local supermarket around summertime.

It's not necessary,

but I find it to be a nice nostalgic, like little touch.

We used a fair amount of butter on this corn.

That's four ears of corn and we're probably

about one third of the way of that butter.

So, if you're serving a crowd,

this whole thing of butter's gonna go.

I know it might seem obvious or simple,

but this is the best way to boil corn.

It's easy and it yields a good result every single time.

[bright music] [hands clapping]

we're gonna sauté some corn now.

This dish is a sauté corn dish I used to make

when I worked in restaurants.

It's basically corn with some chili, some garlic,

a little bit of oil and cilantro.

Some people don't like to get their hands messy

and you have to cut the corn off the top for them.

This really works good as a side dish as well.

And I'm gonna show you the way that I like to do it.

I get a tray, I get my corn that has been shucked,

I get a kitchen towel.

I put the tip down and I just run the knife along the side

and the corn kind of just zips right off

and falls onto the tray, right?

You get a maximum amount of corn.

You can see that I'm not going too close to the center.

I'm gonna be on the outside of the cob.

So, I'm just kind of get as close as I can to that

and then cut straight down.

So, now that we have that done,

we have all of our corn kernels ready to sauté.

So, you can also go through this if you have any silk,

corn husk or any kernels that don't look good

and pick anything out that's not really nice like that.

I kept it really simple here.

I like my corn to be a little spicy and savory

because it's so sweet already.

So, I have a pan on, I'm gonna put some oil in the pan.

Don't be shy with the oil.

We don't wanna put a lot,

but we want to coat the bottom of our pan.

And what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna get my garlic just

to start getting some flavor or some some color to it.

[wooden spoon taps]

I'm not gonna go crazy, I don't want it to be too brown,

but I do want it to get it toasty.

And once the garlic starts to sizzle,

we can add our chilies. [food sizzles]

These are Fresno chilies

and once you start to smell your garlic getting toasty,

we can add our corn.

You see my garlic's getting toasty around my edges.

All the corn can go in.

So, we'll add a little bit of salt to this

and you'll see like when you shuck the corn like this

or when you take it off the cob,

[food sizzles]

it comes together in like minutes.

[pan clinks]

A really good side dish,

especially if corn doesn't need to take a long time.

Basically cooks in about three minutes.

Make sure you season it really well.

[pan rattles] [food sizzles]

Remember corn is really sweet.

We add the garlic, we add the chilies,

[wooden spoon taps] add a little spice,

a little savoriness, a little more oil.

And once the corn starts to get soft

and it goes from that opaque to that translucent color

showing us that it's cooked,

and now we can take our cilantro.

I just like to tear it up.

I'm not lowering the heat.

I'm going on high heat for a short amount of time.

It only takes a few minutes to get it nice.

I shut the heat off, I add my lime juice.

Give it a quick stir

[food sizzles] [pan clinks]

and then we can drop it onto the plate.

You have a quick and easy side for any meal during the week.

Let's give it a taste.

Hmm.

It's hot, but it's delicious.

It's got all those components, a little bit of heat,

a lot of sweetness from the corn,

some nice savoriness from the garlic.

It's got pretty much everything.

All three of these corn dishes are sure

to satisfy someone in your friend or family group.

No matter which way you go with this,

you're gonna make someone happy.

All these methods are easy.

All of them make a great dish.

I hope you try 'em out.

[bright music] [graphics pop]

Today, I'm gonna tell you everything you need

to know about corn. [corn patters]

[Frank laughs]

Right on my head.