Hallelujah! Beautiful Corn on the Cob Has Arrived.
While we may still be a couple of days from the official start of summer, when good corn on the cob hits the markets, summer is here, as far as I’m concerned. There isn’t a single food memory that speaks to me more strongly than eating butter drenched ears of sweet corn throughout my entire childhood and beyond. It’s the perfect sweet/salty food.
I decided to play up that sweet and salty aspect with this recipe. There’s no need to drown the flavors of beautiful corn on the cob, but it can certainly be exciting to intensify those flavors, which is what I did here. A little oil in a hot skillet is all you need in order to get a nice light char on the ears of corn. Then the fun begins.
Remove the corn from the skillet, wipe it out, lower the heat, and add butter, white miso paste, urfa biber * (a slightly sweet and smoky chili flake, but you could use any chili flake that floats your boat), soy sauce, shaoxing wine * or dry sherry, a little water, and maple syrup. Let this come to a simmer and put the corn back in the pan. While bubbling gently, cook the corn for 10 minutes, turning it from time to time.
As the sauce ingredients cook, they will thicken, and you’ll end up with an extremely tasty butter sauce to spoon over the corn. Again, it’s both sweet and salty with a little bit of spice. I served these with wedges of lime and I think the lime is essential to the positive outcome of this recipe. There are plenty of deep flavors here and the lime juice is needed to brighten things up and balance the sweetness of the sauce.
There’s not a whole lot more to say about this, other than when I served it, it was one of those deals where I intended it to be a supporting actor in the meal and it ended up being the star attraction. You know what I mean. I served it with my Ribs with Black Lime/Sichuan Peppercorn Salt , which we all love, but it was the corn we couldn’t stop talking about. What a way to kick off summer corn season.
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Corn on the Cob with Maple Soy Butter Sauce
4
servingsCorn on the cob is first lightly charred in a skillet before making a pan butter sauce from butter, miso, soy sauce, urfa biber flakes, soy sauce, shaoxing wine, and maple syrup. Then the corn is cooked in the sauce until it's tender and the sauce has thickened. Served with lime wedges, this is summer corn at its best!
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Ingredients
4 ears corn on the cob, shucked
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons salted butter
2 tablespoons white miso paste
2 teaspoons urfa biber *, Aleppo pepper, or any other medium heat chili flake
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 cup shaoxing wine * or dry sherry
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
Lime wedges for serving
Directions
- In a 12 inch skillet (I used non-stick), heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the ears of corn and cook, while turning the ears, until the corn is lightly charred in spots - about 10 minutes total. Remove the corn from the skillet, wipe it out, and turn the heat down to medium low.
- Add the butter, miso paste, urfa biber *, soy sauce, shaoxing wine *, water, and maple syrup. Stir everything together until the miso has melted and the sauce is simmering. Add the ears of corn back into the skillet. Let cook, while maintaining a steady simmer, and turning the corn occasionally for 10 minutes. The sauce will become thicker. Remove the corn from the skillet, spoon on the sauce, serve with lime wedges, and Enjoy!