Grilled Corn w/Smoked Paprika Butter

So, if you're grilling...make sure you add this to the menu!!  Usually you will want to soak the ears for a few hours, grill them with the husks on and then slather them with a smoked paprika butter. In a pinch, you can par boil them and grill them directly with the kernels exposed.

 

Ingredients:

6 corn on the cob, unshucked

1/4 c softened butter

½ tsp brown sugar

1 T fresh lime juice

1 T smoked paprika or chipotle powder or canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce

1 small garlic clove chopped

Fresh ground pepper

 

Directions:

Soak the corn in salt water for several hours to get the shucks moist. (Add 2 T salt to 1 gallon of water).  In a medium bowl combine butter, sugar, lime juice, chili, garlic and smoked paprika or ancho pepper until the ingredients are well mixed.  Grill the corn, with the shucks intact, over hot coals or high gas burners on the grill, turning frequently, until done, about 30 minutes. The shucks will often turn dark/black but will protect the corn. If a few kernels get grilled, that is on purpose. You want just a little char to come through. Peel the shucks back, one at a time, until most of the corn is exposed and then remove the silk. With a pastry brush lavishly coat the corn with the spiced butter mixture.

 

Quick Method:

When you want to keep the cooking time down, just shuck the corn, clean off the silk and par boil them for five minutes in boiling water just to flash cook them and fix the sugars. Then grill them for five minutes, turning them from time to time so they don't burn. Don’t worry if some of the kernels get dark and blacken as few of those will only add to the smoky flavors.