Where has this been all of my life? I love sweet corn, especially in summer when it has just been picked. I love bacon, any time and with just about any food. How come I have never thought of grilling the two together?
This recipe has been featured in many articles highlighting favorite tailgating foods for NFL fans. The Taste Of The NFL featured it and Blue Ribbon restaurants regularly feature this as a side dish.
It’s crazy simple-corn and bacon. No special spices, no secret ingredients. The toughest part of the recipe is cutting the corn off of the cob, and there are tons of kitchen gadgets that will help you do that. The only other kitchen tool needed is your electric griddle.
Sweet Corn
Sweet corn is exactly what the name implies. It’s corn with a high sugar content. In many cuisines it is added into vegetable dishes. Tex-Mex cooking will use sweet corn in chilis and tacos while most Americans steam or boil it and eat it with butter and salt and pepper. Left to dry, the corn can be cooked in oil and will double in size. Unlike popcorn, it won’t pop but can be eaten whole. You probably know it as corn nuts.
This is the perfect recipe to try out different types of bacon. The natural saltiness of the bacon will flavor the corn, you don’t need to add any salt to this dish. Using an apple wood bacon works well here, as does a maple bacon. Turkey bacon is okay in this recipe but it doesn’t crumble very well. You want the bacon to be crisp but not burnt.
Ingredients
8 cobs of sweet corn
1 pound of bacon, cut up into small pieces
Directions
Boil corn until fully cooked. Shock corn in cold water.
Using a knife, remove the kernels from the corn.
On your electric griddle over medium heat, grill your bacon until desired crispness.
Carefully remove bacon and let it rest on plate with paper towel to absorb excess fat. Pour off the excess fat on the griddle (thank goodness for grease trays!), reserving 2 tablespoons rendered bacon fat to cook the corn. Add the corn to the bacon fat and sauté over medium heat until heated through, about 1 minute.
Toss with bacon and serve warm.