Corn Riblets: A Risk and Reward Food

Sometimes making food can be hazardous. Corn riblets are one of those foods that make you question your sanity and willingness to sacrifice your hand at the same time. If you have ever tried to make this dish, you will know what I am talking about. If not, I will show you why in a moment.

But if you make this right, you will be guaranteed a treat of flavor explosions! It is an amazing side dish that will have you crave it every time you grill or BBQ or braai.

This dish is basically corn that is quartered lengthwise and doused in BBQ flavors and then grilled. I opted to go for a lemon and smoked paprika flavor profile, but you can choose any flavors you'd like. A standard sweet and sour BBQ sauce will be amazing, but any flavor will work.

Please read onward and follow these easy, but hazardous steps to make this awesome side dish. A word of warning: This can be dangerous so please be safe.

Ingredients:

This is a very simple side dish, but because it is a blank canvas you can change it so easily. For this dish you will need:

• A couple of corn cobs,
• Lemons,
• Smoked paprika,
• Salt and pepper, and
• Olive oil.

Method

If you can buy corn riblets it will be much safer. If you cannot, you can make them yourself but beware of the safety risks. Cutting any food that does not have flat surfaces can be a hazard. If you use sharp knives (which you always should) this becomes even more dangerous. Proceed with caution.

Lengthwise, cut them in half. Cut the half in half again, or otherwise, quarter it. I used a clever for this because the corn is really hard. It is like cutting through bone.

You will not get everyone perfect. Corn does not want to be cut like this. Your fingers are more valuable, so mess up the odd one that does not want to be cut perfectly. You will get a couple of perfect ones.

As mentioned, I opted to go with a lemon and smoked paprika flavor profile. You can choose any flavor. I think you should add some oil to it though. Oil helps grilled food cook quicker and more effectively. It also makes things taste better.

After marinating them, it is off to the grill! In South Africa, we call it a braai and we use wood for this. It is thus wood-grilled food. The coals impart a unique flavor to the food. Especially with the oil that drips onto the coals. Expect some fire flareups.

I do not turn them around. Any excess marinade you can drip over the corn riblets. In about 15 minutes they will be cooked. Just keep an eye on them as they can burn rather quickly and then they will not be cooked through. Cooking on coals can be a guessing game in some regards. The more you do it the more natural it becomes.

Even though I have been cooking for so long on coals, I managed to burn them a little! But it was only one or two.

As mentioned, they take around 15 minutes to cook. They are so delicious and tender if you get them right! All cooking is in some sense a hit-or-miss game. Sometimes you just get it right.

Dish Up

You can probably make this a main dish with some extra sauce or something. But the main point of this dish is to impress, I would reckon. It is an impressive side dish, but is it worth the trouble and potential harm? That is something you need to answer for yourself.

I hope you give this dish a try, but be careful. The best bet would be to buy them pre-cut or to just grill them old-fashioned style. One might never again hear about this dish when enough people cut themselves. This is a rather useless way of making the corn because you will eat it the same as a normal piece of corn, but one cannot argue: It looks pretty cool.

In any case, this is something you find all over the world, I by no means claim this is my recipe or method. All of the photographs are my own, taken with my iPhone. Happy cooking, and stay safe!