Corn Roast Revisited

Earlier this week I mentioned getting a steal on corn at Ron's Market. This purchase came from my recent desire for a taste memory from my childhood. When I was young, my aunt and uncle had an annual party at the end of the summer, the Corn Roast. My uncle set up a grill and roasted bushels of corn over an open flame. At the end of the grill area was a large coffee can, filled with melted butter, into which each ear of corn was dunked after cooking to perfection. To my taste buds, grilled corn means mosquito bites and giggles while hiding in a gazebo in the woods. It means watermelon and cousins, netted food covers to keep flies away, thick ropes holding a plank swing from an ancient tree. Most of all, however, corn roasted on a grill means Uncle Bill.

My Uncle Bill was a wonderful man, always ready with a joke to put a smile on everyone's faces. He was generous of his time and resources, and even at the end of his life, joy seemed to radiate from his eyes and his smile. It's been about three years since he left this earth, but his memory remains.

With him in mind, I soaked the ears of corn, still wrapped in their leaves, in cold water while I set up the grill. After getting the charcoal jut right, I arranged the ears on the grill and let them cook for about 15 minutes, turned them and cooked them for another 15 minutes. I got my corn grilling information from GrilledCornOnTheCob.com, which gives step by step instructions with photos on how to make great grilled corn.

After all was cooked and eaten, I looked to my mother and said, "All that was missing was the coffee can," and we both smiled, remembering a great man.