Andrea Reusing, chef at Lantern in Chapel Hill, NC, cooks whole ears of corn in the dying embers of a charcoal fire after whatever she cooked (burgers, pork chops, whatever) have finished cooking. “I love the efficiency of it,” she says. The waning heat produces some sweeter bites and others that are more charred. Keep the husks on to protect the corn, and soak the ears before they hit the embers so the kernels don’t dry out.
To take corn off the cob easily (and neatly), upend a shucked ear in a large bowl and use a sharp knife to strip the kernels from the cob. Each ear will yield 1⁄2 to 3⁄4 cup of kernels. Then, toss the kernels into salads and salsas spoon them onto lobster or shrimp rolls, fold into cabbage slaw, or use to garnish cold soups, like gazpacho.