How to Smoke Corn and Potatoes
Today, while many were dreaming of the weekend and living for 5:00, we were having a great time smoking corn on the cob and potatoes. I’d like to share my story and inspire you to try it for yourself.
By the way, we are very privileged to have our own garden. It’s a lot of fun to cook and eat the food we’ve raised ourselves. I used fresh garden corn and potatoes in this recipe.
We started by carefully peeling back the husk and removing the silk. Then we stuck them all in a bucket of cold water for about 2 hours. I am not sure why we did this except others who have gone before told me to do this.
Incredible ears of Incredible corn (yep, that’s the variety we raise).
Once it was done soaking, we “pulled the wool” back over the ears, and it was ready for the smoker.
Fresh, home-grown potatoes. You just can’t beat it. Nope!
To prep the tators, we just mixed some Meadow Creek Traditional Rub with palm shortening (you can use olive oil or anything like that) and rolled the potatoes around in it. I’ve heard the oil helps make the skins more crisp. I just took them out of this bowl straight onto the smoker and drizzled some of the extra liquid onto the potatoes.
My Meadow Creek SQ36 Offset Smoker loaded and rolling. I think I kept it between 225-250 F for most of the time.
About 45 minutes into the cook, I peeled back the husks and rubbed down the cobs with rub butter. Later I again opened the smoker and put some rub butter on the ears. The second time around you can just lift the husks a bit and work a little more rub under them.
Jeff Phillips taught me how to make rub butter and it’s a fantastic idea. You simply mix soft butter with your favorite seasoning. About 1-2 tablespoons per stick (1/4 pound) of butter, depending on how salty your rub is. I used Butt Rub and Dizzy Pig’s Dizzy Dust, half and half. It was a bit spicy and gave the corn great flavor. It was a bit under-salted, but we just added more rub butter before serving.
The finished product. 🙂 We started eating the corn at about 1.5 hours after putting it on the smoker. It was very delicious, but could have used more heat. It should take 1.5-2 hours.
We spread some more rub butter on the ears before crunching down on them. Again, your butter to rub ratio will vary based on your salt content.
The smallest potatoes were pretty soft before 2 hours was up. Bigger ones could take a few hours. Just poke them with a fork. You will be able to feel when they are soft.
The potatoes were very delicious too, topped of course, with rub butter. Missing was the sour cream, bacon bits, and cheese. But present was smoke flavor and the indescribable goodness of fresh garden produce. We didn’t make a full course meal out of it, but just a glorified early afternoon snack out by the smoker.
I think corn on the cob and potatoes are a real attraction in backyard and even commercial barbecue. Now is a great time to get some corn at the produce stand or out of your own garden and make the smoke roll.
Moral of the story: Cook that corn, but remember, family is always more important than corn.
Have fun,
Lavern
June 22nd, 2012 at 5:34 pm
LAVERN , I can’t wait to try this… Thank You. Lenny
July 3rd, 2012 at 4:35 pm
@lenny haspe, What a delicious side dish (s). I use garlic butter on my corn to give it some extra flavor. Mmmmmm,gooood.
June 22nd, 2012 at 5:45 pm
Hi
I have an electric smoker, don’t have the budget nor the space for one of yours, but I will give this a try.
Regards,
Rick
June 22nd, 2012 at 5:52 pm
Looks real good–We’ll have to try it when the New Jersey corn comes in.Thanks for the recipe. Bruce
June 22nd, 2012 at 6:52 pm
lavern: thanks a lot of for this easy and delicious recipe..!I went right out to my backyard and gave it a try, the whole family enjoyed it and kept asking for more.
Congratulations and keep up the good work. have a nice weekend..!
June 22nd, 2012 at 10:42 pm
Thanks,
A great recipe.
June 22nd, 2012 at 10:47 pm
Thank you Lavern I will have to try this.
June 23rd, 2012 at 1:00 am
Skip the soak – the corn cooks a lot quicker! – and a lot less mess. You have plenty of moisture in the husks already. Been doing this the last three years – will never go back.
Love the rub butter idea and the oil on the potatoes. Been just washing the potatoes and tossing them with salt in the past – that works pretty well. Looking forward to trying the potatoes with oil this weekend – corn with rub butter – and grilled chicken – MMM – MMM good!
June 23rd, 2012 at 2:26 am
this is a wonderful recipe, i want to thank you for sharing it, i love the taste of the corn and potatoes,
June 23rd, 2012 at 4:07 am
Doing corn and potatoes this way looks terrific! I’ve smoked whole potatoes (in with ribs) and it adds a whole new demension of flavor to ’em. I can hardly wait to put these tip to use1 thanks Lavern.
June 23rd, 2012 at 5:56 am
I smoked some corn last year when my daughter was home for a couple of days and they really enjoyed themselves, hoping she gets home this year when the garden corn is ready, thanks a lot and keep up the good work.
June 23rd, 2012 at 10:18 am
Looks like a new addition for my 4th of July cook out. Thanks
June 23rd, 2012 at 1:01 pm
Lavern, nice change from smoking meats THANKS!!
June 23rd, 2012 at 3:11 pm
Lavern,
to butter the corn fill a half gallon plastic milk jug 3/4 full of hot water add a stick of butter when melted dip corn all the way in and pull out slowly this will butter your ear then add salt or rub to taste
June 23rd, 2012 at 5:42 pm
Have been grilling or smoking corn for years it is the best a chile lime butter is also outstanding also. I always soak the husk also it helps steam the corn and if there happens to be any bugs they will usually exit the corn and then drown
June 23rd, 2012 at 8:01 pm
This is a great way to cook corn. You can also season the corn before pulling the husk back over the ear with interesting results. The cold water makes the kernals more tender and prevents a breakdown of the kernals. At least that is what I believe. We steam our potatoes in aluminum foil along with other vegetable and a little Florida orange juice. This is a great way to use a smoker to make vegetarians real happy. Love these great stories and ideas. Your group is first class.
June 25th, 2012 at 6:38 am
Soaking the corn is for doing it directly over charcoal…you don’t need to soak it if you just smoke it
June 25th, 2012 at 7:21 am
Thanks Lavern I have done corn on a smoker must try the rub butter,thanks for the email.
June 25th, 2012 at 10:06 am
It may seem like a waste but try soaking the corn in beer. It’s amazing!
June 25th, 2012 at 6:58 pm
Thanks for the recipe sounds like a winner
June 25th, 2012 at 8:05 pm
Will try this on my gas grill, did a 6# butt two weeks ago and did not get it right, so I will try again in a couple of weeks. I will do the corn and potatoes this weekend.
Keep up the good work.
Russell
June 27th, 2012 at 7:27 am
Looks awesome! I’ve always done a version of this on my grill – minus the rub in the butter – but you betcha I’ll be stealing that idea, and I will be trying it in the smoker very soon! Here’s another variation I make for an occasional treat: schmear peanut butter on the corn after you’ve peeled back the husks and gotten rid of all the silk. Wrap a strip of thin bacon around the corn in a spiral, pull husks back up and grill/smoke. You’ll probably have to pull the husks back towards the end of the cook and set back on the heat if you want crispy, non-flubbery bacon. It ain’t health food, but it sure is delicious!
June 29th, 2012 at 5:11 am
You soak the corn & primarily the husk so it does’nt burn/flame. You could also soak the corn in sugar water for added sweetness. – Or even mix sugar & butter & pepper, lather the corn cornels, then re-wrap or pull husk back over – cook at 200 degrees until done – Sweeet with a bite….!!!