Ba'corn Cheese Corn

These deeply savory korean pork belly lettuce wraps walk a fine line between a light meal and and indulgent feast —a line you may not have known existed until now.

Recipe Summary Ba'corn Cheese Corn

This bacon-studded 'cheese corn' is a popular bar snack in Korea, made of pure bacon-y, creamy, cheesy, corny decadence. The original recipe uses a combination of mayonnaise and sweetened condensed milk, but we're going with heavy cream here for a lighter approach. This may be the first time in my career that I've 'lightened up' a recipe by adding a cup of heavy cream. Garnished with green onions, this would be amazing with a cold beer!

Ingredients | Pork Belly Korean

1 (8 ounce) package bacon, chopped

2 (16 ounce) packages frozen sweet corn, thawed

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 bunch green onions, sliced

2 jalapeno peppers, diced, or more to taste

1 pinch salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste

1 cup heavy cream

2 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese

4 ounces shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Directions

Cook bacon in a 10-inch cast iron skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until almost crisp and fat is rendered, 7 to 8 minutes.

Set an oven rack about 6 inches from the heat source and preheat the oven's broiler.

Drain frozen corn thoroughly in a colander. Add 1/2 of the corn to the skillet with the bacon. Cook and stir until kernels just start to turn golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Add garlic, green onions, and jalapenos; cook until vegetables start to soften and sweeten up, 3 to 4 minutes. Tilt pan to drain off some of the fat, using a paper towel to soak it up.

Season with salt, pepper, and cayenne. Pour in cream; stir and bring to a boil. Stir in the remaining corn until heated through. Turn off the heat and add about 2/3 of the mozzarella and Monterey Jack cheese. Stir to combine. Top corn with remaining cheese and a sprinkle of cayenne.

Broil until heated through and top is browned, 5 to 10 minutes. Serve immediately.

You can pan-fry all the corn, or none of it, in the bacon fat in step 2.

I used frozen corn with great success. If you want to use fresh corn, be sure to blanch it, or pan-fry it first, to take off the raw edge. The broiling step doesn't really cook the casserole, so you want the corn nicely cooked by that point.

You can make this ahead by waiting until serving time to top with cheese and broil. You can also bake this at 475 degrees F (250 degrees C). Feel free to Cheddar instead of Monterey Jack.

Info | Pork Belly Korean

prep: 15 mins cook: 25 mins total: 40 mins Servings: 10 Yield: 1 10-inch skillet

TAG : Ba'corn Cheese Corn

Side Dish, Vegetables, Corn,