The tarragon corn didn't knock my socks off

[Lost in China]

I made the "Ultimate Corn on the Cob" recipe as detailed on this site last night. Melted butter, tarragon left in to diffuse, and paint the corn while on the grill. It didn't knock my socks off. I ended up with corn that looked like the photo, with small bits of tarragon instead of the large leaves, but the corn was just OK. It didn't have any amazing tarragon flavor or butter flavor or anything, really. It was just like eating corn. I ended up salting it to make it better. Where did I go wrong?

[Medusa]

WOW! I really don't have an answer - sorry. I did it for the 1st time about a week ago, and #1 decreed that corn will be done as such in the future.

Gee, the only thing I wonder is did you use fresh corn in the husk? Maybe the corn itself wasn't up to par. Sounds like you had fresh tarragon leaves.

In this case, I'd say try it again.

--Ed

[Huskee]

Guessing it was whatever source of tarragon you used, sounds like you did everything right though. It should have a pretty obvious presence in the flavor. I made this recipe and while it wowed many at my table I found out I'm not a big fan of tarragon myself.

[Lost in China]

I thought there was plenty of tarragon on the corn. Maybe I'll try even more next time. It doesn't really matter how much tarragon gets on the corn, because the butter oil dissolves the flavors, right? It's just for looks.

It was from a bottle of "McCormick Gourmet" tarragon. Fresh tarragon leaves are out of the question unless I start growing it myself or something. I thought I got enough brown carmelization on the grill, as well. I'll try again with more butter and more tarragon, and if that doesn't work maybe I'll try some other herb.

This is the reference photo from the article on this site. If anything, my corn is more carmelized and has more tarragon on it.

[Medusa]

"...It was from a bottle of "McCormick Gourmet" tarragon. Fresh tarragon leaves are out of the question unless I start growing it myself or something..."

I think the bottled spice ( even tho McCormick ) might be the culprit. Too bad the fresh leaves aren't available. IMHO, that's the difference.

[Lost in China]

Dried spices still taste good. Come on, that's just food snobbery. Fresh spices are great, but it's not like dried spices are horrid.

[Dr ROK]

Have to disagree with using fresh herbs as "food snobbery." In many cases (i.e. caprese, marg. pizza with fresh basil leaves as a topper, etc), it's just better with fresh herbs. Had the bottle been open and setting on the shelf for awhile or was it a new bottle. Even with a new bottle if it's been several months since the tarragon was packed in the bottle, it's going to lose it's punch. Did it have a strong tarragon smell right out of the bottle? Sounds to me like your tarragon is the issue.

Try this as a corn topper:

Ingredients
• 1 stick butter
• 1 lime, juiced and zested
• 1 small jalapeno, seeded
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 6 ears corn on the cob, husked
• 1 slice bread, of any kind
• Coarse salt
Directions
Combine butter, lime, jalapeno, garlic and paprika in food processor and pulse process until smooth. Place on waxed paper or plastic and roll. Place in freezer until ready to serve.
Cook corn by boiling, steaming or grilling. Cut disks of butter and rub onto corn, nesting the butter in a slice of bread to apply it to the hot corn. Season ears with salt (and fight over the hot buttered bread slice!)

[Medusa]

I thought that I had read somewhere that in some cases there is a big difference.

Just trying to help-excuse me. Good luck.

[chudzikb]

Did you let it sit in the butter for a while to absorb the flavor? I do this with fresh taragon and it rocks, of course, my kids think differently, so mostly just do with a little butter, still much better than in a pot of water.