I was recently in the lovely old city of Charleston, South Carolina (founded 1670), with a group of Baltimore Symphony patrons there to see our new Music Director-Designate conduct at the Spoleto Festival. A friend and I dined at a restaurant called Basic Kitchen, which offers many vegan options. One thing on the menu caught my eye: although I had never heard of them before, I ordered “Corn Ribs” at the suggestion of the server, who said they are one of their most popular dishes.
Corn ribs are essentially strips of corn on the cob, oven-baked full of spices to have an aromatic taste, and served, at least at Basic Kitchen, with a dipping sauce. They are delicious because you can add herbs and spices on a lot more corn surface than when you cook corn on the cob. Each seasoned bite is a taste treat.
They are made by cutting ears of corn in half lengthwise and then cutting each of those halves lengthwise. These quarter-ribs are then seasoned; different recipes feature different seasonings but can include oregano, salt (leave out if concerned about sodium in your diet), paprika, coriander, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, cinnamon, chili powder, ground ginger – or other spices you might want to try. The seasonings are blended with some olive oil and then added to the bowl of ribs to be brushed over the chopped corn. They then are baked in the oven or put into an air-fryer. Finally, they can be garnished with lime wedges, cilantro, parsley, sliced green onions, etc.
At Basic Kitchen, they are served with Alabama White BBQ Sauce (mayonnaise, white vinegar, mustard, horseradish, salt and pepper, garlic powder, paprika), along with pieces of celery to eat with the ribs to counteract the spiciness. (I’ve noticed that corn rib recipes I’ve seen online don’t feature celery as an accompaniment, but I appreciated it.) Various other sauce options might include garlic aioli, barbecue sauce, flavored vegan mayonnaise, avocado cilantro sauce, creamy sriracha dipping sauce, or any other you might want to try.
This dish is so delicious that I decided to get two orders to take on the plane home with me so that I could drop one off to a couple who were really looking forward to going to Basic Kitchen but were unable to make the trip at the last minute. (I couldn’t resist – I ate the other order at the Charleston airport.) When I got to their home, I sat there while they tried them, and the woman went right to her computer to see if she could find a recipe because she wanted to make them herself.
No one in Baltimore, Maryland, I’ve spoken with had ever heard of Corn Ribs. We figure it must be a southern dish. Apparently it’s been around in the South only for a few years, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we started seeing it spread to the north.
It’s fun to try a new dish from another part of the country!