Spicy Bacon Bourbon Corn – 2019 Red Carpet Menu for Oscar®
It’s the 2019 Red Carpet Menu for Oscar®! For A Star Is Born, it’s The Star Is Corn!
Bradley Cooper had a vision. And his vision is up for a few Academy Awards! Pretty good. This movie was probably the best of the four versions. The chemistry between Bradley and Lady Gaga’s characters was very believable. And let’s talk about casting Lady Gaga… she can act! I don’t know if she even thought she could! The way she’s talked about it conveys her own astonishment at where this film has gone.
It’s a romantic’s most frustrating scenario… boy meets girl and girl meets boy. Love ensues and things are fine except boy is a crippling alcoholic who ultimately can’t fight off his demons… the end. Where’s a “happily ever after”? And walking in knowing the story doesn’t vary from the basic premise… and yet we walk in. Getting to the ultimate tragedy was a good ride here. A scraggly Bradley is still a sexy devil… wait… am I getting too “Shallow”? Ha! The song and the way they perform it in the movie is awesome. That surge of energy… putting the audience in Ally’s shoes as she storms the stage… that surge of adrenaline with her friend cheering her on… I can watch that scene over and over!
Choosing corn not only fits the southern theme and the title, but the movie as well. It’s a “corny” tragic love story that is spiked with “fire water”, only the ending of this dish is decidedly OPPOSITE! It’s full out triumph with not a drop of sadness. My ever-helpful and glamorous friend, Barbara DeBisschop once again has rocked this menu by sharing her favorite corn sauté, which was the inspiration for this dish. I knew it had to be laced with bourbon as a nod to the movie but instead of being a source of pain, it’s a source of transcendent flavor!
Corn is such a fun veggie. I would like to have been there when the first person, most likely accidentally, popped a kernel. Must have scared the heck out of them! Popcorn is my favorite snack but corn can be transformed into a creamy dish, like we did for “Nebraskorn“, or turned into a crazy-good chowder like in our “Manchowder of the Sea“, or used in our delightfully simple Skillet Cornbread. And Barbara once again convinced me to forgo the convenient frozen corn, which is always in my freezer, and just cut those niblets right off the cob! If you haven’t done it, you should! Here’s a hack for it!
“The Star Is Corn” is a fabulous side dish for any meal. Bacon makes everything better as we know. And adding a little bourbon gives it a depth of flavor that makes this dish SING!
Annette
Spicy Bacon Bourbon Corn
Ingredients
- 4 slices bacon
- 3-4 cups fresh corn
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- salt & pepper to taste
- red pepper chili flakes to taste
- 2 tsp bourbon
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley, minced
Instructions
- Cook bacon in large skillet over medium heat. Transfer to a paper towel-lined dish to drain grease.
- Pour out all but a light coat of grease from the pan and add onions. Cook until translucent. Mix in the corn and season with red pepper, salt and pepper. Pour in the bourbon while raising the heat to high. Cook for another 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Chop the bacon into small pieces and sprinkle into the pan. Combine and remove from the heat. Serve hot.
