Instant Pot Smoked Corn Stock
There’s nothing like homemade stock or broth, and it’s even better when using in-season vegetables. Fresh, local corn, wood-smoked on the grill, creates an incredibly deeply flavored corn stock that’s perfect to use in corn chowder, vegetable soup, and even risotto. Use your Instant Pot to cook it in a fraction of the time (and keep your kitchen cool).
Servings 4 people
Calories 80kcal
Ingredients
- 6 ears corn, husks and silks removed, trimmed
- 1/2 cup wood chips, soaked in water for one hour (mesquite or applewood are nice)
- 1 onion, quartered
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- 4 sprigs fresh marjoram
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 star anise pods, whole
- 12 or so whole peppercorns
Instructions
Prepare grill for wood smoking:
- Gas grill: preheat one side of grill to high. Charcoal grill: pile hot coals on one of side grill.
- Wrap drained wood chips in a flat foil packet, and use a knife to cut slits into the top side.
- When grill is hot, place the foil packet over the flame side of the grill (gas grill) or directly on the coals (charcoal grill).
- When you see tendrils of smoke streaming from the slits in the foil packet, place 4 of the ears of corn on the unheated side of the grill. On a gas grill, close the lid. On a charcoal grill, open all the vents, and position the lid so that the smoke will flow over the corn and out the vent in the lid.
- Let the corn smoke 20 to 30 minutes. Check periodically to ensure that flames are not reaching the ears and singeing the kernels. The smoking process is finished when the kernels are lightly burnished.
- Remove from the grill and let cool.
Prepare the stock
- When the ears are cool enough to handle, remove kernels from the cobs, reserving the cobs. Remove the kernels from the two uncooked ears, as well. Use the kernels for another recipe, such as Smoky Hatch Chili Corn Chowder
- Slice the 6 cobs into three pieces (so they'll fit in your pressure cooker pot).
- Add the corn cobs, the remaining seasoning ingredients, plus 8 cups of water to the removable pot of your Instant Pot.
- Close the lid and seal the vent.
- Set manual high pressure for 20 minutes (if you have the Soup button, you can press that, and then reduce the time to 20 minutes). (A 6 qt pressure cooker will take about 20 minutes to come to pressure.)
- When cooking has finished, allow to natural release for 15 minutes, and then quick release. Take care with the escaping steam; it will take a bit to finish venting.
- Carefully remove the pot from the pressure cooker (use oven mitts!), and let cool. Remove and discard the cobs, then pour the corn broth through a fine sieve. Use immediately, freeze, or store in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Instead using a foil packet for smoking, you can also use a small cast iron (or flame-proof) pot to dry-heat the wood chips.
Nutrition
Calories: 80kcal