
When my friends and I go camping, the food planning comes first. Once we've figured out who's making every appetizer, cocktail, main dish, and dessert, we focus on other details like who's bringing bug spray and how to get where we're going.
So for this week's campfire fiesta, I'm forgoing invitations in favor of a flurry of emails to work out the logistics.

After watching
Steven Raichlen's barbecue presentation at the
Food and Wine Classic, I knew I had to make his corn. He cooked it with a coconut milk-based coating, but acknowledges that it's tasty on its own, slathered in butter, or doused with a mayo-lime-chili concoction.The only thing he insisted on was grilling it with the husk off. Cooking corn with the husks on only steams the corn, it does not grill it.

Grilled corn on the cob is one of summer's great pleasures. Last summer I loved pairing my
corn with creamy herb butters, and this summer I've taken to a light coating with lime juice, mayonnaise, chili powder, and feta cheese. The mixture is brushed on the corn after it's char-grilled and the limes provide a zingy freshness.

What's a summer BBQ without some corn on the cob? Of course you can boil it in water, but that depletes that corn of many of its vitamins. Besides, you've already got the grill warmed up for hamburgers and
veggie burgers, so why not grill your corn instead?