August 17, 2024 • 28 mins
Technique of the Week: Grilling Corn. No Tax On Tips
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, it's Neil Savedre.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
You're listening to kfi EM six forty the four Report
on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Hey, Kayla and Neil?
Have you does it surprise you that we start the
show this way?
Speaker 3 (00:13):
I didn't.
Speaker 4 (00:14):
I thought we had something else before.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I wait, you did?
Speaker 4 (00:17):
I was taking a nap. Sorry all right, Sorry, I'm
ready to laugh. Are you?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Have you ever bought some pirate corn? No, not cheap.
It's it's going to cost you about a buccaneer. How
do you do?
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Thanks for hanging out today.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
A lot to get into today, including our technique of
the week, will start in a moment, grilling corn multiple methods.
I will tell you what method I use and why
no tax on tips something you've been hearing politicians talk about.
I don't like to mix much of that stuff on
the show, but in this case, it really is in
line with what we talk about. And I'll tell you
(00:57):
a great article I read on that that shows the
benefits and if it means anything in the long run
back to school deals, because kids are back to school
right now, most of them at least. We'll talk thy
food coming up a little later. And also why restaurants
put music behind your eating experience what that means, and
(01:18):
it's more important than you may think, not only for you,
but for the servers as well. So stick around a
lot to get to today. We're even going to tell
you how to make tirami Sue.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
And as an extra little bonus to this show, there
is at least a fifty to fifty percent chance that
Ashley Johnson's going to give birth and live on the air.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Fifty to fifty. You tell me, Ashley.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
You know, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
I'm just saying we are.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
This is I'm pushing it. I'm pushing it.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
That's the little one knocking on the door, coming into
this world and going all right, all right, hey, But
I know you're sitting there with a smile.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
I'm nervous as hell.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
I've already got you know, I've got Robin behind the board,
and I'm like, get us some warm, hot towels or whatever,
because I hear people yell for that when they have
to do it outside of a hospital. And then from
there I'm lost. We're prepared, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
You guys are gonna be a great team, you know,
if worse comes to worse.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
We are ready, you know, do we yell like hey,
bad about us? So wing back? Like what do you
yell when that that? That's perfect?
Speaker 4 (02:32):
And just okay, come on, come on, you've been practicing
me and my fiance, well all right, come.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
On, you know, oh, he'll be stoked, like I don't
have to do anything. He's gonna leave it on us.
We're gonna get you to Saint Joseph's around the corner
and lickety split. All right, So we are on baby
watch because you actually when you stand around her, I
don't know if everybody hears this. You can hear ticking
(02:56):
like it's actually ticking. It's like, yep, it's coming.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
It is so ready.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
That's exciting. That may happen. I'll be the one laying
on the ground breathing, and then we'll have to tell
them that's not the mother. Are you sure? He looks
about nine months so fingers crossed. Were excited, but it
may happen live today, all right. Grilling corn. I love
(03:23):
the grill corn, and it's something that I love, my
wife loves, and my boy loves. My wife doesn't eat
red meat, so there's things that I cook for my
boy and me, and there's things, but this is usually
a crowd pleaser across the board. Good corn. There are
many different ways to cook and grill corn. I will
(03:45):
tell you my method, but let's break down some of
the methods. It can be done a few different ways.
All of them have their pros and cons. So, yes,
you can argue with me on any of these. I'll
tell you why I like what I like. This is
a simple break down. You can choose based on what
you enjoy and flavors and whatnot. Chucking to shuck or
(04:09):
not to shuck? Are you gonna shuck your corn? That
means to remove everything on the outside prior to cooking.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
I say yes. I'll explain why.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
But shucking the corn before grilling gives it a smoky,
charred flavor you don't get if you leave it in
the husk. It also speeds up the cooking process, which
I like, so keep that in mind.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Method one in the husk.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
This is my least favorite taste wise, least favorite experience wise.
So you place the corn still in the husk directly
on hot coals, or you can do it on a
grill rack over the coals, but you turn it. You know,
keep rotating for about fifteen minutes until the corn is
(04:56):
steamed through. The husk will be blackened. The corn inside
should be moist and tender. One of the keys to
this is really soaking it Prior you soak the husk,
you get it imbibed with the water. That's what causes
the steaming. Why I don't like it. The pros and
cons of this are obvious. Little prep. I mean, it's
(05:19):
just basically soaking it and putting it on there. The
husk helps keep the corn juicy, that's a plus, and
you get a nice grassy flavor with the outside.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Husk and all of that.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Minimal prep is probably the biggest deal of that. The
con for me is a killer. The blackened husk is garbage.
It's super messy to eat. You're putting that on your
friends and family. It doesn't give you a classic grilled flavor.
And I'll explain where you can kind of balance that out.
(05:53):
But I think as much as it adds esthetics to it,
I mean it is sexy as held.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Don't get me wrong.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
You put husk on, it's grilled. It looks great in photographs.
It's amazing, but it's kind of like love making on
the beach. I'm just going to say it much prettier
in film than it is in real life. Okay, so
(06:21):
it looks nice and you go, okay, this is going
to be great, but the reality is you are covered
in soot and your guests are covered in soot and mess,
and now they have to There's two ways to do it.
You can pull the silk out prior pull everything back,
pull the silk out prior. In all of that, I
don't think it's worth it, and I think it looks pretty,
(06:43):
but I think it's it's form over function for sure.
Method number two, wrap in foil. This is my favorite.
After testing all of these. This is my favorite for control,
for ease of use, and when I say control, control
over flavor, even control over char and there are ways
(07:08):
to still get smokiness beyond that foil. Problem is it's
no sexy. I mean it's in foil, it's not sexy.
I mean you could do it in parchment as well,
but then you have the same risk as the other
and that means charring it up and all of that.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Michigos. Who wants that?
Speaker 2 (07:30):
So you shuck the corn, you remove the silk, you
wrap it in heavy duty aluminum foil, and optionally you
put in your flavors like your butter or your oil,
your salt, your pepper. If you want any other spices
or heat in there, you'd put them with that as well.
(07:50):
Now I will tell you this gives some of the
best control over those flavoring. You drill it directly on
hot coals or on a rate over the coals, and
you turn it occasionally for about fifteen sometimes twenty minutes.
And I often will do this starting over a hot grill.
(08:11):
I'll do it on the warming the warming grill, you know,
that's that top, small one that's kind of thin. I
like to do things, cook things on there over higher heat,
and I can control them more if they're delicate like corn,
but still get a char on them, because the heat
will go from the grate to the foil to the fleshy,
(08:33):
wonderful part of your corn. And the pros on this
are wonderful, easy to serve, keeps the corn hot even
longer after it's cooked. I put them in a big
bowl afterwards. I can also label them in quotes by
pigtailing the ends. If I twist the ends of the foil,
(08:54):
I know that they're for my wife.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
They don't have any dairy in them.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
So I can say all the ones with the long
pointed ends, they are with oil, and.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
With these seasonings.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
You could do that, and then the ones with butter,
I smash the ends in so they're wrapped tightly, and
then you could do another by going if it's got
one point in the flat end, it got it's hot,
it's got heat whatever. I like that kind of like
an impanada. You can go ahead and twist it differently
to let people know what's inside. That is it keeps
(09:27):
the foil, keeps it tender, continues to steam, and I
like all of those. It requires a little more prep.
I have a way that it does it fairly quickly
because you have to shuck clean and then wrap it
up with all those things. We come back, I'll tell
you how the other options and how I do the
wrapped in foil method cleanly and simply by using one
(09:52):
tool in your kitchen that makes it super duper.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Easy and helps with even the flavor. All right, go nowhere.
We're talking about corn.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Grilling corn in particular because it is a great way
to enjoy corn during the summer months. It's nice and
hot outside and it's a crowd. Please please are across
the board because it can be completely vegan and you
can put butter on it. Everybody seems to love corn,
so it's good to go.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
You're listening to the Fork Report with Nil Savedra on
demand from KFI Am six forty.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
How do you do?
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Happy Saturday to you, beautiful day outside. We're talking grilling
corn for technique of the week. We'll get back to
that in just a second. A lot going on on
today's program, including we'll take a look at the no
tax on tips and whether that's a good idea for
all those involved. It's very popular with politicians right now.
(10:45):
Trump came out with it first, and then now we're
hearing Kamala talk about it as well. What else, Oh,
we're gonna be talking thy food coming up and we'll
have that in the studio. And doctor An hit me
up on X and said, are you having any food
in the studio today? Maybe Ashley came for that? Well,
(11:08):
Ashley always.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Comes for the food, that's right.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
And I will tell you talking about Ashley Johnson in
the KFI News studio today. She's ready to pop. She's
got a bun in the oven and she's ready to go.
The first question I said, don't laugh too much today,
which I think I handled that for her. But and
don't eat any of the spicy food because I don't
(11:32):
want this happening on my watch.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Yeah, I'm doing the complete opposite of you.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Yes, but just so people know.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
For the behind the scenes, the way it works is
everyone when I come in are like, hey, Neil.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
It's nice to see you. Is their food coming today?
Speaker 2 (11:46):
So I kind of feel like second too, They're not
really saying hi, it's nice to see you. They're saying, hey,
is their food? So, yes, there is food today. We'll
be getting into that shortly right now. Talking about corn
on the grill, I told you my favorite method is
wrapped in foil.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
I'll get back to that in the second.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
The third method is grilling at naked, so grilling it unshucked,
where you soak it in water and then you put
it you know, sometimes you can even tie the tip.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
It looks beautiful.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
It's horribly messy, and I think it's a slap in
the face to your guests. It's messy, and I don't
think it adds much. And basically steams it. It's not
much different than putting it in foil. So I go
straight to the foil and I'll tell you more about
that in a second. Grilling it naked is the third option,
and that is really shucking the corn, cleaning it off,
getting the silk off. If some stand stays on there,
(12:35):
it's fine, it's going to burn off. You place the
corn directly over the hot fire, grilling you, turning it
occasionally for about ten minutes. Because it cooks more quickly,
it charges quickly. It gets tender pros super quick, super easy, delicious, smoky,
charred flavor, great cons The corn might not be as
(12:56):
juicy as other methods too. You don't control and you
put the flavoring on afterwards. I like that less, and
some people I love in respect do it that way.
So wrapped in foil. You know what, I'm gonna take
this a little longer because we're up against the break.
I'll come back with one more more segment about corn
because I really want to explain a couple of methods
(13:17):
I think are important to shucking the corn that makes
it much easier. All right, stick around, Well, we'll have
more moment you're listening to The Fork Report with Nil
Sevedra on demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Hey everybody, it's the Fork Report.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
We're chatting food today for three hours, as we do
every single Saturday from two to five.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Thanks for hanging out today. We're talking about corn.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Corn is so tasty, so delicious, and it's great grilled
and it's one of the things that I've been digging.
My whole family loves, so it's always fun to do.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
I took over.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Normally we do the two segments on Technique of the Week,
but I kind of pushed some things. We'll talk about
no tax on tips, what that means, if it means anything,
coming up, a great article out of Eater that I
came across, and so stick around. We'll get into that
in a minute. So we talked about wrapped in foil.
We talked about not shucking it, soaking it in water.
(14:15):
That means keeping the leaves and everything on it and
then grilling it. And I'm the least fan of that method.
It looks gorgeous, it's sexy. I don't think it adds
much to the flavor, if any, and it's messy as hell,
and I don't think it's it looks nice, and then
your poor family and friends have to sit there with
all the soot and everything else all over their hands
(14:37):
when they're eating, which is nasty. Grilling it naked was
the last one we went over. That was just you know,
peeling everything off, shucking it completely, and then putting it
directly on the grill. A lot of people I respect
to cook it that way. I'm not a fan. I
use it wrapped in foil. Takes a little bit extra time,
but I think controlling the flavors you put in there,
the oils, the butter, any fat at all, and the
(15:00):
other things to add spice and the like, holds together
and it stems it into the actual corn in a
way that I think makes even getting down to the
cob the husk is flavorful. So why do I do
it that way? Well, I explained, I wrap it in foil.
I like that it holds everything there. The best way
(15:22):
of shucking to me, And this is if a lot
of times you'll find corn wrapped halfway, so it's been
partially shucked on the face, and then they wrap it
in the little styrofoam container with the plastic wrap on
top so you can see the kernels. It doesn't matter
if you get it that way or if you get
it completely with the husk on. What you want to
(15:43):
do is you want to take it, put it on
a large microwave safe plate. Put it in the microwave.
You'll probably only be able to do four or five
full ears. You put it in there completely, and you
go ahead and put it on high in the microwave
for that many about seven minutes or so. If you're
(16:05):
just doing one, you can do it for about five minutes.
They are going to come out incredibly hot. Okay, you're
going to need a towel or something to get them out.
They will be very hot. You put them on to
a cutting board and again with something between you and
the corn because they're very hot. You take your large
(16:27):
chef's knife and you cut off about an inch of
the end the butt of the corn. At this point,
you take the towel that you're holding and you squeeze
the pointed tip of the corn. It will slide out,
it will take a little bit. You keep pushing and
pushing and pushing. You're squeezing the butt end out. So
you squeeze the pointed end and because of the heat
(16:49):
and the steam, it will push it out and it
will pull off the vast majority of the silk along
with it, and it comes off beautifully.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
It's magic. So why do that?
Speaker 2 (17:00):
One it shucks the corn simply, and two it par
cooks par steams the corn, which keeps it plump and lovely.
Then what I do is I now take that and
I cut it in half, and then wrap those in
foil along with butter, a tablespoon of butter and salt,
(17:22):
or a tablespoon of butter and salt and pepper or
whatever seasoning you want to put in there, lemon, pepper seed,
whatever you want to put in there, and you wrap
them up tight. Then if I'm doing one for my
wife who doesn't do dairy, then I put an olive
oil in there, even a flavored olive oil, some salt
on there, or season it with something a little heat.
(17:44):
You can put some sciatchia in there, and it's really
nice the way it comes out. It also holds the
heat in. Then you put them on the grill and
you grill them.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
You just roll.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
I put them on on the high the high rack
and roll them over for about fifty minutes or so.
And then if I want afterwards, if somebody wants more charge,
you can roll them around in the foil for a
little bit on the hotter side and get a little
bit of char on them as well. The flavor I
(18:14):
think is amazing. They keep warm for longer. Because they're
in the foil, they're not as pretty to look at,
but when you get them out, they're fantastic. One of
the tips. I know they make other smoked oils and
the like, but if you have a bomb fass near you,
vom fass. There is one in Ventura, and there's one
(18:35):
in San Diego that I'm aware of, and I know
that those people that own them were very good friends
with my friend Kim Peoples, who used to own the
one in Claremont, which is no longer around. So I
recommend them because Kim recommended them to me. I don't
know the other owners of any other location at this point.
(18:56):
So San Diego and Ventura, you go there. They have
a smoky barbecue olive oil. It is fantastic depending on
how you use it. So what I do is put
just a little under a tablespoon of that on the
corn with some salt and wrap it up, and man,
(19:17):
is it fantastic.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
It just gives this.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Smarty, smoky barbecue flavor to it, and it wrapped in foil.
It just magical, take my word for it. If you
get your hands on this, you don't even need to
use a lot of it in food, but man, it
vegetables that I'm grilling, it just gives them this wonderful
extra smoky flavor to them.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
So that is what I go with. That is how
I like to cook it.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
And after all the methods I have tried, it is
my favorite to use the foil and then of course
the pre steam in the microwave prior that helps you shuck.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Them and all of that.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
So if you didn't get any of this, just make
sure you go and listen to the podcast after the
is over. It gets posted within an hour or so
of the show, and you can go back and listen
to these first three segments and rethink through all of them.
But really, and if you have any questions, hit me
up on social media at fork Reporter at fork Reporter
(20:14):
on Instagram or x and I will do what I
can for you. All right, much to come, So go nowhere.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
You're listening to the Fork Report with Nil Savedra on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Howdy, Howdy, howdy, how are you today on this lovely Saturday. Hey,
I was listening before we get into the show, back
into the forkport, I was listening to a Rich on
tech as I am wanting to do every single Saturday.
I basically just turn on the radio and listen throughout
the day as I'm putting my own notes together. So
I get my buddy Dean, and then I get to
(20:50):
listen to Rich, who I think I may be met
in passing once. But he's the type of guy I
would love to sit down and have a beer within
a meal and talk to me.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Just a great show.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
If you haven't had a chance to listen, but you
talk about something very important, I would suggest you go
back and listen to the podcast at here on KFI
dot com, KFIM six forty dot com, or you can
go to the iHeartMedia or iHeartRadio dot com rather and
check it out there. But he was talking about the
biggest breach in data recently and social security numbers. If
(21:25):
you haven't heard that, please go back and listen and
make sure you heed his warning.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Now is the time.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
It is not difficult you can do it digitally to
freeze your credit. You want to freeze all of that
a lot I've checked, there's a lot out there.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Take the time it does. It's not long to freeze
your credit. It is smart to do all.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Right, Enough of that, let's get back into no taxes
on tips. Both Trump and Harrison on board with this.
What does it really mean? Amy McCarthy, she's a reporter
at eater dot com. Folks is on pop culture, you know,
the policies, labor, weird online trends.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
She's a great what writer and I love her work.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
She basically broke this down and I liked the way
she looked at it.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
So Donald Trump was big on this.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
I believe he was first to really hit the ground
running with this and make it a thing. Kamala Harris
has jumped on it now as well. Actually, so funny
meme where it was like a school college test taking
photo and it was Trump writing something and Kamala looking over,
(22:37):
because I get it, everybody's got a poke fun of everybody.
But really, this is about how these things affect us,
not one particular person, but what does it mean to us?
What does it mean to the people that are serving
us in restaurants. So both are backing this proposal to
eliminate these federal taxes on tips for restaurants and other
service workers who earn this federal tip minimum wage of
(23:01):
too thirteen an hour. If you don't know that is
that often the people that are serving you are making
a minimum wage of to thirteen an hour. They may
make a little bit more, but they don't make less
than that, and then the tips come in. There's a
lot of craziness that can go on with tips, depending
(23:21):
on how they get them. So I you know these
people that say, well, I'm not going to tip cause X,
Y and Z, you know, think again as to what's
going on through the process unless you are really being neglected.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
So Trump was on this back.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
I thought he brought it up back in Virginia in
June a couple months later. Now Harris's on it as
well at a Las Vegas event for the Culinary Workers Union.
It's a great place to do it right, and all
of these promises go on and on about how this
is going to take place. So what does it really mean?
No taxes on tips? Pretty simple, pretty straightforward. If you're
(24:01):
a worker making the tipped minimum wage, like I said
of two bucks and change, you wouldn't have to pay
federal income tax on the tips you earn. Now, most
of these workers are restaurant servers. You got bartenders, other
service staff, but it also includes anyone who gets more
than thirty dollars a month in tips, like drivers. Donald
(24:23):
Trump again is backing this Kamala Harris now as well.
But Texas Senator Ted Cruz introduced a No Tax on
Tips Act in June, and I think it was introduced.
A bill was introduced in the House by Florida Representative
Baron Donald's as well. Both bills are now under reviewed
(24:47):
by the committee. So on the other side, some Democrat
Democrats are skeptical about this. They feel caught off guard
by Harris's support of it. Something gets just deployed for votes. Well, duh,
that's what you do when you're running for something. You
want to get votes. That's the key. So how does
this help? The National Restaurant Association, a major lobbying group
(25:09):
for the industry, supports cruises bill. They argue that this
policy would benefit the two point two million restaurant workers
by putting more money in their pockets at a time
when prices are on the rise, so does it really help? Well,
This is one of my favorite parts of this Eater
article that was written by Amy McCarthy, is this breaks
(25:31):
down in a very realistic way. Sounds great. That's what
these little sound bites usually do. They sound great, But
it might it might not change the game the way
some people think. Only about a third of them make
enough to owe federal income taxes at all. Imagine that,
for example, the median restaurant server earns about thirty two
(25:51):
thousand dollars a year after the standard deduction of twenty
seven one thousand, seven hundred. For a married couple, they'd
only pay federal income tax on about forty three hundred
dollars of their income. They'd still owe other taxes social Security,
state income tax, and those types of things that they're applicable.
(26:12):
So the tax break might not even be that significant
for many workers, especially on those that are lower end
on the pay scale. When Cruis's bill was introduced, the
Center for American Progress noted that the tax cost for
low and moderate wage workers would be minimal or non existent.
They also pointed out that the high earners could misuse
(26:33):
the bill to.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Avoid taxes altogether.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
So it's still unclear how all of this is going
to be in you know, enforced and really the most
effective way. Another reason why I liked this article is
to help these workers earned, you know, the tipped minimum wage,
would be to get rid of that wage altogether, and
(26:57):
I couldn't agree more. Ensure that workers earn at least
the federal minimum wage of seven to twenty five an hour.
That's the way it should go down. At least seven states,
including us here in California Washington, we've already banned the
tipped minimum wage, so several others might consider it, but
really states that have done so have seen positive economic
(27:20):
effects and lower poverty rates. We have to think of
a better system for the people that are in service
to us at restaurants, bars and the like. And there's
more to it than just not paying tax on those tips.
So we need to go to the drawing board. And
I think they did a beautiful job on this article.
(27:42):
If you get a chance to check it out there
on eater dot com. Amy McCarthy, well done. You've been
listening to the Fork Report. You can always hear us
live on KFI AM six forty two to five pm
on Saturday, and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Hey, it's Neil Savedre.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
You're listening to kfi EM six forty the four Report
on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Hey, Kayla and Neil?
Have you does it surprise you that we start the
show this way?
Speaker 3 (00:13):
I didn't.
Speaker 4 (00:14):
I thought we had something else before.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I wait, you did?
Speaker 4 (00:17):
I was taking a nap. Sorry all right, Sorry, I'm
ready to laugh. Are you?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Have you ever bought some pirate corn? No, not cheap.
It's it's going to cost you about a buccaneer. How
do you do?
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Thanks for hanging out today.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
A lot to get into today, including our technique of
the week, will start in a moment, grilling corn multiple methods.
I will tell you what method I use and why
no tax on tips something you've been hearing politicians talk about.
I don't like to mix much of that stuff on
the show, but in this case, it really is in
line with what we talk about. And I'll tell you
(00:57):
a great article I read on that that shows the
benefits and if it means anything in the long run
back to school deals, because kids are back to school
right now, most of them at least. We'll talk thy
food coming up a little later. And also why restaurants
put music behind your eating experience what that means, and
(01:18):
it's more important than you may think, not only for you,
but for the servers as well. So stick around a
lot to get to today. We're even going to tell
you how to make tirami Sue.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
And as an extra little bonus to this show, there
is at least a fifty to fifty percent chance that
Ashley Johnson's going to give birth and live on the air.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Fifty to fifty. You tell me, Ashley.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
You know, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
I'm just saying we are.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
This is I'm pushing it. I'm pushing it.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
That's the little one knocking on the door, coming into
this world and going all right, all right, hey, But
I know you're sitting there with a smile.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
I'm nervous as hell.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
I've already got you know, I've got Robin behind the board,
and I'm like, get us some warm, hot towels or whatever,
because I hear people yell for that when they have
to do it outside of a hospital. And then from
there I'm lost. We're prepared, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
You guys are gonna be a great team, you know,
if worse comes to worse.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
We are ready, you know, do we yell like hey,
bad about us? So wing back? Like what do you
yell when that that? That's perfect?
Speaker 4 (02:32):
And just okay, come on, come on, you've been practicing
me and my fiance, well all right, come.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
On, you know, oh, he'll be stoked, like I don't
have to do anything. He's gonna leave it on us.
We're gonna get you to Saint Joseph's around the corner
and lickety split. All right, So we are on baby
watch because you actually when you stand around her, I
don't know if everybody hears this. You can hear ticking
(02:56):
like it's actually ticking. It's like, yep, it's coming.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
It is so ready.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
That's exciting. That may happen. I'll be the one laying
on the ground breathing, and then we'll have to tell
them that's not the mother. Are you sure? He looks
about nine months so fingers crossed. Were excited, but it
may happen live today, all right. Grilling corn. I love
(03:23):
the grill corn, and it's something that I love, my
wife loves, and my boy loves. My wife doesn't eat
red meat, so there's things that I cook for my
boy and me, and there's things, but this is usually
a crowd pleaser across the board. Good corn. There are
many different ways to cook and grill corn. I will
(03:45):
tell you my method, but let's break down some of
the methods. It can be done a few different ways.
All of them have their pros and cons. So, yes,
you can argue with me on any of these. I'll
tell you why I like what I like. This is
a simple break down. You can choose based on what
you enjoy and flavors and whatnot. Chucking to shuck or
(04:09):
not to shuck? Are you gonna shuck your corn? That
means to remove everything on the outside prior to cooking.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
I say yes. I'll explain why.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
But shucking the corn before grilling gives it a smoky,
charred flavor you don't get if you leave it in
the husk. It also speeds up the cooking process, which
I like, so keep that in mind.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Method one in the husk.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
This is my least favorite taste wise, least favorite experience wise.
So you place the corn still in the husk directly
on hot coals, or you can do it on a
grill rack over the coals, but you turn it. You know,
keep rotating for about fifteen minutes until the corn is
(04:56):
steamed through. The husk will be blackened. The corn inside
should be moist and tender. One of the keys to
this is really soaking it Prior you soak the husk,
you get it imbibed with the water. That's what causes
the steaming. Why I don't like it. The pros and
cons of this are obvious. Little prep. I mean, it's
(05:19):
just basically soaking it and putting it on there. The
husk helps keep the corn juicy, that's a plus, and
you get a nice grassy flavor with the outside.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Husk and all of that.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Minimal prep is probably the biggest deal of that. The
con for me is a killer. The blackened husk is garbage.
It's super messy to eat. You're putting that on your
friends and family. It doesn't give you a classic grilled flavor.
And I'll explain where you can kind of balance that out.
(05:53):
But I think as much as it adds esthetics to it,
I mean it is sexy as held.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Don't get me wrong.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
You put husk on, it's grilled. It looks great in photographs.
It's amazing, but it's kind of like love making on
the beach. I'm just going to say it much prettier
in film than it is in real life. Okay, so
(06:21):
it looks nice and you go, okay, this is going
to be great, but the reality is you are covered
in soot and your guests are covered in soot and mess,
and now they have to There's two ways to do it.
You can pull the silk out prior pull everything back,
pull the silk out prior. In all of that, I
don't think it's worth it, and I think it looks pretty,
(06:43):
but I think it's it's form over function for sure.
Method number two, wrap in foil. This is my favorite.
After testing all of these. This is my favorite for control,
for ease of use, and when I say control, control
over flavor, even control over char and there are ways
(07:08):
to still get smokiness beyond that foil. Problem is it's
no sexy. I mean it's in foil, it's not sexy.
I mean you could do it in parchment as well,
but then you have the same risk as the other
and that means charring it up and all of that.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Michigos. Who wants that?
Speaker 2 (07:30):
So you shuck the corn, you remove the silk, you
wrap it in heavy duty aluminum foil, and optionally you
put in your flavors like your butter or your oil,
your salt, your pepper. If you want any other spices
or heat in there, you'd put them with that as well.
(07:50):
Now I will tell you this gives some of the
best control over those flavoring. You drill it directly on
hot coals or on a rate over the coals, and
you turn it occasionally for about fifteen sometimes twenty minutes.
And I often will do this starting over a hot grill.
(08:11):
I'll do it on the warming the warming grill, you know,
that's that top, small one that's kind of thin. I
like to do things, cook things on there over higher heat,
and I can control them more if they're delicate like corn,
but still get a char on them, because the heat
will go from the grate to the foil to the fleshy,
(08:33):
wonderful part of your corn. And the pros on this
are wonderful, easy to serve, keeps the corn hot even
longer after it's cooked. I put them in a big
bowl afterwards. I can also label them in quotes by
pigtailing the ends. If I twist the ends of the foil,
(08:54):
I know that they're for my wife.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
They don't have any dairy in them.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
So I can say all the ones with the long
pointed ends, they are with oil, and.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
With these seasonings.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
You could do that, and then the ones with butter,
I smash the ends in so they're wrapped tightly, and
then you could do another by going if it's got
one point in the flat end, it got it's hot,
it's got heat whatever. I like that kind of like
an impanada. You can go ahead and twist it differently
to let people know what's inside. That is it keeps
(09:27):
the foil, keeps it tender, continues to steam, and I
like all of those. It requires a little more prep.
I have a way that it does it fairly quickly
because you have to shuck clean and then wrap it
up with all those things. We come back, I'll tell
you how the other options and how I do the
wrapped in foil method cleanly and simply by using one
(09:52):
tool in your kitchen that makes it super duper.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Easy and helps with even the flavor. All right, go nowhere.
We're talking about corn.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Grilling corn in particular because it is a great way
to enjoy corn during the summer months. It's nice and
hot outside and it's a crowd. Please please are across
the board because it can be completely vegan and you
can put butter on it. Everybody seems to love corn,
so it's good to go.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
You're listening to the Fork Report with Nil Savedra on
demand from KFI Am six forty.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
How do you do?
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Happy Saturday to you, beautiful day outside. We're talking grilling
corn for technique of the week. We'll get back to
that in just a second. A lot going on on
today's program, including we'll take a look at the no
tax on tips and whether that's a good idea for
all those involved. It's very popular with politicians right now.
(10:45):
Trump came out with it first, and then now we're
hearing Kamala talk about it as well. What else, Oh,
we're gonna be talking thy food coming up and we'll
have that in the studio. And doctor An hit me
up on X and said, are you having any food
in the studio today? Maybe Ashley came for that? Well,
(11:08):
Ashley always.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Comes for the food, that's right.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
And I will tell you talking about Ashley Johnson in
the KFI News studio today. She's ready to pop. She's
got a bun in the oven and she's ready to go.
The first question I said, don't laugh too much today,
which I think I handled that for her. But and
don't eat any of the spicy food because I don't
(11:32):
want this happening on my watch.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Yeah, I'm doing the complete opposite of you.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Yes, but just so people know.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
For the behind the scenes, the way it works is
everyone when I come in are like, hey, Neil.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
It's nice to see you. Is their food coming today?
Speaker 2 (11:46):
So I kind of feel like second too, They're not
really saying hi, it's nice to see you. They're saying, hey,
is their food? So, yes, there is food today. We'll
be getting into that shortly right now. Talking about corn
on the grill, I told you my favorite method is
wrapped in foil.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
I'll get back to that in the second.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
The third method is grilling at naked, so grilling it unshucked,
where you soak it in water and then you put
it you know, sometimes you can even tie the tip.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
It looks beautiful.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
It's horribly messy, and I think it's a slap in
the face to your guests. It's messy, and I don't
think it adds much. And basically steams it. It's not
much different than putting it in foil. So I go
straight to the foil and I'll tell you more about
that in a second. Grilling it naked is the third option,
and that is really shucking the corn, cleaning it off,
getting the silk off. If some stand stays on there,
(12:35):
it's fine, it's going to burn off. You place the
corn directly over the hot fire, grilling you, turning it
occasionally for about ten minutes. Because it cooks more quickly,
it charges quickly. It gets tender pros super quick, super easy, delicious, smoky,
charred flavor, great cons The corn might not be as
(12:56):
juicy as other methods too. You don't control and you
put the flavoring on afterwards. I like that less, and
some people I love in respect do it that way.
So wrapped in foil. You know what, I'm gonna take
this a little longer because we're up against the break.
I'll come back with one more more segment about corn
because I really want to explain a couple of methods
(13:17):
I think are important to shucking the corn that makes
it much easier. All right, stick around, Well, we'll have
more moment you're listening to The Fork Report with Nil
Sevedra on demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Hey everybody, it's the Fork Report.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
We're chatting food today for three hours, as we do
every single Saturday from two to five.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Thanks for hanging out today. We're talking about corn.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Corn is so tasty, so delicious, and it's great grilled
and it's one of the things that I've been digging.
My whole family loves, so it's always fun to do.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
I took over.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Normally we do the two segments on Technique of the Week,
but I kind of pushed some things. We'll talk about
no tax on tips, what that means, if it means anything,
coming up, a great article out of Eater that I
came across, and so stick around. We'll get into that
in a minute. So we talked about wrapped in foil.
We talked about not shucking it, soaking it in water.
(14:15):
That means keeping the leaves and everything on it and
then grilling it. And I'm the least fan of that method.
It looks gorgeous, it's sexy. I don't think it adds
much to the flavor, if any, and it's messy as hell,
and I don't think it's it looks nice, and then
your poor family and friends have to sit there with
all the soot and everything else all over their hands
(14:37):
when they're eating, which is nasty. Grilling it naked was
the last one we went over. That was just you know,
peeling everything off, shucking it completely, and then putting it
directly on the grill. A lot of people I respect
to cook it that way. I'm not a fan. I
use it wrapped in foil. Takes a little bit extra time,
but I think controlling the flavors you put in there,
the oils, the butter, any fat at all, and the
(15:00):
other things to add spice and the like, holds together
and it stems it into the actual corn in a
way that I think makes even getting down to the
cob the husk is flavorful. So why do I do
it that way? Well, I explained, I wrap it in foil.
I like that it holds everything there. The best way
(15:22):
of shucking to me, And this is if a lot
of times you'll find corn wrapped halfway, so it's been
partially shucked on the face, and then they wrap it
in the little styrofoam container with the plastic wrap on
top so you can see the kernels. It doesn't matter
if you get it that way or if you get
it completely with the husk on. What you want to
(15:43):
do is you want to take it, put it on
a large microwave safe plate. Put it in the microwave.
You'll probably only be able to do four or five
full ears. You put it in there completely, and you
go ahead and put it on high in the microwave
for that many about seven minutes or so. If you're
(16:05):
just doing one, you can do it for about five minutes.
They are going to come out incredibly hot. Okay, you're
going to need a towel or something to get them out.
They will be very hot. You put them on to
a cutting board and again with something between you and
the corn because they're very hot. You take your large
(16:27):
chef's knife and you cut off about an inch of
the end the butt of the corn. At this point,
you take the towel that you're holding and you squeeze
the pointed tip of the corn. It will slide out,
it will take a little bit. You keep pushing and
pushing and pushing. You're squeezing the butt end out. So
you squeeze the pointed end and because of the heat
(16:49):
and the steam, it will push it out and it
will pull off the vast majority of the silk along
with it, and it comes off beautifully.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
It's magic. So why do that?
Speaker 2 (17:00):
One it shucks the corn simply, and two it par
cooks par steams the corn, which keeps it plump and lovely.
Then what I do is I now take that and
I cut it in half, and then wrap those in
foil along with butter, a tablespoon of butter and salt,
(17:22):
or a tablespoon of butter and salt and pepper or
whatever seasoning you want to put in there, lemon, pepper seed,
whatever you want to put in there, and you wrap
them up tight. Then if I'm doing one for my
wife who doesn't do dairy, then I put an olive
oil in there, even a flavored olive oil, some salt
on there, or season it with something a little heat.
(17:44):
You can put some sciatchia in there, and it's really
nice the way it comes out. It also holds the
heat in. Then you put them on the grill and
you grill them.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
You just roll.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
I put them on on the high the high rack
and roll them over for about fifty minutes or so.
And then if I want afterwards, if somebody wants more charge,
you can roll them around in the foil for a
little bit on the hotter side and get a little
bit of char on them as well. The flavor I
(18:14):
think is amazing. They keep warm for longer. Because they're
in the foil, they're not as pretty to look at,
but when you get them out, they're fantastic. One of
the tips. I know they make other smoked oils and
the like, but if you have a bomb fass near you,
vom fass. There is one in Ventura, and there's one
(18:35):
in San Diego that I'm aware of, and I know
that those people that own them were very good friends
with my friend Kim Peoples, who used to own the
one in Claremont, which is no longer around. So I
recommend them because Kim recommended them to me. I don't
know the other owners of any other location at this point.
(18:56):
So San Diego and Ventura, you go there. They have
a smoky barbecue olive oil. It is fantastic depending on
how you use it. So what I do is put
just a little under a tablespoon of that on the
corn with some salt and wrap it up, and man,
(19:17):
is it fantastic.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
It just gives this.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Smarty, smoky barbecue flavor to it, and it wrapped in foil.
It just magical, take my word for it. If you
get your hands on this, you don't even need to
use a lot of it in food, but man, it
vegetables that I'm grilling, it just gives them this wonderful
extra smoky flavor to them.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
So that is what I go with. That is how
I like to cook it.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
And after all the methods I have tried, it is
my favorite to use the foil and then of course
the pre steam in the microwave prior that helps you shuck.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Them and all of that.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
So if you didn't get any of this, just make
sure you go and listen to the podcast after the
is over. It gets posted within an hour or so
of the show, and you can go back and listen
to these first three segments and rethink through all of them.
But really, and if you have any questions, hit me
up on social media at fork Reporter at fork Reporter
(20:14):
on Instagram or x and I will do what I
can for you. All right, much to come, So go nowhere.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
You're listening to the Fork Report with Nil Savedra on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Howdy, Howdy, howdy, how are you today on this lovely Saturday. Hey,
I was listening before we get into the show, back
into the forkport, I was listening to a Rich on
tech as I am wanting to do every single Saturday.
I basically just turn on the radio and listen throughout
the day as I'm putting my own notes together. So
I get my buddy Dean, and then I get to
(20:50):
listen to Rich, who I think I may be met
in passing once. But he's the type of guy I
would love to sit down and have a beer within
a meal and talk to me.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Just a great show.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
If you haven't had a chance to listen, but you
talk about something very important, I would suggest you go
back and listen to the podcast at here on KFI
dot com, KFIM six forty dot com, or you can
go to the iHeartMedia or iHeartRadio dot com rather and
check it out there. But he was talking about the
biggest breach in data recently and social security numbers. If
(21:25):
you haven't heard that, please go back and listen and
make sure you heed his warning.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Now is the time.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
It is not difficult you can do it digitally to
freeze your credit. You want to freeze all of that
a lot I've checked, there's a lot out there.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Take the time it does. It's not long to freeze
your credit. It is smart to do all.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Right, Enough of that, let's get back into no taxes
on tips. Both Trump and Harrison on board with this.
What does it really mean? Amy McCarthy, she's a reporter
at eater dot com. Folks is on pop culture, you know,
the policies, labor, weird online trends.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
She's a great what writer and I love her work.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
She basically broke this down and I liked the way
she looked at it.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
So Donald Trump was big on this.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
I believe he was first to really hit the ground
running with this and make it a thing. Kamala Harris
has jumped on it now as well. Actually, so funny
meme where it was like a school college test taking
photo and it was Trump writing something and Kamala looking over,
(22:37):
because I get it, everybody's got a poke fun of everybody.
But really, this is about how these things affect us,
not one particular person, but what does it mean to us?
What does it mean to the people that are serving
us in restaurants. So both are backing this proposal to
eliminate these federal taxes on tips for restaurants and other
service workers who earn this federal tip minimum wage of
(23:01):
too thirteen an hour. If you don't know that is
that often the people that are serving you are making
a minimum wage of to thirteen an hour. They may
make a little bit more, but they don't make less
than that, and then the tips come in. There's a
lot of craziness that can go on with tips, depending
(23:21):
on how they get them. So I you know these
people that say, well, I'm not going to tip cause X,
Y and Z, you know, think again as to what's
going on through the process unless you are really being neglected.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
So Trump was on this back.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
I thought he brought it up back in Virginia in
June a couple months later. Now Harris's on it as
well at a Las Vegas event for the Culinary Workers Union.
It's a great place to do it right, and all
of these promises go on and on about how this
is going to take place. So what does it really mean?
No taxes on tips? Pretty simple, pretty straightforward. If you're
(24:01):
a worker making the tipped minimum wage, like I said
of two bucks and change, you wouldn't have to pay
federal income tax on the tips you earn. Now, most
of these workers are restaurant servers. You got bartenders, other
service staff, but it also includes anyone who gets more
than thirty dollars a month in tips, like drivers. Donald
(24:23):
Trump again is backing this Kamala Harris now as well.
But Texas Senator Ted Cruz introduced a No Tax on
Tips Act in June, and I think it was introduced.
A bill was introduced in the House by Florida Representative
Baron Donald's as well. Both bills are now under reviewed
(24:47):
by the committee. So on the other side, some Democrat
Democrats are skeptical about this. They feel caught off guard
by Harris's support of it. Something gets just deployed for votes. Well, duh,
that's what you do when you're running for something. You
want to get votes. That's the key. So how does
this help? The National Restaurant Association, a major lobbying group
(25:09):
for the industry, supports cruises bill. They argue that this
policy would benefit the two point two million restaurant workers
by putting more money in their pockets at a time
when prices are on the rise, so does it really help? Well,
This is one of my favorite parts of this Eater
article that was written by Amy McCarthy, is this breaks
(25:31):
down in a very realistic way. Sounds great. That's what
these little sound bites usually do. They sound great, But
it might it might not change the game the way
some people think. Only about a third of them make
enough to owe federal income taxes at all. Imagine that,
for example, the median restaurant server earns about thirty two
(25:51):
thousand dollars a year after the standard deduction of twenty
seven one thousand, seven hundred. For a married couple, they'd
only pay federal income tax on about forty three hundred
dollars of their income. They'd still owe other taxes social Security,
state income tax, and those types of things that they're applicable.
(26:12):
So the tax break might not even be that significant
for many workers, especially on those that are lower end
on the pay scale. When Cruis's bill was introduced, the
Center for American Progress noted that the tax cost for
low and moderate wage workers would be minimal or non existent.
They also pointed out that the high earners could misuse
(26:33):
the bill to.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Avoid taxes altogether.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
So it's still unclear how all of this is going
to be in you know, enforced and really the most
effective way. Another reason why I liked this article is
to help these workers earned, you know, the tipped minimum wage,
would be to get rid of that wage altogether, and
(26:57):
I couldn't agree more. Ensure that workers earn at least
the federal minimum wage of seven to twenty five an hour.
That's the way it should go down. At least seven states,
including us here in California Washington, we've already banned the
tipped minimum wage, so several others might consider it, but
really states that have done so have seen positive economic
(27:20):
effects and lower poverty rates. We have to think of
a better system for the people that are in service
to us at restaurants, bars and the like. And there's
more to it than just not paying tax on those tips.
So we need to go to the drawing board. And
I think they did a beautiful job on this article.
(27:42):
If you get a chance to check it out there
on eater dot com. Amy McCarthy, well done. You've been
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