Variation I

First of all, buy cobs still in their husks, and not interfered with by your meddling green grocer. About an hour before cooking, toss them into a bucket of water.

To cook, simply put them, dripping wet and with husks still in place, on the grill, close the lid, and turn them from time to time, letting the husk darken, until they are evenly charred. They need about 20 minutes all up, or perhaps a bit more.

Check by peeling back a corner of husk and peeping to ensure they are becoming golden.

Now, take them off. Carefully roll back the husks to form handles and serve them with a drizzle of melted butter to which you have added some lime juice and a pinch or two of cayenne. The quantities are up to you. Be amazed.

Variation II

But if you would like to be even more amazed, here is a way or preparing corn in a way that remains acceptable to your vegetarian guests, and will blow their minds, as well as lift their miserable spirits (just kidding).

Ensure your corn is fresh and good. Peel back the husks, remove the fibres from the cob, and tie the husks with twine to form a handle that looks like Neil Perry’s pony tail. Now, position each cob over direct heat, as hot as you like, with the hood coming down on the base of the husk. A gas barbecue works well for this, as does a charcoal kettle, of course.

Smoke is not essential, for reasons that will soon become clear. Rotate the cobs slightly every minute or so to ensure they cook evenly which, on a hot grill, they should do in six to eight minutes. They need to be deep golden, with a couple of blackened kernels, but not overcooked.

Make a bowl of chipotle mayonnaise by chopping four chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (buy them, cheaply, in tins from any Mexican food outlet, or through Monterey Foods on-line – Embasa brand is excellent) and adding the chillies, and a couple of teaspoons of the sauce, to two cups of Best Foods bottled mayo. Mix well. Also, grate some good parmesan (Italian please – and never use pre-grated, ever) or pecorino on a microplane grater (it keeps the cheese gratings much lighter).

To serve, coat the cobs thinly with the chipotle mayo and sprinkle with parmesan. And no, don’t think too hard about it before you have tasted it. Because you are about to be amazed…