What Makes Kansas City-Style Cheesy Corn So Special?

Barbecue techniques and styles vary tremendously from place to place around the world, not to mention within the subcultures of any given country. One need only look to the dizzying array of options within the United States to illustrate that point. Making things even more complex is that these styles often have unique side dishes that, once mastered, can elevate your barbecue experience.

Kansas City barbecue may have one of the most delicious sides by way of cheesy corn. This decadent, rich dish is bursting with sweet and savory flavor thanks to its sweet corn and fried ham, and if that wasn't enough, those toothsome morsels are surrounded by several kinds of cheese and other flavor-spiking ingredients such as garlic.

That's special enough on its own, but it gets better when enjoyed with Kansas City's lean, dry brisket, its famous brisket burnt ends, and its sweet, spicy sauce. Even its origins are special — while several Kansas City barbecue joints sell versions of the dish, it didn't leap to fame until it caught on at famous family-owned Kansas City establishment Fiorella's Jack Stack.

Like all famous foods worth trying for yourself or making at home, Kansas City cheesy corn is special because it's just that good. Fiorella's Jack Stack doesn't share the recipe, as per usual with proprietary dishes of this sort, but it does mention a blend of four cheeses and that the whole thing is baked. Most copycat recipes typically use cream cheese and one or two kinds of cheddar, though not all bake the concoction.

While the cheese is important, you also need to use the best quality corn you can get. That means fresh corn — never frozen — and still on the cob so you can milk it. Yes, that's a real thing, and all it involves is scraping the blunt side of a knife down the cob, forcing the little bits of corn left over after cutting it and the milky white corn juice out of the cob. Not only does this juice contain a concentrated corn flavor, but the starch in it also makes the dish thicker and creamier without the need for actual cream (though the cream cheese also helps). In fact, you can make a sweet corn soup using only this milking method and a blender.

The final elements of good Kansas City cheesy corn are the pork and the extra ingredients you can add to make it your own. First, you can use any pork product that you like, from basic sliced or cubed ham to bacon to fancy cuts such as guanciale. If you want to cut the pork to make it vegetarian-friendly, you may need to add more salt to make up for it.

As for extras, feel free to get creative. Garlic and onion are excellent additions for some oomph, as is anything spicy, such as red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper for the capsaicin crowd. You can also look to other famous cheesy corn dishes from around the world for inspiration. Korea's corn cheese uses Kewpie mayonnaise for extra richness, for example, while some of Mexico's many variations on street corn use lime juice and Tajin seasoning.