Most cooks know how long they like to cook their corn in water, but have you ever tried grilling corn? It’s great and there are two basic ways you can do it.

The first way is to peel back all of the husk except for the innermost layer, so you can practically see through the husk to the corn. Then, take a pair of scissors and snip of the tassel with it’s messy strings at the top. If you don’t do this, you’re going to have a corn bonfire on your hands. You’ll know when the corn is ready to come off the grill when the husk has a dark silhouette of the kernels it is cooking around and is very browned. And the tip of the husk should be peeling away from the actual corn itself. Yumm - grilled corn.

You also might like to cut your corn in pieces, skewer it with a bamboo skewer, and stick it on the grill that way. The most annoying part of this is sticking the skewer through the hard center of the corn chunks. A nice fix for this is to run a corkscrew through the center of the corn chunks, making a small hole that should easily acoomodate your bamboo skewer, and snugly at that.

Happy grilling!

Since shrimp can be so darn expensive, you don’t want to lose one to the charcoal at the bottom of your grill. And if you’re not a fisherman, you might not know how to best “bait the hook”. Oh, and you don’t want your skewers to catch on fire.

This is definitely a video for the “noobie cooks”, but nonetheless, enjoy!

I love garlic! But one thing I don’t love is when I chop garlic and it sticks to the knife, to my fingers and anything else it touches. It adds extra time and frustration. Here is a quick video showing why adding salt to garlic, before you chop it, can make your life easier:

In a report by National Geographic, many Midwestern Americans may be adding a bizzare and rare element to their summer diets - cicadas.  The insects only emerge from the ground once every 17 years so if you’ve got the “butterflies” you better get over them quickly!

Scientists have pointed out that cicadas actually offer great nutrional value and are rich in vitamins.  In fact, they have about the same amount of protein (per pound) as red meat! And, when eaten raw or boiled, they resemble asparagus which stems from their chloro-filled diets (pardon the pun).  We’ll have to take their word for it!

While we may never think to eat cicadas, we’ve already come very close… crayfish, lobsters, crabs and shrimp come from the same family as cicadas.  Still not convinced?  Maybe if you had a recipe it would put you at ease.

Some of the most popular methods of preparing cicada are blanched or deep fried and dipped in a cocktail or mustard sauce.  Knowing that chocolate covered insects are much more widely accepted, we figured that cicadas would be no different.  And, we were able to find a very easy recipe posted by Jenna Jaden of the University of Maryland.

Chocolate Covered Cicadas

Ingredients
-8 squares of good quality dark, white or milk chocolate
-30 cicadas

Directions
-Roast cicadas for 15 minutes at 225 degrees F
-Meanwhile, melt chocolate in double boiler at low heat
-Dip insects in chocolate, place on wax paper and refigerate until hardened

Simple, easy and supposedly delicious!  We hope YOU will let US know…

So today Google released a brand new feature called “Google Hot Trends” where you can see what the 100 Hottest searches are updated by the hour!  It isn’t based solely on volume… growth and spurts in searches is the main element of the equation.

So, checking it out for the first time, we saw “Sushi Bar Soup” coming in at number 96 on the hot list! A little more information shows that 9% of these searches are coming from Houston, Texas.  We’re dying to find out what the big hoorah is about the search term and are having some fun trying to figure it out.

We’ve pretty much given up trying to figure it out but we’re hoping some of our readers may be able to enlighten us.  Oh… and if you’re bored, head on over to Google Hot Trends and check it out - it’s pretty neat!  You can even search for a certain ingredient, dish or type of food and see where in the world the most searches for that term come from.

For example, did you know that:

1. Raleigh, NC has the most city searches for “chicken”
2. Syracuse, NY has the most city searches for “cookie”
3. Melbourne, Australia has the most city searches for “chef club”
4. Philadelphia has the most searches for “Philly Cheesesteak”
5. Cambridge, MA and Boston, MA have the two top searches for “chinese food”.  Those Massachusset folks like their General Tso Chicken!

Anyways… hope you enjoyed the read and make sure you keep searching for SUSHI BAR SOUP… hehe jk.

We know people have their “favorite foods”. Some people have routines and even superstitions when it comes to their eating habits. And then there are celebrities that take the whole thing a tad too far.

The bottom line is, celebrities get what they want and when they want it. When they’re on the road and the show is about to begin, often times food is one of their critical demands. And that’s fine, everyone gets hungry. But you won’t believe what some of these celebrities demand.

Here are our favorites, collected from a list put together by ediets and originally found on yumsugar:

• Shania Twain: 10 pounds of carrots so she can make fresh juice with the juicer she brings.
• Red Hot Chilli Peppers: Lucky Charms, pitted dates, unsalted raw cashews and rice cakes.
• 50 Cent: KFC and a bottle of Cristal… nice combo!
• Marilyn Manson: 1 Full Pound of fresh ground meat. Alright, we expected his to be a bit bizarre but is he just going to eat that raw?
• Christina Aguilera: Flinstones Vitamins
• Axl Rose from Guns N Roses: The grand finale. He refused to start a concert once until he satisfied his sudden craving for a full roasted lamb dinner. Thanks for the last minute notification, right?

Nintendo is helping bring cooking to kids with a game called Cooking Mama. Everything from opening cans and cutting meat to making marinades and baking pies make this video game one of a kind.

While ChefClub.net members would probably prefer being in the kitchen then on a Nintendo Wii controller, this may be a great way to bond with your kids or get them interested in some of your hobbies.

Who knows… maybe you’ll play and get addicted. We’ve heard plenty of stories about musicians playing the popular game Guitar Hero and quickly becoming addicted - we wouldn’t be surprised if Cooking Enthusiasts fell for the same trap!

While the main purpose of a microwave is to quickly and conveniently heat up food, it also acts as an accidental spin art canvas. With sauce splatters and dried food residue, microwaves can get dirty… and dirty fast. Cleaning your microwave used to be a real hassle but not any more! This trick will make the chore quite simple.

Our microwave never gets as dirty as the one shown in the picture (found on a MySpace profile for Cari - sorry to let the cat out of the bag), and who knows why she has Peeps in her microwave, but nonetheless…

Fill a large microwave safe bowl with water, place it in the microwave and heat it on high for 10 minutes.  The steam will loosen the tried food particles and splattered sauce and you will easily be able to wipe the microwave clean!

Now with that extra time we just saved you, hop onto the forums at ChefClub.net and give us some of your family secret recipes!

Want your next barbeque to be the envy of not only the neighbors but your entire country? It will only cost you a measly $35,000. The Talos Outdoor Cooking Suite is literally the best grill we have ever laid eyes on.

When the Talos was being built, the designers intended to exceed even the expectations of professional chefs, meaning the sophistication level will absolutely blow away the casual grill master. You can have it custom ordered so various specifications fit your needs, and for $35,000, they better be willing to take a few requests!

How does your grill stack up to the Talos? Interested in buying a Talos? Drop us an e-mail and we’ll be glad to hook you up with a sales representative who we hope is gracious enough to give us a teeny tiny commission on the sale. Buy them in bulk if you’d like!

Grilled cheese sandwiches are a favorite lunchtime meal for myself and many others.  And while it doesn’t sound elegant at first, thinking outside the breadbox can help make the meal a unique dining experience.

Why not spice up your everyday sandwich with some seldom used grilled cheese ingredients?  Here are four variations we’ve tried that have been especially delicious:

• Three Cheese Sandwich: 2 slices each of Muenster, Swiss and Cheddar with dijon mustard on sourdough bread.
• Portobello & Fontina: Season portobello mushrooms as desired and broil.  Spread sun-dried tomato pesto evenly on crusty Italian bread. Layer with mushrooms, cheese and basil.  Grill over medium heat in skillet.
• Spanakopita: Saute chopped onions and fresh garlic.  Add chopped spinach and cook until dry.  Stir in feta cheese, oregano and a pinch of nutmeg.  Spread evenly over croissant, top with monterey jack cheese and cook in skillet over low heat.
• Pictured: from the St. Petersburg Times, a panini with portobello, red peppers, yellow peppers, zuchini and goat cheese.