Elote

Boiled first and then grilled, because grilling alone chars the outside and leaves the middle raw.

Egg. Not vegetarian — contains cheese whose rennet the source does not name.

Ingredients

• 6 corn cobs, husks removed
• 1 tablespoon salt, for the water
• 6 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 3 tablespoons soured cream
• 150 g cotija or other hard salty cheese, finely grated
• 2 teaspoons ground chile piquin or cayenne
• 3 limes, in wedges
• 6 wooden skewers

Method

1. IT IS BOILED FIRST AND THEN GRILLED, because grilling alone chars the outside and leaves the middle raw. A corn cob is thick, dense and full of water, and over embers the outer kernels blister and blacken in six or seven minutes while the core is still cold and the kernels at the centre of the cob are starchy and hard. Ten minutes in boiling salted water cooks it right through; then five minutes over the embers does nothing but char and smoke the outside, which is all the grill is wanted for. Two stages, and most of the cooking happens in the one that is invisible in the finished thing.
2. THE WATER IS SALTED PROPERLY AND THE CORN IS NOT. A tablespoon in the pan. Corn seasoned only on the outside afterwards tastes of its toppings with bland corn underneath; boiled in salted water it is seasoned all the way in, and the mayonnaise and cheese then sit on top of something that already tastes of itself.
3. IT IS DRIED BEFORE IT GOES ON THE GRILL. Lifted out and left a couple of minutes, or patted. A wet cob steams over the coals and will not take colour at all, and the five minutes is spent for nothing.
4. THE MAYONNAISE GOES ON HOT AND IS THE GLUE. Brushed on the moment it comes off the grill, so it half-melts into the kernels, and the grated cheese then sticks to it in a thick coat. On a cooled cob the mayonnaise sits as a layer and most of the cheese falls off on the way to the mouth.
5. THE CHEESE IS GRATED FINE AND THE CHILLI GOES ON LAST. Finely grated cotija behaves almost like a powder and coats the whole cob; coarse shreds clump. The chilli goes over the cheese so it is visible and so each person can see how much they are getting.
6. The cobs put into a large pan of boiling water with the tablespoon of salt.
7. BOILED 10 MINUTES, until a kernel pressed with a thumbnail bursts easily.
8. Lifted out and left 2 MINUTES to steam DRY, or patted with a cloth.
9. A skewer pushed into the base of each cob.
10. A charcoal fire burned down to embers with no flame, or a dry griddle over a high heat.
11. The cobs laid on and grilled 5 MINUTES, TURNED often, until blistered and blackened in patches. This is for colour and smoke only.
12. The mayonnaise and soured cream stirred together.
13. Each cob brushed ALL OVER with the mixture the moment it comes off the heat, while HOT.
14. Rolled at once in the finely grated cheese, pressed on so it sticks in a thick coat.
15. The ground chilli dusted over the cheese.
16. Served immediately on the skewer, with lime wedges to squeeze over.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Mexico · All recipes