Esquites

The stripped cobs go into the pan with the kernels, so the liquid in the cup tastes of cob.

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

Ingredients

• 6 corn cobs
• 500 ml water
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 serrano chillies, finely chopped
• a large sprig of epazote
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 150 g cotija or other hard salty cheese, finely grated
• 2 teaspoons ground chile piquin
• 3 limes, in wedges

Method

1. THE STRIPPED COBS GO INTO THE PAN WITH THE KERNELS, so the liquid in the cup tastes of cob. This is the step that makes esquites more than elote taken off the bone. Once the kernels are cut away, the bare cobs are snapped in half and dropped into the water with them and simmered for the full twenty minutes before being lifted out. A corn cob is full of starch and sugar and gives up a surprising amount of both; the cooking liquid goes from water to something faintly sweet, cloudy and slightly thickened, and that liquid is spooned into the cup with the kernels and is half the pleasure. Thrown away, the kernels sit in plain water.
2. IT IS SERVED IN A CUP WITH ITS LIQUID AND EATEN WITH A SPOON. Not drained. Two or three spoonfuls of the cooking liquid go into each cup under the kernels, and the mayonnaise and cheese are stirred THROUGH rather than laid on top -- which is the other difference from an elote, where the coating is on the outside of a solid object.
3. THE KERNELS ARE CUT OFF RAW, NOT AFTER BOILING. A knife down the cob over a wide bowl. Cut off after cooking the kernels are soft and they tear and squash; raw they come away in clean whole pieces that hold their shape through the twenty minutes.
4. THE EPAZOTE IS THE SIGNATURE AND GOES IN WHOLE. One large sprig for the whole simmer, lifted out at the end. It is what makes a cup of esquites taste like esquites and not like buttered sweetcorn, and it is the one ingredient there is no substitute for in this dish.
5. THE MAYONNAISE IS STIRRED IN OFF THE HEAT AND PER CUP. In the pan over heat it splits and goes oily. Each cup gets a spoonful stirred through as it is served, which also lets each person have as much or as little as they want.
6. The kernels cut off all six cobs with a knife, RAW, over a wide bowl.
7. The bare COBS SNAPPED IN HALF and kept.
8. The butter melted in a pan and the onion and chillies cooked 5 minutes until soft.
9. The kernels added and turned through for 2 minutes.
10. The 500 ml of water added, with the SNAPPED COBS pushed in among it, the epazote sprig and the salt.
11. Simmered 20 MINUTES, partly covered.
12. The COBS and the epazote LIFTED OUT. The liquid should be cloudy and faintly sweet -- it is NOT drained away.
13. TASTED: the liquid should taste distinctly of corn. Salted again if needed.
14. Spooned into cups or small bowls WITH two or three spoonfuls of the liquid in each.
15. A spoonful of mayonnaise stirred THROUGH each cup, off the heat.
16. The grated cheese and ground chilli scattered on and a lime squeezed over.
17. Eaten with a spoon, hot, with more lime.

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