Elote

~ Hilda Joy
​Our very American Fourth of July culinary celebration can be enhanced by reaching across our Southern border to our Mexican neighbors and borrowing one of their well-known street foods, Eliote, but adapting it to please several people.  After all, we corn-consuming Americans owe Mexico thanks for its agricultural gift of maize.  The word ‘Elote’ derives from ‘Elote,’ a Nahuatl word meaning ‘corn on the cob’ or ‘tender cob.’

Having grown up in Chicago with its large Mexican population, I learned to appreciate Mexican food at an early age.  The first Mexican food I ate as a child was a tamale sold by a street vendor in our neighborhood.  This inauthentic treat, wrapped in paper rather than in a corn husk, acquainted me with masa and a spicy filling and gave me a life-long taste for Mexican food.  I did not know about Elote until much later in life when I was strolling along one of Chicago’s beautiful Lake Michigan beachfronts and getting hungry.  I bought a cob of Elote and fell in love with it and am still smitten by it.

You might not find an Elitero from whom you can buy a single cob on the street, but you can easily grill this dish in a quantity to feed your family and/or friends.
EnJOY

​Elote is a popular Mexican corn street food eaten as a single serving sometimes on a stick but most usually simply by holding it by its stem under the shuck of green leaves left on the ear.  This recipe retains the classic ingredients but serves as a side dish during grilling season.

Ingredients
6 ears sweet corn
Vegetable Oil
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4  cup Mexican crema
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 cup cotija cheese
   or queso fresco
1/2 cup cilantro,
   finely chopped
lime wedges
 
Shuck ears of corn, but leave green leaves attached and folded down.  Remove corn silk.
Oil grill with vegetable oil and preheat it to ‘medium.’  Grill corn for about ten minutes, turning ears often until a medium char is developed over all.   Remove from grill.
Brush ears with mayonnaise and then Mexican crema.
Sprinkle with chili powder and then cotija cheese.
Top with cilantro.
Serve corn warm after squeezing ears with lime juice.
Eat corn holding it by its stem.