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 ‘Eliote’ 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 Eliote 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 Eliote 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 Eliote 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.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
May 2021
Categories |