Eliote

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.

6 ears sweet corn
​

​Shuck ears of corn, but leave green leaves attached and folded down.  Remove corn silk.

​vegetable oil

​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.

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

​Brush ears with mayonnaise and then Mexican crema.
Sprinkle with chili powder and then cojija cheese.
Top with cilantro.

lime wedges
​

​Serve corn warm after squeezing ears with lime juice.
Eat corn holding it by its stem.

​EnJOY