Asking advice on making Elotes for a fairly large group (need answer fairly fast)

Cafe Society
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So, a month or so ago I made Elotes (Mexican Street Corn) for the first time when I BBQed for some friends who were over. Mrs. solost loved it, and volunteered me to make it for an event on her side of the family tomorrow, which will be around 50 people.

So, it’s a bit of a difference making it for 6 people vs. 50 people. Also, I’m sure a lot of what makes the recipe good is using fresh corn on the cob and grilling it first, before adding the toppings. I’m not even sure what the availability still is of fresh corn at the store.

Mrs. solost helpfully says, there are recipes that use loose corn-- that would probably be easier than doing it on the cob for 50 people, and sent me a recipe. I’ve found a couple recipes for loose versions of MSC that reference ‘Torchy’s copycat recipe’, Torchy’s apparently being a Mexican chain which I’m not familiar with, that serves loose MSC as a side.

Questions-- would it be at all good making it with loose canned corn? Would frozen corn be better than canned? If I can get fresh corn I will likely use that, despite the extra effort, but I want options in case fresh corn is not available.

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We have been very happy with Mexican Street Corn salad. It ideally starts with fresh corn but you can take it off the ear the day before and refrigerate it.

Courtesy of Serious Eats

Mexican Street Corn Salad (Esquites) Recipe

Cook20 mins

Active15 mins

Total20 mins

Serves4 servings

Ingredients

2 tablespoons (30ml) vegetable oil

4 ears fresh corn, shucked, kernels removed (about 3 cups fresh corn kernels)

Kosher salt

2 ounces (60g) feta or Cotija cheese, finely crumbled

1/2 cup finely sliced scallions, green parts only

1/2 cup (1/2 ounce) fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped

1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and stemmed, finely chopped

1 to 2 medium cloves garlic, pressed or minced on a Microplane grater (about 1 to 2 teaspoons)

2 tablespoons (30ml) mayonnaise

1 tablespoon (15ml) fresh lime juice from 1 lime

Chile powder or hot chile flakes, to taste

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Directions

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet or wok over high heat until shimmering. Add corn kernels, season to taste withsalt, toss once or twice, and cook without moving until charred on one side, about 2 minutes. Toss corn, stir, andrepeat until charred on second side, about 2 minutes longer. Continue tossing and charring until corn is wellcharred all over, about 10 minutes total. Transfer to a large bowl.

Add cheese, scallions, cilantro, jalapeño, garlic, mayonnaise, lime juice, and chile powder and toss to combine.Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and more chile powder to taste. Serve immediately.

Special Equipment

A large wok or large nonstick skillet, Microplane grater

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The street vendors in the “Mexican towns” here in Dallas use canned corn.

They just scoop some corn into a cup, add the cheese mixture and top it with hot sauce.

I get the sense that keeping the corn and cheese mixture separate until ready to eat is important. I guess to keep the corn crisp? IDK.

If somebody was available to man the elotes station that would be ideal.

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I do esquites for parties and I always use frozen corn. Canned corn just has an odd taste to me. (Cooked?) Frozen is almost as good as fresh for this purpose if not as good.

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Frozen better than canned.

Fresh better than frozen.

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Frozen, yes. For that many people, I’d consider doing a ‘Mexican corn bar.’ Let people stir in their own stuff and avoid the polarizing cilantro/mayo/spicy questions.

Probably not both, right?

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Thanks for the input so far, all!

Thanks for that recipe! It’s better than the couple recipes I had found.

Yeah, I think I’ll go with esquites over elote, and frozen corn. In addition to tasting odd / inferior, canned corn is going to be soggy and waterlogged, whereas thawed frozen corn should be closer to fresh shucked in regard to texture and water content.

A ‘to order’ station is a good thought, but I’m not feeling that ambitious. It’s just going to be one pot luck side among many. I think i’m just going to keep the spice level low to medium, and swap cilantro for some fresh chopped parsley, just for color.

A plan is forming-- I’ll brown and crisp up the corn a little bit in in a hot wok. That plus using chipotle powder for a little smokiness when I mix in the ingredients will hopefully give my esquites a ‘grilled corn’ flavor.

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It might just be me, but I wouldn’t go parsley over cilantro. Parsley just doesn’t seem the right flavor to me. How about green onions for color?

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Yeah, you’re probably right. The recipe AHunter3 shared above, which I was going to go by, does include green onions, which should work very well for flavor and color.

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Feta, much as I love it, is not an acceptable substitute for cotija, any more than parsley is an acceptable substitute for cilantro. I mean, de gustibus and all that, but you’re making a huge change if you substitute either.

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Man, if I went to one that was using canned corn, I would not go back. There are too many around Oak Cliff that cut the corn off the cob right in front of you to put up with that.

And oh my, when you can get the fancy grilled stuff on the cob, that is heaven.

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Trader Joe’s sells frozen roasted corn that can make a decent Elotes - I had some in a salad the other night at a dinner party.

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Romano or parmesan would be a better substitute if you can’t find cojita.

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I was able to find cotija! My local grocery disappoints me regularly with its lack of things I’m looking for, but it does have a surprisingly good cheese section. Though it doesn’t have Gouda aged any older than one year :roll_eyes:

Going to make it for the party in a few hours. Will report back on how it turned out.

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Frozen corn and canned corn are universally sweet corn, though. You really have to go to a Mexican market to get Mexican corn for elotes. Well, not necessarily corn from Mexico, but, you know, non-sweet corn. Using sweet corn ruins it.

But, yeah, elote en vaso or regionally esquites are totally a thing, and a lot easier to sell on the street and/or prepare for a swarm of people. Googling either phrase and “receta” will give you good, Spanish-language results.

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Really? I used sweet corn, and I thought the esquites I made turned out fan-freakin-tastic. Tastes vary, and maybe non-sweet corn would make it even better, but using sweet corn definitely does not ruin it.

So I wasn’t expecting much- as I mentioned in my OP I had made elotes for the first time a while ago and I thought it turned out ok. But with esquites you can mix more into the salad than you can with elotes on the cob, like finely minced jalapeño and garlic. It was really tasty, and Mrs. Solost said it was, quote, “next level delicious”.

I thought frozen corn would be better to use because I was making a big batch. I bought 3 2lb. bags of corn and roasted it in batches in a wok. But it was a lot of work because even with a big wok I had to do maybe 8 batches. And when the corn got hot, random kernels would pop and fly out of the wok. I ended up with stray kernels all over, and I actually put on safety glasses after a hot kernel hit me on the cheek. It would really have been easier to use corn on the cob, grill it and remove the kernels. In future if fresh corn on the cob is available that’s what I’ll use, even when I’m making esquites and not elotes. Other than the trouble and mess though, frozen corn worked perfectly fine for this. If I make it out of season when fresh is not available, I’d go frozen and roast it in a tall soup pot or something to minimize the kernels popping out.

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Yeah, I’m sorry. I perhaps shouldn’t have said ruined; that was unfriendly and it wasn’t my intention to be a dickhead. Sometimes we simply do different things in this country, and in many cases we improve them.

I have a certain expectation of esquites, and the thought of using a different ingredient was instinctually repulsive to me, and that was reflected in my comment. Ironically, that’s really uncharacteristic of me because I’m quite often “making due” (or creating “fusion”) because of ingredient availability.

I’m glad you enjoyed some awesome food, and please accept my apologies.

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Hey, no problem. I thought your opinion that sweet corn ruins the esquites seemed a little strong, but I didn’t take any offense to it. I’ve only ever made elotes and esquites with sweet corn; for all I know it’s miles better with non-sweet corn. Maybe I’ll try seeking some out next time I make esquites. I appreciate the recommendation!

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The Mexicans here (Chicago) just use regular sweet corn, from all that I’ve noticed. I’m not even sure the Mexican markets here sell anything but sweet corn. I’ve only had the non sweet variety in Mexico and, as a true American I guess, I prefer the sweet corn version(though I typically do not like sweet.)