Mexican Street Corn

By BobN

In Mexico, street vendors sell corn on the cob from carts like vendors in the U.S. sell hot dogs. The corn is served coated with either melted butter, chili powder and lime juice, or a creamy cheesy mixture consisting of a crema (a tangy cultured sour cream) or maynnaise mixed with chili powder and garlic. The mixture is slathered over the corn and then sprinkled with a crumbly Mexican cheese such as queso anejo or queso fresco. This recipe came from "The Best of America's Test Kitchen 2009" If possible, leave the stalks on the corn attached; they make nice handles when cooking and eating. Edited on 4-14-09...The last time we prepared this recipe, we used our stove top smoker and smoked the corn for about 25 minutes, then finished them off in the broiler with the mayo/cheese mixture. If you have a stove top smoker, this is definitely the way to go, the corn was amazing

Ingredients

• 6 large ears of corn, husks and silks removed
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• salt 1 ounce queso fresco (about 1/4 cup) or 1 ounce farmer's cheese (about 1/4 cup) or 1 ounce feta, crumbled (about 1/4 cup)
• pepper
• 1 lime, cut into wedges for serving

Preparation

Step 1

Adjust oven rack to 5 inches from the broiler element and heat the broiler. Brush the corn on all sides with the olive oil and transfer to a foil lined baking sheet.
2Broil the corn until well-browned on one side, about 10 minutes. Turn the corn over and broil until browned on the opposite side, about 10 minutes longer.
3While the corn broils, stir the mayo, cilantro, lime juice, garlic, chili powder, and 1/4 tsp salt together until uniform. Stir in the cheese and set aside.
4Remove the corn from the oven and brush the corn on all sides with the mayo mixture.
5Return to the broiler and broil the coated corn until the cheese coating is warm and slightly brown on top, about 1 minute.
6Season with salt & pepper to taste. Serve with the lime wedges.
7and any remaining mayo mixture.