Recreating Fuel City’s Cup of Corn

We loved the cup of corn at Fuel City.  It’s basically a form of elotes, though it’s not on the cob.  It was delicious, but I knew we could make it better.  Off I went to Central Market.  I grabbed four ears of corn, some Tapatio’ Salsa Picante (Mexican hot sauce, just because I thought it would be more authentic and it only cost 89 cents!) and some cojita cheese.  When I first picked up the chunk of cheese, it was huge for what I had in mind.  And I wasn’t so excited about paying $5.00 for cheese when the corn only cost a couple of dollars.  Luckily, I was at Central Market.  They cut the big hunk in half and weighed and wrapped it.  I walked away with a $2.50 chunk of cheese that I might actually use before it goes bad.

Here’s how it went.  First grill the corn.  The corn at Fuel City was obviously canned corn.  The lady putting it together would reach in with a slotted spoon, let the water drain away and then throw it in the cup.  It’s all perfect looking, but it doesn’t have a whole lot of taste left after so much time in the water.

There a tons of ways to grill corn.  Some people do it in the husk.  Some wrapped in foil.  Basically, all I was looking for was a smoky flavor and corn that was not dried out.  So, we just did a quick heat through over the coals.  Then I brought it in, cut it off the cobb and threw it in a covered saute’ pan. 

Add a big blob of butter.  I’m talking big.  Instead of draining away water from this corn when I dished it up, I wanted to drain away butter.  A little salt, a little pepper go in.  I cooked the corn in the butter until it was done all the way through and still plump.  I didn’t buy crema (Mexican pourable sour cream).  So, I poured a little milk into sour cream to lighten it up.  I grated some of the cojita.  This cheese is not as hard as Parmesan, but will grate into crumbles on the small holes of a cheese grater.  It’s a little salty, but basically milld.  I like it a lot and will probably grate some over the enchiladas I am making today.

 We served our corn in ramekins instead of styrofoam cups.  A layer of corn, some cheese, more corn, a little sour cream and a few shakes of hot sauce, more corn and top it with cheese.  You could really layer it any way you want depending on your prefence of toppings.  We loved it!  A little smoky, a little spicy, totally full of buttery, creamy goodness.

I probably need to go get more corn.