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.

Cheap Date with Hub Part 1 – Fuel City Tacos

You know how it is when you don’t want to spend a bunch of money, but you just can’t stand staying around the house?  Hubbard is a great guy to have around on days like that.  I’ve been resisting going to Fuel City for tacos because, well, I just don’t like the idea of going to eat at a gas station.  Hub assured me we would not be eating at the actual truck stop.  So, I decided to let him introduce me to what he thinks are sublime tacos.

He ordered the Barbacoa, Beef Fajita, Pastor and Picadillo, two of each.  Then we drove to a spot just into Oak Cliff that has been set up to view the progress of the building of the new Calatrava bridge.  I couldn’t actually see any progress.  That’s an old bridge in the picture.  But, it did give us a place to sit down and eat our tacos.

We had two trays of tacos.  Honestly, I’m not sure that I could tell one from the other.  The flavor was very rich in all four varieties.  Maybe I tasted a little cinnamon in the Barbacoa – if that was the Barbacoa that I was eating.  Anyway, they were all good.  You can choose corn or flour tortillas.  We had the corn for all of them.  The tortillas were nice and tender, while being substantial enough to hold up to the grease that comes with these suckers.  Some were greasiers than others, if I could have only been able to to tell which was which.  Again, all good.  All similiar.  Maybe we should have gotten something with chicken just to mix it up a little.  I think I liked the Barbacoa the best.  I think.

We did get the corn.  The cup of corn is liken to elotes, not on the cob, but layered with crema, butter, hot sauce, cheese, etc.  This stuff was good and now I’m dying to recreate it at home (with real butter, not the squirt kind).  In fact, I bought a few ears of corn today.

Will I be going back to Fuel City?  I’m sure I will.  Maybe not once or twice a week, like Hubbard does.  But, when the urge for tacos hits me this might be the place to go.  Especially if I want to save a dime.   The eight tacos and the cup of corn only cost us about $13.  What a deal.  I was stuffed when we finished.

Next up… Jack’s Backyard.