Mexican · Side · From the menu Brasa
Grilled corn, chilli and lime
Maíz a la brasa, guindilla, lima
Corn soaked and grilled in its own husk until the leaves blacken, then husked and finished directly over the coals with chilli-lime butter and salty cheese. The cheapest thing on the Brasa menu and usually the first to go.
I had been putting bare cobs straight on the bars. Both published methods soak the corn in its husk first and grill it that way, and only then strip it back for the direct char. The husk steams the kernels while the leaves burn, so you get corn that is properly cooked through and then blackened, rather than blackened outside and hard inside. It takes longer and it is better.
Ingredients
- 6 corn cobs, husks left on
- 45 ml melted butter
- 120 ml mayonnaise or Mexican crema
- 80 g queso añejo, cotija, or any hard salty cheese, grated
- 1 tbsp ground chilli, ancho or árbol
- 1 tsp salt
- Zest of 2 limes and lime wedges to serve
- Coriander
Method
- Soak the cobs, husks still on, in water for thirty minutes to an hour.
- Get the charcoal to a medium-high heat, burned down to grey ash but still hot, with the rack about 12 cm above the fire.
- Put the cobs on in their husks and grill fifteen to twenty minutes, turning frequently, until the outer leaves have blackened.
- Peel the husks back or off. Brush the kernels with the melted butter.
- Return them to the fire for about ten minutes more, turning frequently, until the kernels are golden with properly black patches in places.
- Brush with the mayonnaise or crema, then roll in the grated cheese so it sticks.
- Finish with the ground chilli, salt, lime zest and coriander, and serve with lime wedges.
Serve it with. Everything else on the Brasa menu.