Elote (Mexican Grilled Corn)

I tried elote for the first time a while ago at La Verdad, but I wasn't totally blown away. Then I tried it at Toro a couple of weeks ago, and wow, I couldn't get enough of it! (As an aside, I had always assumed that Toro was a Japanese sushi place because to me, toro = fatty bluefin tuna belly. So I was a little surprised to find out it was actually a tapas restaurant, where toro = Spanish for bull.)

A couple days later I was going to a bbq, so I decided to look up how to make it myself. What I came up with is an amalgam of what I found and a few adjustments to make the corn more similar to how I remember they made it at Toro. I chose to pre-cook the corn before grilling it so that I could ensure that the corn was cooked all the way through and also so that I wouldn't be hogging up time and space on the grill. I also added some raw garlic and the spices to the mayonnaise since I remember there was a garlicky taste in their sauce, which was pink. I found the cotija cheese, a mild, aged cheese, at Whole Foods, but if you can't find it, you can substitute either grated Parmesan or crumbled feta cheese.

Elote (Mexican Grilled Corn)
makes 12 servings

12 ears of corn
1 cup mayonnaise
2 garlic cloves
4 limes
Cayenne pepper
Chili powder
Paprika
1 cup crumbled cotija cheese

Preheat oven to 350 °F. Place corn in husks directly on the middle rack of the oven for 30 minutes, or until corn is soft to the touch. After it has cooled, remove the silk and husks. If you like, you can break the ears in half.

Run the garlic cloves through a garlic press (or mince well) and add to the mayonnaise. Add the juice from half of a lime and quarter the rest of the limes. Mix in cayenne pepper, chili powder, and paprika to taste.

Grill the corn on a hot grill until lightly charred. Top with the mayonnaise sauce and crumbled cotija cheese. Sprinkle on more cayenne pepper and/or chili powder as desired, and serve with lime wedges.