How to Make the Best Esquites With All That Summer Corn



Test cook Erin McMurrer makes Bridget the ultimate Mexican Corn Salad (Esquites).

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49 Comments

  1. You ladies went wrong with garlic, no Mexican corn nor esquites have garlic. It’s just wrong plain and simple. I guess this happens when we Americanize everything🤮
    Also in Mexico they don’t use our yellow corn. Usually the corn is the white one and for esquite use epasote . Although there are other colors of corn.

  2. Hahahaha..Is not the way that Mexicans cook the esquites, that is her way to do it!
    Check Jauja Cocina al Natural channel or Cocina delicioso con Reina, and is a great way and easy to make it! After that there are more videos haw the people cook or sell it in Mexico!!
    Nice try ladies, but wrong way!!!😜

  3. No, no, no. You people always give the wrong recipe and turn Mexican food into Tex Mex. Esquites go with mayo, lime juice (if you want), Cotija cheese and chili powder. Nothing else.

    Corn can have epazote if you like, but nothing more.

  4. Different parts of Mexico have their own take on how esquites are prepared. Where I live you get it in a cup with the juice they were cooked in, a good dollop of mayo, lime juice, queso cotija and chili powder.

  5. This is a great recipe and the substitutions are completely reasonable, but I would really have liked to have seen a Latina join Bridget for the demo. Surely there are well qualified Hispanic women on the ATK staff… right guys?

  6. well, the reason this is not a totally authentic recipe is because getting the correct ingredients to make authentic esquites is not possible in most parts of the united states so the recipes developed by america's test kitchen are intended to use the ingredients that are available everywhere in the united states most of the year. i get it that there are a lot of people who don't understand this, but if you've watched america's test kitchen for any long period of time that has always been the point of their recipes, to get as close as possible with the ingredients that you can get. for example, where i live, fresh yellow sweet corn is available all year long but fresh white corn is never available in any supermarket, ever. there are a few latino markets around here, but even they can't get fresh white corn very often and cities 20 miles to 100 miles away have no latino markets at all. local supermarkets have a very small latino selection, no fresh crema and no latino cheese.

  7. Esquite and elotes are usually prepared with MAYONNAISE(not crema), butter, cotija cheese, chili powder and lime. The corn cobs are either grilled or, more commonly, boiled with epazote.

    This isn’t authentic but looks pretty good and has similar flavors.

  8. I've eaten elote for decades, but only learned about esquites a while back. It's great for those times a grill isn't available or eating off the cob is not practical. This version may not be "authentic," but it's still tasty.

  9. There’s no sour cream on elotes, it’s mayo. The “esquites” here aren’t esquites, they are this lady’s version of something she ate as esquites. Esquites are never eaten as a salad. Finally, original elotes and esquites aren’t made with sweet corn.

  10. My notes as a Mexican. You could make this with just Mayo. It's what I have known people to use. Crema became an overhyped ingredient, It's just slightly looser, salty sour cream. Mainly used for topping tacos, flautas, and enchiladas. But I'm sure it would taste great in this too. Try using a variety of Chile powers, try mix of primarily paprika with some Cayenne, and super market "dark chilli powder". Mainly non spicy stuff and get the spice from cayenne. I would not replace cotija with just feta. A mix of feta and parmesan sounds like it would be closer in taste. Cotija is generally not hard to find though. Also make it soupier, that more up to preference but that how ive always known it to be. If you boil the corn you can use the boiling liquid to make it soupy. Esquites have really changed since I knew them as a kid back in Mexico. Last time I went to my home town my cousin put cheese whizz is his so do what you want really.

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