Sopa de Elote Michoacana

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Hot comal or open gas flame for tatemando the chile poblano
• •Heavy 4-quart clay cazuela, cured for stovetop use, or enameled Dutch oven
• •High-powered blender
• •Medium-mesh strainer
• •Green-glazed Michoacán barro bowls for serving

Instructions

1. 1

   Tatemar the poblanos

   Set the chile poblanos directly over a gas flame or on a hot dry comal. Turn them until the skins are blackened all over and the flesh has softened, 6 to 8 minutes. Put them in a covered bowl for 10 minutes, then rub off the skins, remove stems and seeds, and slice the flesh into thin rajas. Poblano gives this soup its green, roasted perfume. It is not here to punish anybody with heat. Not all Mexican food is hot, and anyone who tells you that has not paid attention.

2. 2

   Cut the elote

   Cut the kernels from the cobs into a wide bowl. Scrape each cob with the back of the knife so the milky corn pulp falls into the bowl with the kernels. That little milk is flavor. Set aside 1 cup of whole kernels for the final texture. Keep the cobs. A cook who throws away the cobs before making broth is leaving half the field in the trash.

3. 3

   Make cob broth

   Place the scraped cobs in a pot with 4 cups water and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Bring to a simmer and cook 20 minutes, pressing the cobs down now and then so they give up their sweetness. Strain and keep 2 1/2 cups of the broth. This is better than boxed broth because it tastes like corn, not like someone else's chicken.

4. 4

   Sweat the aromatics

   Melt the butter in a heavy 4-quart cazuela or Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds more. Do not brown them. This is a pale corn soup, not a roasted onion soup. The fat here is mantequilla, not lard, because the milk and elote are carrying the pot.

5. 5

   Simmer the corn

   Add the corn kernels, except the reserved cup, and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook 5 minutes, stirring, until the corn turns glossy and smells sweet. Add 2 cups of the corn cob broth and the epazote sprig. Simmer gently for 10 minutes. Epazote belongs with corn because it cuts the sweetness and gives the soup that market herb bite. Remove and discard the epazote before blending.

6. 6

   Blend the base

   Let the corn mixture cool for 5 minutes, then blend it in batches with the whole milk until very smooth. Vent the blender lid and hold it down with a folded towel. Hot liquid expands. No me vengas con atajos that end with soup on the ceiling. Strain through a medium-mesh sieve back into the pot, pressing with a spoon. You want creaminess without tough corn skins.

   Do not thicken this with flour. The corn thickens itself when you blend it properly. Flour makes it taste like cafeteria cream soup, and that is not what the women of Michoacán are making.
7. 7

   Finish with rajas

   Set the pot over low heat. Stir in the reserved corn kernels and most of the poblano rajas, saving a few for the top. Simmer 5 minutes, just until the kernels are tender but still have a little bite. Stir in the Mexican crema off the heat. Taste for salt. If the soup is too thick, loosen it with a little more corn cob broth. Do not boil it after the crema goes in.

8. 8

   Serve in barro

   Ladle the soup into warm green-glazed Michoacán barro bowls. Finish with queso fresco, the saved poblano rajas, and a few spoonfuls of the whole corn kernels showing at the surface. Serve with warm hand-pressed corn tortillas. This is a quiet pot, but it knows where it comes from. Cada estado, su propia cocina.

Chef Tips

• •Buy elotes that feel heavy for their size, with moist silk and kernels that burst when pressed. If the corn is dry or smells like cardboard, do not make this today. Cook what the mercado is selling well.
• •Frozen corn can work outside Mexico when fresh corn is out of season, but it is a compromise. Use 5 cups kernels and make the broth with 2 extra cups of corn simmered in water, then blended and strained. Do not use canned creamed corn. That is not sopa de elote.
• •Use whole milk and real Mexican crema. Low-fat milk makes the soup thin and nervous. Heavy cream makes it dull. The balance is milk, corn, butter, and crema at the end.
• •The poblano must be tatemado. Raw poblano tastes green and sharp in the wrong way. Blacken the skin, let it sweat, peel it, and slice it into rajas. Así se hace y punto.
• •Queso fresco should be fresh, moist, and crumbly. Cotija is too salty for this bowl. Save cotija for another dish.

Advance Preparation

• •The poblanos can be tatemados, peeled, and sliced one day ahead. Keep the rajas covered in the refrigerator.
• •The corn cob broth can be made one day ahead and refrigerated. It keeps its sweetness better than any boxed broth.
• •The blended soup base can be made up to one day ahead before adding the crema. Reheat gently over low heat, then stir in the crema off the heat and serve.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 380g)