Authored by Mike Sheeran. Mike's BBQ Distro Box Members, an avid griller, and a recent graduate of Joe Zavala's Brisket Class! Follow Mike's mouth watering cooks @bigmiketx_cooks
I want to start this off with a bit of an intro about what I’m sharing with y’all. I’m absolutely going to tell you everything that went into the pictured brisket elotes. But I also want to take a side bar to talk about the various options you can do to make it more your own and fun things you can do with your friends and coworkers. One thing I do every so often at work is setup an elote bar where I have several options for people to build their own cup.
Now that’s out of the way, let’s begin.
I have a bit of a confession to make. I did not use brisket. I smoked a chuck roast and treated it exactly like I do a brisket. This is a great use of leftover brisket. You can absolutely do this with freshly cooked brisket as well. It’s really up to you. For the “brisket” I used a mix of Kosher Salt, Lawry’s Seasoned Salt, and 16 mesh Pepper. You really want to go heavy on the pepper. I cooked it starting off at 225 till I was happy with the bark, wrapped in butcher paper, and finished it at 275 till it hit 203. Then I put it in a cooler to rest. When I was ready, I just chopped it up like I was making a chopped beef sandwich. Here’s how the roast looked when it was finished.
Now let’s move on to the corn and fixins. I used just regular canned corn for this recipe. Just drop it in a pot, juices and all, and heat it up. Add a bit of salt and pepper to taste. I also fine diced up some jalapeño, cilantro, and red onion. I left 1 jalepeno to do very thin slices as a garnish. I also sliced up some lime wedges to add as a garnish as well and if somebody wanted to add a bit more citrus flavor, they would be able to. The hot sauce I used was Cholula.
So to build this, I used a pint deli container and put a layer of brisket on the bottom. Then I put a layer of corn on top of that (use a slotted spoon so you can drain the corn). Then I added the chopped onions, cilantro, and jalapeño. I put a squirt of Parkay squeeze margarine (use your favorite but I suggest a squeezable version). Then a squirt of mayo (I use Duke’s). The final squirt is crema. Sprinkle with Tajin, cotija cheese, and hot sauce. Then just keep going till you get to the top. Add some extra meat on top, add more hot sauce, and add your garnishes. Serve and eat up!
So now let’s talk about other options than what I listed above.
Corn:
You can grill the corn on the cob and cut the corn off the cob.
You can use frozen corn. When I use frozen, I sautee in butter till the corn develops some char on it.
You can leave the corn on the cob and spread everything over the cob itself.
Other veggies:
Use your favorite kind of onion. It would still be good with white or yellow onion. Just make sure to fine dice it up.
For the peppers, you can use poblanos, serranos, Hatch green chilis, or bell pepper.
If you want to be a bit different, grill or sauté the veggies for a bit of a different take.
You could also top with some pickled red onion for an additional garnish.
Cheese:
You have a few options here. One is really not traditional but if you can’t find the other two, it will do in a pinch. Also you might have somebody not willing to try different cheeses but would be ok with the safe choice.
Cotija
Parmesan
Queso Fresco
Elote seasonings:
Lemon Pepper
Fiesta Chile Lime seasoning
Your favorite fajita seasoning
Your favorite BBQ Rub
Crushed Flamin Hot Cheetos
Trader Joe’s Everything but the Elote seasoning
Hot Sauces:
(I really recommend sticking to Mexican style hot sauces here but the world is your oyster)
Valentina
Valentina Extra Hot
Sriracha
Tabasco Chipotle
Peri Peri sauce
Several of Melinda’s hot sauces
Your favorite Taco Bell packet
Spicy BBQ Sauce
Meat Options:
Fajita
Carne Asada
Pulled Pork
Burnt Ends
So let’s talk Elote bar. When I do this, I bring a crock pot with me and add canned corn to it. Leave it on high and stir occasionally. When you’re happy with the temp, move it to low and keep that lid closed.
I lay everything out in groups so that folks can make their choices. So all seasonings in 1 spot, all cheeses in 1 spot, etc. I leave some 8 oz Styrofoam cups for folks to build their own eltoe en vaso. The first time you do it, I recommend staying close to coach folks on their options. After a time or two, they’ll get it figured out.
Some recommended seasoning from the shop to add to Mike's recipe...
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