Best Cuban Corn Recipes

CUBAN TAMALES MADE WITH FRESH CORN, TAMALES CUBANOS DE MAIZ CRIOLLO TIERNO

Steps:

• 1. First open, seperate and clean the corn husks of the silk. Put all of the corn husk leaves into a very large pot and cover with very hot water. Let soak for at least a few hours. Leave in the water until you are ready to wrap the tamales.
• 2. Cut you pork meat into small bite sized pieces season with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Heat a little of the lard about a 1/4 of a cup and add the pork meat brown on all sides. Do in small batches so meat browns if you do a lot of the meat together it will steam instead of browning. We are looking for a light golden crust on the meat, does not need to be cooked completely. Do not let the meat over brown or burn. After browning add about 2 cups of pork broth or chicken broth and cover with a tight lid and cook for over a medium flame for 1 1/2 hours or until meat is fork tender. Be sure to check that your broth does not dry out or your meat will burn add more broth as needed. When meat is tender shut off and set the meat aside. You can do this the day before. just ake out the meat and let come to room temp when ready to mix with the corn mixture.
• 3. you should have at least 4 pounds of scrapped corn off of the cobbs. Put the corn into a food processor and give a qood process on grate ensuring that your corn is well ground into a thick mash. Do all of your corn like this work in batches until all is ground into a thick mash. Add 1/4 cup sugar and mix well Set aside.
• 4. In a large heavy pot melt the rest of the lard and add all of the diced onions, peppers both sweet and jalapeno, garlic, and the diced red pimentos. Saute until all the veggies are limp and onion is translucent. Next add the tomato sauce; continue to cook over a medium flame. Careful not to scorch any of the sauce. Next add all of the dried seasonings, oregano, cumin, bay leaves, salt, pepper, sazon goya packets, goya adobo, and garlic powder and continue to cook over a medium flame. What you have made is a very large sofrito, Taste to see if your sofrito has enough salt and pepper, if you like a lttle heat you can add a little ground cayanne pepper, not too much. Cuban tamales are spicy and savory but should not have a lot of heat.
• 5. Now pour your mashed ground corn into the veggie and tomato sofrito; mix very well making sure to incorporate all of the sofrito into the corn. Taste again for salt; at this point you may wat to add more of the same seasonings you added before to bring your tamale mixture to the right point of your taste. I know I always land up adding a bit more garlic powder or little more adobe powder until I find the right (Punto) just the right taste. Add your cooked meat stir well and continue to cook over a medium to low flame stirring and stirring until your mixture has somewhat thickend. This stirring process takes about an hour without leaving unattended. You may want someone to help with the stirring as my hand gets tired of stirring the thick mixture. Be sure to lower your flame so as to not scorch this mixture or the whole thing will be ruined. After cooking for one hour or so shut off the tamale mixture
• 6. Take out your soaked tamale husks blot on a clean kitchen towel, You will need three large husks per tamale. Take one large wide husk, they are triangle shaped put about four (4) ounces of tamale mixture in the middle of the husk do not spread on the husk like is done with the Mexican tamale, just drop the mixture in the middle of the husk and fold each side over the the mixture overlapping one side over the other, then take the triangle top tip and fold down over both the sides; now take another large husk and put the tamale you just wrapped in the middle of that husk. The open end should be facing the top of the triangle tip fold both sides one over the other take the top and fold down over the two sides, Now take the last husk place the wrapped tamale into the husk fold over the sides one over the other and then fold the tip over the sides and tie and secure with butchers twine on both ends. See my picture above.
• 7. Fill a large pasta pot half way with water; bring to a boil. When water starts to boil slowely slip in each tamale gently. Boil tamales in the water for about one hour and a half. Keep boiling hot water in a tea kettle or another pot to add to the pot when the water starts to evaporate. The trick is to keep the tamales boiling all of the time for one hour and a half. When done remove tamales into a large pan. Let cool until they can be handled comfortably. As they cool they will thicken and set even more. These tamles can be frozen now after throughly cooled or served warm alone or with a salad or Cuban meal. These tamles are a lot of work as are the Mexican tamlaes but well worth the trouble. I make both Mexican and Cuban tamales for the Holiday season. one pund of the corn mixture will yield about 6 tamales once you add the meat and veggies. I have 16 pounds of the corn mixture to make at least forty or fifty tamales this weekend. You can make the tamales in two days so as to not tire yourself. This is a two or three person job. Enjoy, Buen Apetito

CUBAN GRILLED CORN WITH COTIJA CHEESE

Steps:

• Mix together the sour cream and mayonnaise in a small bowl; set aside.
• Grill ears of corn over medium flame until kernels begin to char, 5-10 minutes. Apply sour cream/mayonnaise mixture liberally to hot corn.
• Place the grated Cotija cheese and salt in a shallow dish. Roll the corn in the cheese/salt mixture until it is well covered.
• Sprinkle the corn lightly with chili powder and cayenne for extra heat!
• Serve with slices of lime.

GRILLED CORN ON THE COB WITH A CUBAN TWIST

Steps:

• Preheat grill to medium.
• Peel back the husks of the corn without removing them.
• Remove the silks and recover the corn with the husk.
• Soak in large bowl of cold water for 30 minutes.
• Remove corn from water and shake off excess.
• Place the corn on the grill, close the cover and grill for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Unwrap corn and brush with the garlic butter.
• Sprinkle with the cotija cheese and squeeze with lime.
• Sprinkle with chopped chives, to garnish.
• For Garlic Butter: Combine butter, garlic, habanero, and chives in a food processor and process until smooth.
• Season with salt and pepper; Set aside until ready to use.

MAYDA'S CUBAN SAUTEED BEEF & CORN, GUISO CUBANO DE MAIZ

Steps:

• 1. Early in the day put stew beef in a large pot cover with water add garlic powder, 1 tsp of salt, and half of the onion. cover and let cook for about 2 hours until meat is fork tender.
• 2. While meat is cooking scrape corn off of the cobs until you have a pound of corn. Set aside. Take the two ears of corn and with a sharp butchers knife cut cob into four pieces each. Set corn aside.
• 3. Now take a large skillet add the olive oil and heat, to this saute the diced onion, diced green peppers, and smashed garlic and the scraped corn kernals. Saute thses veggies until limp. Next add the diced pimentos, smashed whole tomatos, wine, oregano and cumin continue to saute. If you are going to add the chorizo you should add now and contiue to saute for three minutes. Set this mixture aside.
• 4. Now remove the cooked stew meat to a seperate platter when cool enough to handle cut into small pieces and add to the corn mixture. Add a cup of the beef broth; the can of creamed corn; corn cob pieces and Stir well. Now add the remaing seasonings Salt, pepper, garlic powder and the Goya packets of seasonings. Stir well. Taste to see if the seasonings are right. If not add a little more salt, pepper and garlic powder. Continue to cook for 10 more minutes. Serve with crispy bread and a salad. The cuban families like to serve on top of fluffy white rice. Enjoy

BLUE CORN CUBAN TACO

Steps:

• Whisk together 3 tablespoons of the oil, orange juice, garlic and oregano in a baking dish, add the pork and turn to coat. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours.
• Heat the grill to high or a nonstick saute pan with a few tablespoons of canola oil over medium-high heat on the stove.
• Remove the pork from the marinade and place on the grill. Grill until golden brown and slightly charred and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the meat registers 150 degrees F, about 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from the grill and let rest 5 minutes before slicing into 1/4-inch thick slices.
• Reduce the heat of the grill to medium. Place the tortillas on the grill and grill for approximately 10 seconds per side to make pliable. Lay the tortillas on a flat surface. Divide the ingredients evenly over 1 half of each tortilla. Start with 1 slice of the cheese, followed by the ham then a few slices of the pork, a few slices of the jalapenos and another slice of the cheese. Fold the top of the tortilla over the ingredients and press on it. Brush the tops of the tortillas with some of the remaining oil and place on the grill, oil-side down and grill until lightly golden brown, pressing on the tortillas to flatten, 3 to 4 minutes. Brush the tops of the tortillas with oil, flip over and continue grilling, pressing down on the tortillas until golden brown and the cheese has melted.

CUBAN CORN

Steps:

• Soak corn, in its husk, in water for 1 to 2 hours.
• Preheat grill to medium-high.
• Carefully peel back the husks leaving them attached at the base and remove the silk.
• In a medium bowl, combine the melted butter, paprika, chili powder, and season well with salt and pepper. Using a pastry brush, brush the ears of corn with the butter mixture and place on a hot grill.
• Be careful to leave the husks off the hottest part of the grill rack so that they do not start to burn. Grill corn on all sides until well marked and tender, about 10 to 12 minutes.
• Sprinkle with grated queso fresco and cilantro and serve with lime wedges.

CUBAN GRILLED CORN

Steps:

• Place corn on grill or under broiler until all sides have nice spotted colors of brown, black and yellow. Mix melted butter and mayonnaise together to incorporate. Using a basting brush, paint on mayonnaise/butter, top with cheese and chili powder serve with lime wedge.

CORN CHOWDER, CUBAN STYLE

Steps:

• Heat oil in a heavy bottomed 6 quart pot. Brown pork cubes. Add chopped onion, garlic, bay leaves, and tomato sauce. Cover and simmer until pork is tender. Add broth, potatoes, squash, and ham. When potatoes and squash are tender, add canned corn and fresh corn. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently so corn will not stick to the bottom of the pan. Salt and pepper to taste.
• This chowder can be made hours before serving.

CUBAN GRILLED CORN

Steps:

• Char-grill corn over medium heat, about 12 minutes. Brush with melted butter; sprinkle with cheese, paprika and salt to taste. Serve with lime.

CUBAN CORN-ON-THE-COB

Steps:

• 1) Soak the ears of corn, in their husks, in enough water to cover them for 1 to 2 hours. 2) Preheat a griddle to medium high heat. 3) Carefully peel back the husks on each corn cob, but leaving them attached at the base. Then remove the silk.
• 4) In a bowl, combine the melted butter, paprika and chilli powder. Then, season well with salt and pepper. Using a pastry brush, brush the ears of corn with this butter mixture. Then put them on the hot griddle.
• 5) Be careful to leave the husks off of the hottest part of the griddle rack so that they don't burn. Cook corn on all sides until they are well marked and tender - approx. 10 to 12 minutes.
• Sprinkle the corn cobs with grated queso fresco and cilantro to taste. Serve them with lime wedges.