In my house, there’s only one way to prepare fresh corn. You either make elote, or you don’t bother buying corn. Don’t get me wrong, we use canned sweet niblets in recipes (I make a killer tortilla soup) but any cobs that come through our door are turned into elote. Eeeee-looooooow-tay!!!
Let’s start with the right way to shuck corn.
First, look at your pretty corn. Now remove all but the most inner layer of the husk. It’s almost see-through and it’s going to keep your corn nice and moist when you cook it. Discard the rest of the husk.
Second, peel back that last layer of husk, but don’t remove it. We’re going to get rid of the silk.
Get a big ol’ handful of the silk at the top and rip it down toward the stalk. I can usually take all the silk off in one go.
If you missed any silk just go back and rip as much as you can out. Now put the last layer of husk back over the corn. This is the time to rinse your corn in cool water, real quick (if you want). 
Next, break off that lovely little handle (the stalk). Just grab the corn in one hand and the stalk in the other and snap it off. This is by far my favorite part, because it means it’s ready to cook now.
It’s okay if some of the husk is missing in spots. Those spots will just get charred a little. Mmmm. And I keep a few metal pans devoted just to my grill. I even have a cookie sheet for my grill. Pick up some heavy duty pans if you plan on grilling a lot, and don’t worry about keeping them pretty. 😉
Now toss those glorious golden cobs on a smokin hot grill. We preheat ours for about 5-15 mins before we start cooking. It’s easy to preheat and go back inside to finish prepping your food. 
I start cooking them and love when the flames lick at the husk. Turn them every few minutes so they get a nice char on all sides. You’ll notice the corn turning golden yellow as it cooks. 
Total cooking time at medium high is about 15 minutes. Cover with foil to keep warm, or put in your oven on the lowest setting until time to eat (up to 30 mins).
Time to assemble our Elote!
We have an elote man (aka hubby) make ours. It’s taken me a while but I’m confident with letting him make mine now. I make sure he does it right. 😉
First rip off the remaining husk, and butter it up.
Now stick some mayo on it.
And get really excited as the mayo is spread all over. Eeee!!
Grab some salt….see where this is going? 😉
And sprinkle the salt and chili powder all over. And roll it in cotija cheese (shredded parmesan works if that’s all you have).
Okay, there are no action shots because at this point I was shoving my face with elote while the kids thought I was crazy for taking pictures during dinner. lol.
And please don’t sully these with those silly cob holders you poke into the ends. This is meant to be messy, and oh so good. Don’t ruin the experience by being prissy. 😉 You’re rubbing mayonnaise on corn…you lost the right to be prim and proper. lol.
Anyways. There are parts in So Cal where you hear the elote man coming down the street, pushing his little cart. And he dips the corn in like a vat of butter, ohmygosh so good.
I also get excited when his buddy pushes the ice cream cart down the street. The strawberry pops are to die for. And I found them at my local Walmart last week. Squeeeeee!!
Oh, and when buying corn we plan on 2 per kid, and 3-5 per adult. Because we really love corn. And as I was trying to get this post up on the blog every single one of my kids asked if we were having it with dinner, and even daddy walked by and saw my pics. He made an executive decision…we’re having elote tonight. hah
Happy grilling!