In Mexican cuisine, it’s a delicacy. But in my childhood memory, it’s a monster. - main dishes in mexican restaurants

I'm about to face my darkest demon and it looks like a delicious corn risotto.
On the surface, there seems to be no problem. I love corn. I love rice. I love cheese.
But literally, there are also some gray dots on the surface.
The server explained that they were made from "truffles" that grow on the ear of corn --
So this dish makes perfect sense.
Fungi like mushrooms.
I like mushrooms, so why do these little dots scare me?
Because that mushroom is a live mushroom.
I have history with whitlake.
Like all good horror stories, the story starts with a child doing something he shouldn't have to do.
My mom has a few wells in the summer garden.
Take care of rows of corn.
The film is not big enough to evoke Stephen King's film, but there is plenty of room to run around.
We shouldn't have.
But of course we did.
One day, when I was about 7 years old, I turned the wrong corner and drove the car into a stalk --
I'm sure the reason why we shouldn't be running in the first place.
It didn't do real damage, but I found myself getting longer and longer ears and getting my head hit.
But this ear is different.
There was a terrible gray spot on it.
I'm sure it's alive.
I'm sure it's a monster. Or an alien. Or both.
It seems to be moving.
I think I see it breathing
Or any desire equal to corn. eating monster-aliens. I was scared.
I have never returned to the corn field.
I was watching a cooking show for 20 years.
Chef Zarela Martinez says interesting huitlacoche ingredients work together on request.
Or, as I have heard, wheatla-ko-chay.
I don't know how to spell it.
When she talked about this mushroom growing on corn, I was really interested.
She then said it was also known as "corn black powder disease ". ” Yum.
Then she put some on her ears.
I turned off the TV.
That monster.
I haven't thought about it for decades, but my stomach has changed.
I took a break from the cooking show in case it was repeated.
A few years later, I first saw it on the menu as frongrill in Chicago.
It was listed as an ingredient in the stew and I immediately removed that dish from consideration.
Of course, my wife ordered it.
She asked me if I wanted to try it.
I rarely refuse something new.
I looked at the plate and saw no evidence of any evil incarnated as a gray object of ups and downs.
But I know it's inside.
So this is a tough rejection. (
If it all sounds too exaggerated, I hear people swear --and swear at —
Raisins are because they link them to bugs, and I know people who compare some seriously annoying analogies to Mayo.
I'm not apologizing. )
Now, when I saw it on the menu, I just relaxed the aversion reflex and went on.
But when I heard about a dish in Poka Madre, chef of Victor Albisu's new restaurant, it was an esquites style risotto --
One of my favorite Mexican dishes
Corn, cheese and citrus in Chile
I have to try.
I have briefly considered asking for it without Huitong, but it seems to be cheating.
I need to face the monster.
Albisu said he added this ingredient because it is the native ingredient of Mexican culture and cuisine and has been relevant since the Aztec era and he wants to honor it in a meaningful way
So he put it on a plate full of corn.
He said whitlecce is well matched with rich food, and the butter and cheese of the risotto helps to reduce the "depth" of what he calls the taste ".
He offered to show me the original whitlecce. I hesitate.
There may be some slight trembling.
He assured me that they would put it in the fridge, which was smart in my opinion.
I think it might be safe.
It looks like a river rock on a plate.
Here it is a bit beautiful in this case.
Not terrible at all.
I took the courage to touch one of the leaves and felt as hard as a rock, which surprised me.
I thought it was sponge.
"Well, it's frozen," Albisu gently reminded me . ".
When it is not, it is sponge-like. Got it.
I'm a little tired.
Because whitlacoche is often compared to mushrooms and truffles, I have always thought that, like them, it happened under the whim of nature, when it was discovered, it has been harvested and its availability may be limited.
I think some enterprising ancient chefs have found a way to reduce food waste.
Or punish their enemies, not sure which one.
It turned out that Albisu was getting fresh food from farmers growing whitlacoche in Florida. . . on purpose.
So now I'm looking at the risotto from Poka Madre.
I mean, I think it takes two people to stare, and technically it's not because it doesn't have eyes --right?
Part of me didn't want to try and realized that when I tried I blew the plot drama 40-
Several years in production.
But there is also a feeling of coming medieval liberation, that is, eating the monster that tortured me. I look hard.
I dipped a tine of the fork into a gray blob.
Rationally, I know I'm doing something more important than I am now, but no one says it's rational.
I still don't want to taste it. So I sniff.
It smells nothing like it.
I think I have to try it.
I slowly took the fork to my tongue.
I am 7 years old again, facing a mysterious beast.
I seem to have the upper hand this time, but I don't know what it can do. Contact.
It's not obvious if I get sucked into Hell's Gate.
This is a standard chef/food that tastes a bit earthy
A generally mushy writer code.
It makes sense to have a slight salty taste because you kill the demon with salt. Look it up.
Quite frankly, the dish was excellent, with cream corn and rice and cotija cheese from Chile --lime seasoning.
I did it without further worry.
If it were a movie, the final scene would make me think about how I changed it in a profound, exaggerated, and very absurd way.
I walked into the sunset with my dog.
Ominous dark clouds will roll on the corn ground, and the breeze will blow the tassels, heralding a possible sequel.
Of course, none of this happened.
But I have, without a doubt, eliminated the fear that had swallowed me up.
I will do it again.