Holy Elote! Tam's Mexican Street Corn Masterpiece
Jeff
8/11/20265 min read
Ahhh...my favorite day of the week. Soup Club day! And today was a pretty special Soup Club meeting.
But before we get into today's festivities, we have some catching up to do. Apparently it's been about a month since I've written one of these things. I think the last one was July 7. What can I say? Fishing season and soup blogging don't always play nicely together.
We've had a couple great meetings since then. One of the highlights was obviously the long-awaited appearance of Habanero Harman himself! Harman finally made it to Kevin's meeting and came bearing all kinds of hot sauce goodies to keep Soup Club properly sponsored. Very much appreciated. He's a genuinely great dude, and we loved having him join us.
Then last week we had Conlan bring his awesome Caribbean soup. Fantastic soup. One minor issue...He didn't bring enough. We've discussed this…Which brings us to today and Tam's turn in the rotation.
We had absolutely no idea what to expect…The day started in typical Soup Club fashion with a little controversy. I wasn't in the office yesterday to properly build up the Tuesday hype because I decided to take Soup Club member "on break" Andy Yavello and his family fishing on Lake Michigan. Huge success, by the way.
So I walk in this morning and I'm immediately greeted by a message from Tam saying she's going to be a little late. My Soup Club brain immediately kicks in…Is she coming? How late is "late?" Does she have the soup? If she doesn't show up, WHAT ARE WE EATING FOR LUNCH? These are serious issues.
Eventually Tam arrived, slightly late but carrying the goods. Crisis averted.
Now came the next mystery...What kind of soup did she bring? Tam has developed a bit of a reputation around here. We've had macaroni-and-cheese "soup." Broccoli-and-cheese soup. Cheese with cheese soup. So naturally speculation was running wild. Nacho cheese soup? Blue cheese soup? Just a crockpot filled with melted cheese? Nope!
Tam threw us a curveball and rolled in with a Mexican street corn soup properly named...Holy Elote!
The soup itself was a Mexican street corn creation, but in typical Tam fashion, the soup was only the beginning. On the side we had sliced avocado, cilantro, several different cheeses...because she's still Tam...sour cream, sliced jalapeños, and rotisserie chicken for a Bottomer™.
Then she went above and beyond with rosemary and olive sourdough bread…and because apparently soup, bread, Bottomers™, Toppers™, avocado, sour cream, jalapeños, and multiple cheeses weren't enough...Homemade cheesecake.
Another important development today was the return of our garçon/scooper/ladler, Hunter.
We've upgraded his uniform. As you'll see in the picture, the man now has an apron to go along with the official white gloves. It's a great look. We did go without the beard net today, so there was some concern about beard contamination, but thankfully no incidents were reported.
There was, however, another problem…Hunter was late. He showed up in full uniform ready to perform his duties...after almost everyone had already scooped their own soup.
Nathan, however, can be seen in the photo actually allowing Hunter to ladle his bowl. I'm not sure if Nathan intentionally waited for the full garçon experience or if that's just how things worked out. Either way, Hunter earned his keep.
Right now we're calling his arrangement "sweat equity." He provides ladling services, wears the uniform, adds entertainment value, and in exchange gets access to the meeting. Honestly, he's doing a wonderful job.
One more Hunter development: he's dabbling in homemade hot sauce now and brought some in for us to try. Before Habanero Harman starts sending cease-and-desist letters, relax. This is strictly a hobby. Hunter will NOT be bottling and selling sauce. Harman remains our guy.
Now enough of the drama surrounding the soup…Let's get to the scores.
Soup Club Feedback:
Kevin: Started at a 7.5 without hot sauce, then bumped it up to an 8.1 after adding some heat. He doesn’t like corn in soup!
Marketing Mike: I'm still not entirely sure what happened here. He started at a 10.0. Then discovered olives in the bread and somehow dropped the entire experience to a 2.0. Then, through some sort of Marketing Mike internal negotiation, rationalized his way all the way back to a 10.0. So...10.0 it is!
Jeff: Mixed emotions for me right out of the gate. On my SECOND bite, I got a chicken bone. Anyone who knows me knows that finding a bone in anything is usually an immediate deal breaker. I removed the offending bone, had Conlan spruce things up with some sprinkly cheese, and decided to pretend the entire incident never happened. Then there was the consistency. A little loose for me. I would've liked it thicker, and I managed to splash some on my shirt, which obviously doesn't help the score. I also would've loved some crunch. The recipe called for tortilla strips as a Topper™, but somehow those never made an appearance. So we've got a bone, watery shirt splashes, and missing tortilla strips. Sounds terrible, right? Nope…The flavor was perfect. Actually, beyond perfect…9.9!
Hunter: Self-described "simple man." Simple to please. Simple scoring system. 10.0!
Nathan: No soapbox. No emotional story about his childhood. No grandma memories. No tears. He just gave it a 10.0. I'm almost disappointed. Almost!
Josephine: This was one of our biggest wild cards. Josephine has repeatedly informed us that corn DOES NOT belong in soup. Today's soup? Basically corn…and she gave it a 9.0! She did mention that the homemade cheesecake helped get it there, which makes absolutely no sense for a soup score...but we've accepted far worse scoring logic around here.
Conlan: A solid 9.8. He said it could've reached the elusive 10.0 with some additional Mexican spice.
Adam: This one makes absolutely no sense. Adam scheduled a sales presentation DURING SOUP CLUB. Duh, Adam. He missed the actual meeting but ate afterward and reported back that he loved it. Perfect flavor, loved the crunch of the corn, and gave it a rock-solid 10.0.
Soup Club Average: 9.60! That's a monster score for Tam!
And because Tam actually brought enough soup...looking at you, Conlan...we were able to engage the Campbell's Crew™.
Campbell's Crew™ Feedback:
Felton: Needed some additional heat, naturally. Added hot sauce and came back with a 10.0.
Chris: 9.5
Nick: 9.5
Campbell's Crew™ Average: 9.67
Another wildly successful Soup Club meeting…Everybody left full. Everybody left happy. Tam delivered one heck of a soup, plenty of food, homemade bread, homemade cheesecake, and enough leftovers to actually feed people outside the official club. That's how it's done, people.
We checked the calendar before wrapping things up, and next week belongs to Marketing Mike. After today's strange 10-to-2-to-10 scoring performance, I'm interested to see what the man actually brings when he's on the other side of the crockpot.
Stay tuned, Soup Club people...
