Sweet Corn Atole Recipe: The Mexican Beverage that Appears in ‘To Nurture & Kill’
“Kira took a huge gulp of his own drink, which was made of finely ground corn, milk, and sugar. ‘My dwink is the best.’”
Hello!! I hope everyone had a lovely holiday. It’s a cold and rainy day in San Francisco as I write this post. The Assistant is sitting in his chair beside me, buried under a blanket because the room that is my office doesn’t really heat up. He could easily go to another, much warmer room, yet he remains here with me in solidarity.
One blanket to rule them all.
The holidays are bittersweet for me, as I’m reminded of my mom and the countless hours we would spend making food. In that tradition, the husband and I made chicken mole chatino. And yes, it’s true what they say about Mexican mole: it does tend to have a lot of ingredients and steps, but the end result is always worth it. The other recipe that I made was the sweet corn drink that little Kira enjoys during the Corn Festival in To Nurture & Kill.
When thinking of the dishes and drinks to include in To Nurture & Kill, I naturally tapped into my own culture’s cuisine. Corn, or maize, is the heart of Mexican cooking, and so in the world of the Ellderet it is the staple crop of the southern half of Moenda, especially Florinia.
“They were natural mazes, mazes forged of rows of plowed dirt and leafy walls carrying the divine kernals that would nourish the people through the winter.”
The sweet corn drink enjoyed by Kira during the Corn Festival is a Mexican drink known as atole. The foundation of most atoles is usually masa harina, milk, sugar, and spices like Mexican cinnamon and vanilla. Some variations add fruit, fresh corn, or chocolate and piloncillo (champurrado) to the atole.
My version uses masa harina and fresh corn, since the beverage enjoyed by Kira in the book takes place during the Corn Festival that is held every year in Florinia at the beginning of the harvest season. Corn aplenty, y’all. You can also expect to see atole make an appearance again in the forthcoming The Faceless God. And this time, not only will you know what the characters are drinking, but you’ll also know how this warm and luscious drink is made. Plus, for a behind-the-scenes look at how the beverage was made, check out my IG Story Highlights!
Let me know if you’ve had this drink before and if you decide to make it yourself tag me on Instagram @tomesandcoffee :) I’m a bit slow with responses, but if you have a cooking question, please feel free to ask and I will answer it asap.
Now, off with you to the corn fields, dear, and pray that you reach their end without being bitten by a tezca snake. I hear that it’s a terrible way to die.
Ingredients:
6 fresh corn ears
1 cup water
1/4 - 1/2 sugar, or to taste
4 cups milk
1-2 tablespoons of masa harina
*1 tablespoon corn scratch (if you can’t find masa harina)
To a medium pot, add the water + cinnamon sticks. On low to medium-low heat, slowly infuse the water until it’s tinted a deep red. Add sugar to taste and dissolve. Remove the pot from heat, add 2 cups of milk, and set aside. Move on to preparing the corn.
Remove the husk and silk from your 6 ears of corn. Discard those, then rinse the ears, dry them, and carefully remove the kernels without offering up a finger to the Faceless God.
Add half of the kernels + 1 cup of milk to a blender. Blend to a smooth consistency. Add the remaining kernels + 1 cup of milk and repeat.
Place a fine mesh sieve over a bowl or pot. Pour the blended corn + milk mixture into the sieve, gently helping to push the liquid through with the back of a wooden spoon. Make sure to sieve and squeeze out as much of the liquid as possible. This will take a good 10 minutes.
Over medium-low heat, cook your mixture for 30-40 mins. Do not boil. At this stage, you will have to repeatedly stir to prevent the milk from burning/sticking to the bottom of the pot. Bouts of existentialism might occur as you stir stir stir away your life. Fun times for all!!!
After 15-20 minutes of cooking, proceed to the next step while continuing to cook. Dissolve 1-2 tablespoons of masa harina in a small bowl with a bit of the corn-milk mixture from the cooking pot. It will remain kinda clumpy, but that’s okay. Now, sieve the mixture into the pot while using the back of your wooden spoon to help push the masa harina clumps through the sieve. If you still have clumps hanging around in your sieve, ladle some of the milk-corn mixture and repeat the above step until most of it is gone. Discard whatever clumps/grains remain. This step is super important! You want to make sure your atole is smooth. You don’t want to piss off the Faceless God with grainy atole. Unless, of course, you want to …
*ALTERNATIVELY: Dissolve corn starch in a bit of cold water and then slowly pour and stir the mixture into the pot. If you can’t find or don’t like the taste of the nixtamalization process (calcium hydroxide), then use corn starch. Masa harina is what was used in To Nurture & Kill, and I personally love the taste.
Continue cooking and stirring over low heat until the atole thickens to the consistency of hot chocolate. Remove from heat when done.
Serve warm in a cup, grab a book and blanket, and settle in for comforting goodness.
Note: If your atole becomes too thick for your taste, warm up some milk and slowly stir it into the pot (or cup) until it becomes the consistency you want. This will dilute the corn flavor, but I feel that enjoying the texture of your drink is important.
Cheers!
EMM
Horror fantasist E.M. Markoff writes about damaged heroes and imperfect villains; she is also an inkblot artist. She is the creator of The Ellderet Series, a diverse dark fantasy epic exploring how family bonds are tested in a violent world. 