Epicurious called it ‘basically The Most Instagrammed Dish of 2015’. Eater praised the ‘Mexican pavlova’, as did just about every review. When I finally tried the corn husk meringue with corn mousse at Cosme, superstar Mexican chef Enrique Olvera’s lauded restaurant, I had to have the recipe for this otherworldly dessert.
Chef de cuisine Daniela Soto-Innes, who created it with Olvera and gladly granted my request, said it was inspired by her childhood in Mexico City. ‘When my mum saw me carrying a bag of meringues filled with whipped cream, she knew my dad had been late picking up my sisters and me from school. She’d feel bad too and would make our favourite sweet corn soup.’ I love desserts rooted in time and place, and this one with charred husks and burnt vanilla is spectacular.