Brad and Orville Peck Make Elote (Mexican Street Corn)

[Director] Action.

Hey guys today on It's Alive oh we got a special one.

We're going to be making a elote,

and we got a nice musical guest.

The wonderful, the Masked Cowboy, Orville Peck.

[country twang]

Orville, thanks for joining, bud.

Thank you so much for having me.

I'm so excited.

It's my first time ever stepping foot in a kitchen.

I believe that.

So basically, you know, I really just wanted to come up,

figure out what could we make

that's going to be extremely difficult

to eat with the leather mask.

[Orville laughs]

[upbeat music]

[music ends] You know, I found about you.

A big fan of your music.

Thank you, thank you.

All right, saw you over in the Brooklyn one time.

Uh huh, uh huh.

And it blew me away man.

You guys came out.

I mean the album.

Now I've a lot of shows.

And you know, usually sometimes you get the record,

you fall in love with it,

and you go, not everyone plays a great live show.

But I saw you guys, you showed up man,

and it was like, it was like a bus driven

by Marty Robbins, Morrissey, and Elvis.

And it just like hit you right in the face

going 90 miles an hour.

That's great.

Yeah, I love Mary Robbins.

Oh Marty Robbins is the best.

Thank you, I appreciate that.

No, we had a lot of fun at that show.

We have a lot of fun at all our shows.

So buy your tickets at OrvillePeck.com.

[Brad laughs] I'm just kidding.

All right cool, we're gonna make a little elote.

Where'd you grow up?

All over the place.

All right, fair enough.

Hey you don't have to tell me, man.

I get it, the mask. That's the honest truth.

All over. He's a convict, he's wanted.

[Orville laughs]

I've been fooling around with this a little bit

and was talking to some friends who

are a little more informed in the elote field.

Okay.

I'm gonna run the little water into these

and just kinda just saturate them with water.

All right.

All right, and I've got the grill over there all fired up.

And we're gonna cook them in the husks.

Okay.

Okay, then we peel them off and then we grill them,

get that nice char on the outside.

Right You know.

We'll stick a stick in it.

Yeah.

All right.

That's a thing, right?

Yeah.

Little stick in it. I mean you're just

describing like cooking corn, right?

Yeah. Yeah.

Basically.

I got it.

You can't get nothing past this guy, I'll tell ya.

The powers that be informed me that you are not a dairy man.

I don't do dairy.

That's all right. But I will.

No, you don't have to do it, man.

My son, he doesn't, he don't do dairy either.

I think that they call it lactose intolerant.

Yeah I just, it freaks me out a little bit.

I mean listen, no offense if you drink milk.

No!

But it's gross.

Yeah it's not very good.

Either way, I love cheese, whatever.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we can do it, it's fine.

No I got you, this is dairy free.

I was looking around, I was like [beep].

You know, you don't do dairy.

Cotija's like probably one of the funnest parts

of the whole dish.

Right.

But I was like all right, we're gonna get through this.

And I went and I found, it's like a vegan Parmesan.

Oh [beep].

Something that you can crumble, you know?

What is it made out of?

Oh, you don't wanna know, dude.

Oh no. [laughs]

It's probably got everything in it.

No shellfish, no dairy,

all right? Okay, perfect.

That's all I needed to worry about.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then we'll make a little powder mixture, all right?

Okay.

Let me see, I've got a little wild card for us here.

Oh yeah.

Oh, what is that?

What do you think?

What is that?

You have two guesses.

It's kinda fishy.

Kinda fishy, kind funky?

No like, not fishy, like bad,

but it's kind of got like a, like a fish,

like a fish smell. Okay.

All right, yeah.

You actually, that's pretty close.

There might be an oyster in it.

Oh wait.

We can't use it.

Damn!

I don't know if it has shellfish in it.

A lot of the time it does.

We can't use this.

It's kimchi, it's powdered kimchi.

Oh yeah, there's shrimp in kimchi.

There's always like some kind of shellfish in there.

That's what you were gonna do.

Well, do it! No!

Do it, why don't you do? I'll do mine that way.

Yeah, exactly.

Okay, cool.

And we have like a really fun,

little like mild, kinda spicy little chili powder.

That's good.

Little garlic powder.

And I was looking at a little white vinegar.

Distilled white vinegar powder.

And maybe we mix some of that into our mayonnaise

just to give it a little.

I've never heard of this in my life.

Oh you don't have a quart container of powdered vinegar?

Orville. Powdered vinegar? [laughs]

Definitely his first time in a kitchen.

Wait what's this?

Oh that's just my drink.

Oh.

Let's soak them, yeah?

Soak them, come on let's see.

I gotta get a mask.

God damn.

That's for sure.

Seriously.

Wait why are you doing this?

Oh, I thought you'd never ask!

Cause I think like as it cooks in there,

it's got its own moisture, but it keeps it from like,

if it's good corn it just kind

of like steams it in its own husk.

So it's not like burning it?

It's not burning it.

It's not.

I think it just, I think it cooks more evenly.

What I do at home,

let's say I'm gonna have some friends over or something.

We're gonna do a little thing, you know,

we've got some corn going.

Uh-huh.

I'll put it in like a bucket or a cooler

with like salted water.

Okay.

Salted like the ocean.

And that way it just kind of, it seasons it, you know?

It already adds to the.

What do you mean salted like the ocean?

Salted like the ocean.

Like if you were to taste it. Like sea salt?

Ah, taste like?

Yeah.

So like if you were to taste it,

it would be comparable to like what a clean ocean.

What tasting the ocean's like.

Like the North Atlantic. That's nice.

On a November morning would taste like.

Okay.

And look, we've got this grill nice and hot.

And yeah, this is really important.

I'm gonna demo it for ya.

You just place it right on there.

Oh okay, I'm glad you showed me how do that.

[Brad laughs] There we go.

Yeah now we leave that on there

for like seven minutes or so.

Yeah.

So you don't have the like bare corn on the thing at all?

No because the way I saw it,

it would get like too, like too charred.

Really I just needed something to stretch this episode out.

What if like, what if I don't have this at my house?

What, a grill?

Yeah like a giant grill in my kitchen.

Well how are you gonna make elote?

But that's what I'm saying,

can you do it like on a stove or something?

Yeah, you know, for sure.

We have a recipe for no-grill elote on Basically.

See, I'm trying to make it,

I'm just trying to make this like pedestrian

for some people No, you're right.

Who might not have access to a barbecue, you know?

Great point, Orville.

You can set up a little grill pan

or a little cast iron pan or something.

Yeah that's something.

And you can char it right up.

Okay, cool.

Okay but where did you get these?

Online.

Oh and they're like they're leather but

because they're woven they're like airy.

Oh nice You know?

So it's like perfect summer.

I could wear these to a wedding.

[Off Camera Voice] I could wear them to work. Yeah.

Every day, man.

It took a little while.

[Orville laughs] It took a little while.

At first, when I first got them I was like [beep],

oh I [beep] up.

No they're nice, they look nice.

I didn't think I was gonna be able to pull them off.

But then I started wearing them and I was like ooh.

[smooth melody]

You know, I was gonna,

I got a nice one down in Texas and I forgot.

[Orville laughs]

Not gonna lie.

I thought this was gonna be a more interesting story.

No, nope.

Really anticlimactic, I just blew it.

That's okay.

Oh look who showed up, the Test Kitchen team! [applause]

We've got the masked cowboy, Orville Peck, hello!

Hi!

How you doing, man?

Good how are you?

I'm Chris.

Pleasure to meet you Nice to meet you, Orville

That's great. Whoa, what are you cooking?

Look at that.

I love ham pots.

Makes everything better.

Makes everything better. Are those burning?

No, no not at all.

The little hairs are, but that's fine.

Good eye, I'm glad you're playing attention.

Hot!

Whole life, shellfish allergic?

No.

Really?

Teenage.

Oh.

Hormonal, yeah.

Son of a bitch.

Do you have any food allergies?

I do not, to my knowledge.

Probably handy as a chef.

It's nice, yeah.

Whenever I see like Chopped or like any of those shows,

I always think how I would be so out of luck

cause I wouldn't be able eat so much [beep] that they make.

It's always like scollops or things like that.

Scollops?

Where'd ya grow up?

Why did I?

Oh do you say scallop?

I say scallop.

Chris is from Massachusets and his wife's from,

he's like half English sometimes,

and he says scollop.

Scollop.

[Brad] But that's like a Massachusets thing too, ain't it?

Is it?

[Brad] Scollops.

Andy, what do you say?

California, scallop.

[Brad] You say scallop.

[Orville] Scallop.

[Brad laughs]

Scallop.

Scallops.

What do you say, do you say apricot?

I say apricot.

I say ape-ricot.

You say ape-ricot.

Yeah.

One of those.

[both laugh]

When this comes off, it's gonna be ripping hot, obviously.

Yeah.

So we'll let that hang out a little bit.

Okay.

And that's when we'll build our little,

our little mayonnaise.

I'm excited for that.

Like all the little bowls.

Yeah we're gonna have fun.

Oh we're gonna have fun, bud.

[Orville laughs]

It's on fire.

Just a little fuego, yeah.

Orville, I'll hold the tray.

You want me to grab them?

Yeah grab them! With hands?

Yeah get on there!

Just, hot corn!

That's not too bad. No it's not.

I think I have a high heat threshold

cause I take really hot showers.

Okay. [laughs]

So a little insider.

[smooth melody]

Like burning hot.

Yeah.

Yeah, I don't know why. All the time?

All the time.

You finish cold?

Nope.

Never? No, I finish red.

[both laugh]

So we'll let these hang out.

They're gonna continue to carry though,

cook a little bit. Okay.

And just get real nice, you know?

Nice little corn juices and stuff.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

And then in this bowl here we've just

got a little mayonnaise blob out, okay?

And what we're gonna do, we get.

That looks horrific.

Yeah it looks great.

Let me stir that up a little.

I'm thinking we add just a pinch of this funky stuff.

Okay.

Taste it.

I'll taste it with you.

Oh, you know what?

Could be worse.

Yeah it's quite, it's quite cheesy.

It tastes like cheese puffs.

A little bit like a cheese puff, right?

Oh, hold up.

Be right back.

What we'll do here,

I'm just gonna pull a little piece to the side.

Oh so you can do your?

So I can do my.

Kimchi one?

Yeah.

I'll stir this little guy.

Can I stir this?

Stir that little guy.

Okay.

All right, we'll add a pinch of this.

Yeah.

Wait what is that?

That's the chili powder.

Yeah.

Little pinch of that.

Let me wash my hands before I go to the hospital.

How about I add a little bit of lime juice.

Okay.

Just a little, little bit of tang.

And then I was thinking we add

a little bit of garlic powder.

You like garlic?

Yeah I love garlic.

Ah I love garlic.

And then what,

okay you can't do the kimchi powder.

How about, hey, you like sauerkraut?

Yeah.

Would that be good on this, you think?

Sauerkraut powder?

Andy! [Orville laughs]

Yeah?

You think sauerkraut powder would be good on it?

And we have the tajin stuff, the old school.

That's weird.

It's weird, what's weird?

This?

It tastes like cheese puffs.

Yeah, it kind of does.

Um I really don't like that.

It's all right, bud.

[Orville and Brad laugh]

I would maybe stay away from that.

Stay away from the kraut.

It's a lot with that I think.

All right, let's keep it simple.

Keep it simple stupid.

Next, we'll put a little bit of this in.

And this is just gonna give that mayonnaise

a little bit of body.

We'll make a sprinkle to jazz it up too, you know?

Okay so, how is this different from the chili powder?

Than the chili powder?

Oh, from this stuff.

Yeah.

Let's read the ingredients.

What's the flavor profile on there?

Bear with me, I can't read.

Chile pepper, sea salt, dehydrated lime juice, interesting.

Whoa.

Anti-caking agent, and that's it!

I'll do a little pinch of that too.

This is a nice color.

Yeah that is nice, man.

Here, show the world.

Look at that, it's like it's turning

into quite a nice little.

You just want to brush over corn.

Yeah, exactly.

All right.

You know, oh my god, I think I might even one time,

like my kid loves that song Old River.

Really?

He like puts his hand up, he goes old river!

Whoa. It's the best.

You gotta film that.

I have, dude, it's amazing.

We'll keep that over there, no cross-contaminations.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Here, I'm gonna put mine right here.

Ain't trying to kill the masked cowboy,

that's for damn sure.

Who's coffee is this?

Oh wait weren't we supposed to put this?

You know, I was on the fence.

It's very, very potent.

It's good though, it might be so good on it.

I mean I liked.

We're doing it.

I mean it is just vinegar, I guess.

But it's just like it's bizarre that it's.

In a powder form.

Yeah cause the second it touches your mouth,

it just tastes like vinegar, it's really weird.

Want a little dab?

Yeah.

All right, where are we?

Oh yeah.

Since you have no nerve endings,

should be no problem. Thank you.

No, this is easy.

It cooled off a bit.

I did this a little earlier and I didn't wait

and it was like stupid hot. Piping hot?

Yeah.

And watch, it's just so juicy when you twist it off.

Ooh! It's that water, man.

I like, preferably, I couldn't find it.

I'll wait till Hunsy's ready.

He's Hunsy.

I prefer white corn.

Really? It's like smaller kernels,

sweet, usually like pop, pop, pop crisp.

You know, New Jersey, that's what we do, man.

We're white corn.

So white corn is sweeter than yellow corn?

I think, maybe?

[Orville laughs]

I mean, I just feel like that seems wrong.

I mean I trust you. [continues laughing]

Who can we?

Phone a friend!

Call someone!

Rosemary Trout.

But yeah, I think it is a little sweeter.

No if you believe it, that's good.

I believe.

Yeah, yeah.

And then look, I made us little skewers.

Oh no.

I'll make more.

Take five.

[smooth melody]

If you're ever in a bind and need

to cut a small amount of wood,

a cheap serrated knife, man.

Really?

It's like a little saw, you know?

Oh wow.

Just enough, and then you can just kind of snap them.

Ahh!

Oh no!

Under the nail, Orville!

Ah I got it.

It was all right.

Have you ever cut yourself really badly?

Oh yeah.

You must have.

I used to be a carpenter and a union glazer.

I'd do like architecture and aluminum glass.

Oh yeah, so you're using like huge?

One time I was cutting a piece of like lexan

or it's like a plastic fake glass kind of thing.

Okay.

And I was using a brand new razor and it like slipped

and went like three fingers to the bone.

I got a look and I was just like oh this is not good.

And one time I got hit by an ATV and I had to get like a,

I could take my.

I love how none of these are kitchen-related.

Yeah.

And I could take my fist and touch my femur.

It was horrible.

Helicopter ride.

What happened in the woods?

Oh yeah.

One time we were doing a camping video

and I was making a little breakfast.

Yeah.

And I was doing some cute little potatoes, you know,

slicing them up on the mandolin.

And this guy Vinnie at the time, who used to be Matt,

but now Matt's here, Matt's always been here.

Let me rephrase that. [both laugh]

So yeah I was doing it with this guy,

there was a few of them and this guy Vinnie,

who, we'll just avoid names, can we start over?

[both laugh]

So anyway, and Vince was talking

and he was saying something about bow and arrows

or something and I was like ababababa

and I just went quarter inch chunk right off my fingertip.

It was gnarly.

I gotta find the picture at some point later.

It was horrible.

I got like a little light-headed.

They were like,

Brad we can like, we don't have to continue shooting.

I was like no we gotta finish.

And wrapped it up and the show went on, man!

All right, let me get my [beep] spirit back

in this here, huh?

It's been a day.

I mean the tips of your fingers, that's like the worst.

Dude it was gone.

Yeah.

It was in the bowl as like a little.

But mandolin, that thing is never,

there's never a story about a mandolin that's

like not like that. No.

And it wasn't like I was shaving.

I mean they should just get rid of that thing, like.

Oh no, the best, dog.

It's the best. [laughs]

All right, back to business.

Enough fooling around here.

So let's go char this stuff up on the grill.

Right on there.

Oh, that way.

Yeah, and that way, look,

it'll give us a nice little thing.

We're gonna start picking up color quick.

That one's looking good, huh?

Let's get toasty, boys.

Oh great handkerchief!

Oh thank you!

Damn!

You know what I wanna start wearing?

Handkerchiefs.

Handkerchiefs?

Yeah.

Handkerchief, handkerchief.

Handkerchief.

I guess probably how you say it.

Do you wanna wear this one?

Cause you're not wearing a cowboy hat, so here.

Yeah, exactly!

I wanna start rocking this! Now, yeah.

There you go.

That's what I'm talking about.

Now you gotta say yeehaw.

Yee.

Yeehaw. [laughs]

Yeehaw.

Like that one song you've got. Oh

Or maybe it's like a yeehaw.

Yeehaw.

Yeah you've got the voice,

man! [Orville laughs]

You know one day, I've been saying this my whole life.

I've always wanted to make music but never did.

I tried playing base one time.

I just never stuck well with it.

I kinda sucked at it.

I've got like 10 thumbs.

But I always wanted to make a country music album.

Do it!

Yeah, one day.

And I always wanted to wear the handkerchief,

so I was out in Vermont.

Well one of your dreams just came true.

Yeah, big time.

The next one's around the corner.

Well, a couple drinks in me, I start wearing it.

I'll tie like a, we'll be in a restaurant

and I'll tie like a napkin around my neck and [beep].

[Orville laughs] I just, I like it,

like Ali's wearing one, she looks freaking great.

Everyone looks great with it.

Yeah I know, and the denim?

Yeah! Like look at the matching.

She's in the band! Look at this.

Here we gotta look like. Oh I want in.

Nah, it's not matching.

Aw. [Orville laughs]

Should we, we should make our little seasoning first

before we go mayonnaise in itself.

In the little bowl yeah?

Right, right. Is that this?

Okay, dry spice.

I wanna use this too.

Yeah.

Use this as a base.

Okay.

This is the tajin.

I'm gonna add a little more garlic powder.

Okay, yeah, we like garlic powder.

Yeah, we like garlic powder.

I've made my own a couple times and it's like.

How?

You just take garlic, dehydrate it,

and then put it in a blender.

Okay but how did you dehydrate it?

In the dehydrator.

Oh well I mean sure.

Here I'll show you this fancy bad boy.

You can get one of these and put it right in your van.

Oh, what's in there now?

This is salt, and cured, ooh, cured egg yolks.

[smooth melody]

Give that a little stir.

Okay.

I'm gonna go run and grab something

that I think would be great in it.

Okay, can I just stir it with my finger?

Do whatever you want!

Yeehaw!

Just to himself, I'm practicing, he wants to impress me.

[Orville laughs]

All right, so this is not traditional.

Okay.

But it's a fantastic, when you were like,

if you like chili, you kind of got me inspired.

It's that Korean pepper flake.

Andy, how do you pronounce it?

Gochugaru.

Here, you wanna brush one?

Hell yeah.

Okay, I'm gonna plate mine really well.

Yeah, plate it up, you're an artist.

Okay.

Should I move this stuff Hunsy?

How much of this stuff do I brush on here?

I just want you

to feel good about it. The world is my oyster.

Okay.

[Off Camera Male Voice] Not oyster.

Not oysters.

[Brad laughs]

All right.

[Orville] Are you doing full coverage?

I'm doing full coverage.

Oh wow yeah you sure are.

I thought maybe it would look kind of nicer

if it's just like a thick layer on the top

so you can still see the color and the.

Is it only on one side?

This is just like my nice interpretation.

You know? All right you do you.

Exactly.

Make it how you would want it to be made.

Okay.

[Brad] Oh and the cheese!

[Orville] Oh yeah!

[Brad] The cheese-less cheese, Orville!

Oh right on the plate, I'm gonna do that too maybe.

All right Hunsy,

we'll let you get a little beauty shot first or something.

Oh would you look at that?

Let me get a shot too cause I never get a picture.

My pictures never look that good.

Oh [beep] that's a cool view from up here actually.

Aw, it's the best.

I love this building, this crazy like.

Oh, the oculus?

Yeah it's so sick in there.

It's kind of weird.

It's like yeah it's a beautiful design,

like some kind of whale skeleton.

Yeah like Fifth Element whale skeleton like.

It's very sci-fi.

Yeah.

But I don't really like going through it too much.

No?

Nah, it freaks me out a little.

It's very clean. There's no sound in there.

Did you grow up around snow?

Oh yeah!

Yeah, so you know like when it's a lot

of snow and you're kind of like first go out in it

and it just sounds like.

It's like, you hear nothing?

Yeah it's like soundproofing.

Just cold.

It's like that in there.

Yeah.

[Orville] It's weird when you walk in

[Brad] it feels like dead space. It does.

[Orville] It's really like.

[Brad] And it's a mall.

[Orville] Yeah it's so bizarre.

Well shall we try these?

Where do you want us to eat these?

Yeah, here wait, this is yours.

Let me tidy up, I wasn't expecting company.

[Orville laughs]

No one says company anymore, do they?

I say company.

Do you?

Yeah, we've got company?

You guys having company?

[Orville sings]

Yeah!

You see!

God damn.

Yeah I'm not just a pretty face, you see?

[Brad laughs]

You ready?

Should we cheers our sticks?

Cheers the stick!

There you go, all right.

Here we go.

Oh mine's delicious.

The vinegar powder.

It's actually really good.

It's really good, right?

I feel like I want more lime.

To cut through the mayo a bit, you know?

Yeah well you went heavy.

Juicy, right?

That's actually so good.

So good.

You got mayonnaise all over your mask.

Do I? [laughs]

Success!

[crowd cheering]

The idea of someone listening to me eating corn on the cob,

like I hate when people eat like, I don't like.

I have that thing where like people chew crunchy [beep]

and I'm like you need to get away from me.

Yeah get in there Andy, go right ahead.

It's delicious, you're welcome.

Okay wait, try mine though.

See if mine's better.

[Orville laughs]

That one's better!

Come on! You're not lying, right?

No, you know why?

I believe it man, he's an artist, what do you want.

It has more acidity.

Yeah I put a little lime.

He just drizzled it with the.

I love the lime.

Well listen to this, Andy.

We put it in it, in the mayonnaise.

Oh [beep].

How do you like them apples, slick?

I'm into that.

Yeah.

You're just desperately trying to use that.

We love our powder.

Cause it so.

Brought to you by the powdered vinegar board.

[Orville and Brad laugh]

But I think mine's better.

I mean mine looks, it did look nicer I think.

Yeah, it did.

Like the plating was nicer.

[both laugh]

Yeah, no, yeah it did.

[Orville laughs]

Well heck, you know, a little chili over the shoulder.

That's It's Alive, that's Bon Appétit.

Hey, I think we did great, don't you think?

That's elote, man.

Yeah that was really good.

Thanks for coming in.

Thank you so much for having me.

You know, I wish,

next time I'm gonna figure out a way to get you.

I wanted to close it out.

You can sing about horse [beep], I don't care.

No I'm just gonna surprise you.

Next time I'm gonna just come in here singing

and you won't know I'm coming.

Oh god.

Oh my god I'd fall over.

When's your birthday?

May 16th.

You're Taurus?

Yeah.

Oh [beep].

Capricorn.

All right.

But I get along with Taurus, I'm surrounded by Tauruses.

All right.

May 16th, really.

And listen to this kookiness.

[smooth melody]

House of bulls.

Aw [beep], the bullpen.

The bullpen.

I'm surrounded. Yeehaw.

[both laugh]

All right, whelp, elote!

Orville Peck, thanks for coming in again, man.

Thank you so much for having me.

It's freaking awesome and bon appétite man,

make some elote.

Yeehaw.

[Brad] Smile with your eyes, Orville.

Smize.

[Brad laughs]

You've been singing doing music for a long time?

Yeah.

[both laugh]

Yeah.

Yes.

Yeah what's your country name going to be?

I don't know, you can't just go I don't know.

Bradlio's pretty good.

It's Leonie.

Oh so yeah, that's not so good.

That don't work, right?

Does that not work as good or?

Well just change it to Bradleo.

Hey guys, I'm Bradleonie.

Like nah, it sounds like you like opening

a golf course or something.

It's very like country club.

Brad, yeah just take the E off.

Just make it Bradleon.

Hey guys, I'm Bradleon.

See?

That's great.

Yeah kick the amp.

Kick it right over.

[Orville laughs]

You stay there.

Oh like just come up really slow?

Oh yeah just like directly behind.

Can you see him?

[Off Camera Voice] No!

[Brad laughs] [smooth music]