Corn Fritters for Breakfast

 

September 4, 2016

 

Corn season is coming to an end, so yesterday we bought eight ears. Upon husking them we found that one of the ears was over the hill, the kernels dented and dull. So I set aside (and refrigerated) that one plus one other and we ate the remaining six for lunch.

 

This morning I made corn fritters from those two set-aside ears--just enough for two people for breakfast. My own share of the fritters never made it to the breakfast table, because I gobbled them up as soon as I'd taken them from the pan, after allowing barely enough cooling time. Here's how to make them:

 

Cut the kernels from the corn cobs by holding a cob almost upright over a shallow bowl or a plate. With a sharp paring knife cut off the tips of the kernels, turning the cob after each pass with the knife. Now, with the back of that knife, scrape down the cob to capature all the "milk", the innards of each kernel. It might be liquid-y or it might be more starchy, depending on the age of the corn.  After "milking" each cob go around it again to be sure you've harvested every smidgen of corniness.

 

Discard the cobs. (If I weren't so lazy I might have covered them with water and simmered them for 15 or 20 minutes, then saved that cooking water to use as stock for corn chowder some other day.)

 

Put the cut-off kernels into a mixing bowl. Add half a teaspoon of salt and a couple teaspoons of flour (I used buckwheat flour, thus making my fritters gluten free. Since so little flour is called for, you could use just about any GF flour replacement or, of course, plain, unbleached wheat flour.)

 

Separate one egg, putting the white into a small bowl and mixing the yolk in with the corn. Beat the egg white with a hand eggbeater (it's only one egg white so it won't take more than a few minutes) then fold it in to the corn mixture.

 

Melt a couple tablespoons of butter in a skillet over medium heat. To keep the butter from burning you can add a little olive oil. I didn't, and you can see the browning of my butter in the photos. Browning is fine; burning isn't. When the butter is bubbling, drop the batter in by tablespoons and let the little fritters cook until they are brown on the bottom. The photo at the top shows fritters before they have been turned. Turn them carefully and brown the other side. And the photo at the bottom of this post shows the golden brown tops of turned fritters.

 

Drain on  paper towels for a few minutes, then eat in one of the following ways:  1) with your fingers beside the stove while no one is watching to see how many you eat; 2) drizzled with maple syrup on a plate (with a fork instead of fingers, for obvious reasons).