I have a love/hate with pancakes, Johnny cakes, flapjacks, griddle cakes, call them what you will. Love: sweet for breakfast, maple syrup paired with bacon, crisp dry brown edges. Hate: too-sweet for breakfast, flabby middles, the ill feeling that comes after eating just one. I’m always tempted to order them when the Husband and I go out for breakfast, but have been let down too many times to fall for their maple-drenched sweet song. So I make them at home, but rarely. Pancakes are a pain in that unless one has a giant griddle, only one serving can be delivered at a time. Which means the Husband is eating a plate of hot cakes and reading the Sunday paper while I’m standing at the stove. This paints a picture of Rockwellian domesticity I never, ever thought could be my life. So I really have to want them to make the damn things. Which I did last Sunday morning.
This recipe comes from the venerable Joy of Cooking, specifically the 1975 Rombauer/Becker edition (55th printing). I look something up in this book at least once a day, and it shows: falling apart, pages stuck together, spattered, homely. But it knows it’s the queen of the kitchen bookcase, and I know it makes the reviled 1997 version feel like the unloved bastard stepchild it is, languishing unopened on the bottom shelf.
I added a cup of fresh sweet corn, cut from the cob, to the batter. The sauce consists of maple syrup and frozen summer blueberries, warmed up in a pot. Bacon on the side is a must (there was none left at picture time). Once you get your pan to the right temperature, you are guaranteed a crispy, corny, delicious cake.
Crisp Corn Flapjacks
Mix together in a bowl:
1-1/3 c. cornmeal (not too coarsely ground!)
1/4 c. flour
1-1/4 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda
Cut in with a pastry blender or fork:
1/4 c. unsalted butter
In a big measuring cup, combine:
2 c. buttermilk
2 eggs
1 c. fresh corn from the cob
Blend the liquid ingredients into the dry using a few swift strokes until just combined. Spoon onto a hot buttered cast iron skillet..I prefer smaller cakes because they’re easier to flip. You may need to rebeat the batter a couple of times.