Corn Pancakes

I consider myself a bit of an Anglophile. I love England, I love tea and I have a British flag on my wall. So when my mom and I were doing some last minute school shopping and found a $5 bargain cookbook appropriately called the "Student Cookbook", it was great. I was moving into my first apartment and would be cooking for myself for the first time. Then, when we discovered that the recipes were a little odd, we discovered it was an English student cookbook. Even better! When I discovered the scrambled eggs with corn flakes recipe, I questioned that. But still, it's British. It's got to be good. (Note: Please do not quote me on that. The eggs still sound disgusting.)

Also, what recipes for students call for a "scant 1 cup milk" or 3 oz. corn kernels or sunflower oil?

On grocery shopping Friday (as mentioned last time), I decided to look through said cookbook, as it hadn't been loved in a while. I had some shredded cheddar cheese to use up, so when I saw "cheesy corn fritters" and realized I basically had everything to make them, I figured I might as well give the poor cookbook some love. This is the story of the corn pancakes.

Ok, so they aren't really corn pancakes.

They really are "cheesy corn fritters". I tried clam fritters this summer and they were actually ok. Even though clams are just rubber bands in disguise. So corn fritters? Why not.

This is why not. Ok. So, they did get better as the batches went along (kind of like pancakes do). But they looked nothing like the puffy little patties the cookbook showed.

And, upon testing one after the 100th batch of tablespoon sized fritters (I'm exaggerating), they were virtually tasteless. Fact: when people tell you that salt brings out flavors in things, believe them. Put on a little salt on them, and they were much better. Still a little rubbery, but I think that's just "fritter" consistency. Or maybe I'm just biased.

The "two serving" recipe also made about 30 little pancakes. I had like 8. So . . . I guess I'm going to be eating them for a while. But, at least maybe tomorrow, in the teacher's room at lunchtime, one of the other teachers won't tell me that my rice-cake-with-peanut-butter lunch is boring. I know my lunches are boring, and I've accepted it.

The best part of lunch today is that one of my apartment mates is making mircowave chocolate cake. But, that's another story for another day.

Here's a similar recipe, give or take some milk and an egg. I didn't use the chives because I don't like them. Maybe they would have more flavor if there were chives in them . . . oh well. I thought they were pretty good.

And then, to complete the British theme, I ate some Smarties. I couldn't resist. :)