Heirloom Recipes From The Brass Sisters

Sheila and Marilynn Brass are the cooks with the books.The stars of the popular PBS show Food Flirts wrote two great books Heirloom Cooking With The Brass Sisters and Baking With The Brass Sisters (both published by St. Marten's Press). I tried their corn fritters and had an instant hit  - and an empty plate. The recipe is a tad labor intensive but worth it,.The recipe originated in 1910 from a woman the Brass Sisters called The Church Lady of Mansfield,Ohio. This recipe is one of her earliest, with her recipes cards spanning forty years of cooking.

Ingredients:

1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
2 eggs separated
1/2 cup milk ( I used Soy Good's coconut milk. It worked in perfectly)
1 tablespoon butter melted (this was subbed in with Miyoko's Vegan Butter)
1 cup canned or cooked corn (for more color and flavor I used Green Giant's Fiesta Corn
2 tablespoons butter softened at room temperature (again Miyoko's was used here)

1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup cooked chives

Place flour, baking powder, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl and set aside.(the combined dry ingredients below)

Beat egg yolks in a separate bowl.

Beat in milk and melted butter.

Add dry ingredients and gently stir to combine. 

Gently fold in corn.

Beat egg whites until stiff in a bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.

Fold egg whites into batter.

Melt two tablespoons butter in a large frying pan over medium heat.

Spoon one tablespoon batter into pan for each pancake, pressing down gently on them,once they are formed to make them thinner.

Cook pancakes until tops begin to bubble around the edges about two minutes. Turn and cook until the undersides are golden brown , about two minutes more.

 Serve immediately, topped with sour cream and chives. They can be kept warm in a 200 degree F oven for no more than 15 minutes. Store any leftovers in a cover container in the fridge. They can be refried.

I didn't  have any leftovers because they were a huge hit and eaten as they landed on the draining towel. This old classic is our new family favorite.

Recipe , page 56 in Heirloom Cooking With The Brass Sisters (St Martin's Press,2008)