For this week's French Fridays with Dorie, we were asked to make a dish which seemed all American rather than French - corn pancakes. However, I will have to take Dorie's word for it that they are indeed of French origin.
These little pancakes consist of nothing but corn and flour and egg and salt - seriously. You blitz the ingredients in a food processor, and fry small spoonfuls of the thick batter in a skillet of hot oil. Definitely not hard or time consuming.
I made a half batch and ate it for a weekend breakfast. I simply spread my pancakes with honey. The recipe said it serves six, but I gather this is when you serve the pancakes as a side with other things, so I don't think that eating a half batch myself was particularly gluttinous, bearing in mind that these pancakes are tiny.
The verdict? Pancakes are pancakes - these were neither better nor worse than any other pancakes I have ever had, but may be nutritionally better for you than the normal flour egg and milk version because of the corn.
Here is a pancake breakfast that I had at Dennys in Scottsdale, AZ while I was on holidays:
Dennys became the eatery of choice for many on our bus tour because of the generous servings and afforable price. Our tour director called it "Chez Denays". These pancakes stumped me - I got two whole-wheat pancakes, which came with sides of maple syrup, whipped butter, two pieces of bacon, two eggs (sunny side up in my case) and potatoes. I became all flustered when ordering, as I could have also added add-ins to the pancakes (such as bacon bits or chocolate chips), and ordered another topping (strawberry syrup anyone?). This was the standard serving - I did not ask for all of this with the pancakes. Wow! I think it cost $5.95 - you'd never get this for that price in Oz.
To see what the other FFwD people thought of the corn pancakes, visit the LYL section of the FFwD website.
Have a great weekend folks.
I think they call those hoecakes down South (pancakes in TX). I may be wrong.
ReplyDeleteThey turned out good, too bad you didn´t enjoy them much!
ReplyDeleteIt's too bad you didn't love them. I've made this recipe twice and loved them much more this time. I had some whole kernels of corn in them and thought they were a lot better that way. Love you call Denny's "Denay's", I'm so stealing that!
ReplyDeleteWow that pancake breakfast certainly comes as a generous portion! Hubby would wolf that down :P
ReplyDeleteYour Denny's experience is too funny :-) Yes- they do put a lot of food on a plate. There is a diner a couple of blocks from my house that serves pancakes the size of a plate (one pancake is a meal) for about 3-4$ US.
ReplyDeleteThese didn't rock my boat either - but I did like how simple they were...
I hope you enjoyed your trip! (And that you ate at some better restaurants than Denny's). Portion sizes do get a little out of control there.
ReplyDeleteAs to the "healthier" aspect, probably not so much. Corn is generally considered a vegetable but it's really a grain, so closer to wheat and rice and all that jazz than, say, to spinach or broccoli :)
ReplyDeleteThat said! This sounds like a slightly more refined (due to the finer texture of the buzzed corn instead of just adding whole kernels to the batter) corn fritter, to me, and a good corn fritter is a thing of pan-fried beauty. Now I'm totally craving corn fritters :)
Well, sorry to hear you are hitting Denny's that often, but I guess that's good for a group...It was my oldest granddaughter's favorite so I am soooo Denny's-out!! I too had to sweeten up the corn cakes to eat them plain, sugar spinkles for me. Hope you are enjoying your vacation.
ReplyDeletelol i really didnt like these... too sweet for me... your Denny's one looks SO tasty! :)
ReplyDeleteThe great thing about Denny's is that you always know what you're getting ... even if it's not always the best! We liked them at our house, but I think there would have been a revolt if I had tried to serve them for breakfast!
ReplyDeleteSo sorry they didn't turn out as you had hoped. I added in garlic and shredded cheddar and we loved them! :)
ReplyDeleteYou visited my town! (I live in Scottsdale). I hope you enjoyed your trip.
ReplyDeleteThese didn't really do anything for me either. Maybe next time!
Wow, that's a lot of food for $6!!!! You have a valid point..after topping my corn pancakes I probably could have swapped out our buckwheat version and never even noticed!
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of food for $5.95:) Sorry you weren't crazy about the corn pancakes.
ReplyDeleteAh, Denny's. I'm glad you were able to experience the awesomeness.
ReplyDeleteMy mom and sister went to Europe for three weeks and just got back--I told them about your visit and they said the first thing they did when they got home was eat eggs and pancakes!
ReplyDeleteSorry you also didn't enjoy these. I have never had them for breakfast - only as a side for dinner or in my case this week as dinner. I think you might like the canned corn cream-style version. They are creamier and sweet and you don't need to put anything on top. We eat them like cookies. :) Hope you are enjoying your weekend and that you are over that cold.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your pancake adventures with us!!!
ReplyDeleteYour pancakes look delicious!! I served mine as a side with my dinner…although I could have eaten them for breakfast, too! Glad you enjoyed your trip to the US and "Chez Denays"! Have a great weekend!!
ReplyDeletethat is cheap at denny's - and a little super-size me! I think I would prefer your corn pancakes myself
ReplyDeleteI actually liked these, though it sounds like I am in the minority this week. I served with dinner, not breakfast though. Denny's can really overdo the portion size. When I have breakfast there, I might not be able to eat again all day. Hope you had a great holiday.
ReplyDeleteI initially thought that these would be corn fritters, which are indeed very american. But then when I read the recipe and saw that we were actually pureeing the corn, I changed my mind.
ReplyDeleteNow, honestly, I cannot believe you wrote about corn pancakes and Denny's in the same Post. From an Iowa girl's point of view, that is a travesty and it will take a few weeks for me to get over this. Your corn pancakes, which really aren't French at all, looked delicious and I never thought of slathering them with honey. What a good idea. I will make no comment at all about Denny's. Do you want to know the obesity numbers/percentages for the American population? If you do, THEN we can talk about Denny's!
ReplyDeleteI think your corn cakes look nice...they aren't the same as pancakes here that we have for breakfast, although in the southern US they might eat them like that, not sure. These are more as a savory with a main dish as a side in the area of the US I live in. I haven't been to a Denny's since college days when we would all go there in the wee hours of the morning after a party or movie or hanging out as they were open all night and they had big portions for cheap prices which was fine with all the college guys. I wonder if college kids still do that...lol. Fun post to read.
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