When I see Silver Queen corn for sale, I know this much is true: it’s time to make corn fritters. Silver Queen is my favorite corn of the year, each sweet kernel as white as a moth’s wing. I have experimented with batters and styles, and I like using a batter of rice flour and stale beer batter; it provides a tempura-like coating. Cornmeal with buttermilk is also worth trying.
You need only a little bit of batter to bind materials together. This recipe gets the ratio of batter to fresh vegetables just right.
Frittering is addictive. Anything can be frittered. Once you master the frighteningly slippery slope of it, the world is your oyster… how about oyster-chive-mango fritters?! You may soon be plotting endless combinations. Some of my favorites: shrimp-tomatillo; lobster-tarragon; filet mignon and caramelized onions. (Yes, I’m serious. You can fritter anything. But should you? That is probably a discussion for you and your physician.)
If you want your heart to keep beating and to preserve your waistline, frittering should ideally be reserved for special occasions, such as the arrival of Silver Queen corn at your local farm stand.
~ Carol Connare, Director of Library Development and Communications, Du Bois Library, UMass Amherst
Ingredients
4 ears Silver Queen or other white corn, freshly cut off the cob, including milk & scrapings
½ cup white flour
1 T canola oil
1 egg
¼-1/2 cup beer (not flat)
1 t salt
½ t chili powder (optional)
Black pepper to taste
To make:
Whisk together all ingredients and let sit for up to two hours; thin with beer as needed until consistency of pancake batter. Heat up to one inch of vegetable oil in large pan to medium. Using ice cream scoop, drop roughly 1/8-cup dollops of batter into hot oil (4-6 fritters should fit in a medium/large pan without touching). Fry 2-4 minutes a side, until well browned and cooked through. Drain on paper grocery bags or paper towels. Serve warm.
Dressing ideas: Chopped fresh tomatoes. Maple syrup and applesauce. Melted lime butter dipping sauce. Gazpacho. Pork chops.
