Corn Oysters

No, it has nothing to do with seafood, except when done correctly, this will look vaguely like a cooked oyster.
There are probably as many different variations of this as there are Pennsylvania Dutch. I will just do a simple variation here.
The question is, what do you do with all those left over ears of corn in corn season. If you are anything like my ex-wife's family, there is a real feast when the corn comes in. There are always a few ears left over. You can do this with fresh, uncooked ears as well. Face it, the corn is just as good raw as cooked, so use either.

Cut the kernels from the ears of corn with a sharp paring knife. Stand the ear of corn in a shallow bowl and cut from the top to the bottom of the upright ear, letting the kernels fall into the bowl.

Toss the kernels with a tablespoon of flour(remove this from the total flour being used) to separate them and to dry up some of the juice coming out. Use just enough to dust them, no extra.

Separate three eggs. Reserve the yolks. Beat the whites of the eggs to a light froth and add salt and pepper.
Continue to beat till they near the soft peak stage.

Stir the yolks into the corn and add finely minced sauteed onion or chives to the batter. Fold in three quarters of a cup of flour,two teaspoons of baking powder, just till combined.(these can be made without flour, but are much lighter, a bit like an omelet)

Fold the yolk mixture into the whites. Again, just till combined and do it gently so as not to deflate the whites.

In a heavy skillet, put a large knob of butter to melt. When melted and hot, use a large mixing spoon to drop mounds of the egg mixture into the butter. They will rise as they cook. Allow to cook through and serve or turn over and cook till firm on the second side. Remove to a hot serving platter and serve when all the batter has been used up.

These will look a little like a pancake with a raised center(Like a ravioli when cooked flat like this). It will have that little hat brim like an oyster.

Alternatively, shallow fry these in lots of lard, shortening or oil. Turn them as they brown. This will look like a fritter.


You may also use minced green or red pepper or chopped scallion in this. Even a few minced chilis or cayenne would be good.

Double or triple the recipe so there is a generous amount of batter to surround the corn.

You can also use your favorite pancake batter with the corn and other veggies mixed in. I would try to do this without the sugar in the batter as the corn is very sweet already.