She was more than happy to oblige, but unfortunately her go-to recipe was lost since the last time she made them, maybe ten years ago. One thing that all great cooks, like my mother, know is how to improvise, though. Where I would have thrown in the towel and just made something else (after some excessive pouting, of course), my mom confidently strode forward, and we ended up with a recipe very much like the one I remembered so fondly from my childhood.
Although our relationship is far from perfect and she drives me perfectly batty sometimes, being in the kitchen with my mom is one of my favorite things to do. With a bottle of white wine and me expertly steering the conversation away from politics the few times she brought it up (she's wrong about everything, you see), we had a really lovely night and I felt like we connected for the first time in quite a while. I hope you love these pancakes as much as I do!
My Mom's Corn Meal Pancakes
My mom posing happily with the older-than-I-am skillet...
and dramatically with the butter.
Love this kitchen. My mom lives with my grandmother in the house she grew up in. I used to sit up on this counter and watch my grandmother bake mandle bread.
Separating the eggs. 
My mom and I took turns whipping the egg whites into a fluffy mass (you should probably use a hand held electric mixer for this, but if you don't have one, forcing your daughter to do it works just as well, according to my mom).
Next I sifted in the flour/corn meal mixture, which makes the pancakes so much more light and fluffy.
Adding the fluffy egg whites to the batter.
Check out how buff my arms are!...and how flat my chest is. Pancakes, indeed.
It's always been our tradition to make small pancakes. I like 'em thin and crispy, and also it makes you feel like you're eating less, because even when you've eaten 14 of the little fuckers, they're mini and cute so it's okay! Right around this time my mom started spouting off about why she's right about everything because she's a Republican..."blah blah blah...Fox news....blah blah blah...I'm in love with Bill O'Reilly...blah." So instead of yelling at her to shut it which always ends in us fighting, I just tuned her out and took photos. This went on for like five minutes.
Moving on!
Leave the pancakes on the buttered skillet until they start to bubble on top, as above.
Flip!
This photo is funny to me because she looks so...so normal! Not to say she isn't...but, uh, well you don't raise a kid as weird as myself by being normal, and that's all I'll say about that.
Oh fuck yes.
REAL maple syrup. Don't go pouring on that shit you get in a plastic bottle, betches. I guess you could throw some fruit on top or whatever, but I like these simple. They really are so delicious. Oooh, I bet some bacon cooked into the batter would be SICK.*
Sending me home with flowers from her garden and enough pancakes to last me a week. Fuck yeah!
Dudes, this was THE BEST late-night snack I've ever made. Fuck fast food. The pancakes will keep in a tight container in the fridge for about two weeks, so make a batch to have on hand. Trust me, this is effing good.
Moving on!
Leave the pancakes on the buttered skillet until they start to bubble on top, as above. 
Flip!
This photo is funny to me because she looks so...so normal! Not to say she isn't...but, uh, well you don't raise a kid as weird as myself by being normal, and that's all I'll say about that. 
Oh fuck yes.
REAL maple syrup. Don't go pouring on that shit you get in a plastic bottle, betches. I guess you could throw some fruit on top or whatever, but I like these simple. They really are so delicious. Oooh, I bet some bacon cooked into the batter would be SICK.**"sick" meaning awesome, in this case.
Sending me home with flowers from her garden and enough pancakes to last me a week. Fuck yeah!Simple Corn Meal Pancakes
adapted from The Vegetarian Epicure
1 cup corn meal, sifted
1/2 cup flour, sifted
1 Tbs. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. baking powder
3 eggs, separated
1 1/2 cups milk or buttermilk
1/4 cup melted butter (plus more for skillet)
Sift the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl. Beat the egg yolks with the milk and melted butter, and stir into the flour. Beat the egg whites until they are fluffy, but not dry, and fold them into the batter.
Heat a large skillet or griddle and oil it lightly. Drop the pancake batter on by large spoonfuls and brown nicely on both sides.
Update: Last night I got home from a movie and was STARVING. I had a huge, beautiful avocado that was about to go bad, so I started to throw together my favorite late-night snack: refried beans, shredded cheese, salsa, hot sauce...but I realized I hadn't any tortillas. I eyed the tupperware full of corn meal pancakes, gave them a tentative sniff to make sure they wouldn't be too sweet, and then did this:
Dudes, this was THE BEST late-night snack I've ever made. Fuck fast food. The pancakes will keep in a tight container in the fridge for about two weeks, so make a batch to have on hand. Trust me, this is effing good.Thanks Mommy!
6 comments:
Oh. My. Hell.
Your late night snack made me drool.
Just when I was looking at the picture of the pancakes and syrup (by the way, you are so right about not using that plastic bottle shit. Real maple syrup is the greatest), thinking, "Why is there not any bacon in this picture? There needs to be bacon.", you chime in about putting bacon in the batter. Beautiful. Bacon pancakes (and bacon waffles) are pretty damn magnificent.
Your Mom! HA! Love the dramatic butter pose.
I have all those late night snack ingredients! Come over! Make!
Looks delicious. They resemble a recipe we have down here in Oz for "Pikelets" which are small delicious pancakes best served with fresh squeezed lemon juice and icing sugar.
Haha... Republicans, will they ever learn...
I love this one! The Kitchen is awesome. Thanks for sharing the recipe for your mom's pancakes--I can't wait to make them. My husband and I make a similar snack--he calls them Texas Nachos--your version sounds and looks yum!
YUM.
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