Frank Waldman's Malted Corn Pancakes

It's been a week since I left Los Angeles and I still wish I was there. Oh sure, it's been nice to be home with Ben and we did have a great weekend at a wedding in Maine (where I also discovered that there is such a thing as eating Too Much Lobster, but that's a story for another time). But something about L.A. sunk its claws into me and I can't wait to go back.

I had flown over for a whirlwind weekend with friends to swim for hours in a backyard pool, wander among downtown streets to see the faded glory of Gotham-style buildings layered with a thick veneer of commercial grit, and noodle along on the boulevards that led from Hollywood to Silverlake to Los Feliz, the hot and dry sun beating down on us.

It was meant to be a few days with friends, not a culinary pilgrimage, so I've got ample reason to return (Lucques! La Brea Bakery! In N Out Burger! Shall I go on?). And still, we ate well (have I mentioned that I may have finally found a reason to love Mexican food?). But one of the best meals I had was a plate of pancakes made after an unfortunate hypoglycemic episode and a subsequent migraine medicated by Excedrin, which left me pain-free, but completely wracked with caffeine jitters.

Sitting on the sun-warmed living room floor with my friends as we ate our homemade pancakes covered in syrup and rolled into nibbleable cylinders while the hummingbirds buzzed outside and an old movie played along on the television and my circulation slowly returned to a manageable state, I would have been content to remain right there for quite a long time to come.

In homage to those life-sustaining pancakes, I made a batch of malted corn pancakes that Barbara Hansen wrote about in an article about the various incarnations of corn pancakes in Los Angeles. The recipe comes from Frank Waldman's Doughboys. The pancakes are crammed with cornmeal and corn kernels (I used frozen) and cook up quite quickly (in fact, a few of mine burned) on the griddle.

Instead of serving them with the prescribed blueberry-orange syrup, Ben and I ate them for sustenance on the bus up north this weekend. They're corny and tender and somewhat forgettable. A generous ladle of fruit-spiked syrup could have helped to perk them up. To me, the malt flavor was unrecognizable, so you could easily substitute golden syrup or even honey (so you, unlike me, are spared from having an enormous jar of malt syrup to figure out how to use up).

But it doesn't really matter. I've got my Bisquick memories and an ever-growing list of things to do and eat on my next trip to Southern California. I can't wait to go back.

Malted Cornmeal Pancakes
Makes 18 4 1/2 inch pancakes

1 1/3 cups yellow cornmeal
1 cup pastry flour (or mix 1/3 cup all-purpose flour with 2/3 cup cake flour)
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
4 tablespoons melted butter, divided
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups buttermilk
2 tablespoons malt syrup
1 tablespoon oil

1. Combine the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt and stir to mix. Add the corn to dry ingredients, and mix.

2. Combine 3 tablespoons melted butter, the eggs, buttermilk and malt syrup. Stir into the corn mixture.

3. Heat the griddle. Combine the remaining tablespoon of butter with the oil and brush lightly over the griddle. Pour on about 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Cook each pancake 1 to 2 minutes, until the bottom turns golden brown, then flip, cook the other side, about 3 minutes total. Serve hot with Orange-Blueberry Syrup.

Orange-Blueberry Syrup

Peel of 2 to 3 oranges
2 cups sugar
1 cup orange juice
2 cups blueberries

1. Peel the oranges with a vegetable peeler, eliminating any white pith. Combine the peel and sugar in a food processor and process 2 to 3 minutes.

2. Pour the juice into a nonaluminum saucepan. Add the peel-sugar mixture and bring just to a boil, skimming off any foam. Simmer 3 to 4 minutes to reduce slightly. Mix in blueberries and cook 1 minute. Serve warm.

Comments

[Paige]

Delurking a little late to tell you how much I love your blog. I, too, am obsessed with Wednesday, spending the mornings shushing husband and kids so I can decide which--if any--of the day's recipes I'll be saving...and eventually cooking. I have years worth of NYT and NY magazine recipes, LA Times, too, as that's where I now live....which brings me to an important question: where did you learn to appreciate Mexican? Of course I have my local favorites, but I'm dying to know the place that won you over...

[Ben]

The pancakes were delicious. Next time we'll have to eat them with syrup, and not on a Greyhound bus!

-Ben

[Jessica]

I'm glad Ben mentioned that these pancakes were delicious, because I let out a little gasp of excitement when I saw you entry Luisa! Then I was so disappointed to hear that you thought they were forgettable... Just the sound of "malted corn pancakes" makes me drool!

I'll have to give these a shot, and try the syrup with them to let you know what I think.

Yum!

Jessica

[miss fae (longtime lurker)]

These look so amazing. I look forward to a sunday very soon where they will be featured as a main feature, along with this weeks new yorker and a side of pajamas

[Zarah Maria]

Oh but they look so good! And you had to go ahead and mention In N Out burger, didn't you? Martin and I have been talking so much about that place the last couple of days - you MUST go there next time you're in California - and have an extra burger for me, 'kay?:-)

[Luisa]

Paige - thank you so much! We had our delicious Mexican meal at La Golondrina Cafe - we ordered fajitas for four and they were spectacular. They came with two different kinds of tortillas (wheat and corn) and we filled them ourselves with the sizzling meats and vegetables (not just peppers and onions, but carrots and cauliflower!) and delicious guacamole and rice and well, you get the picture. I could only eat one (they were super filling), but it was just - FINALLY - so good.

Ben - luckily for you, I froze a whole bunch of these. And luckily for us, there will be no more Greyhounds in our immediate future.

Jessica - Ben did really like these, to me they were not really the most special pancakes. Though perhaps I should just admit to myself that I am a waffle person and not a pancake person. I would absolutely LOVE to know what you think of them with that syrup.

Miss Fae - that sounds like quite a nice Sunday indeed ;)

Zarah - I herewith promise that I will do my best to eat two hamburgers - one for you and one for me - when I am at InNOut. I am warning you that if I can barely manage one fajita in one sitting, it is unlikely that I will manage two hamburgers in that same amount of time, but I will try, dammit, I will try.

[Adrienne]

LA, it's a weird and wonderful place. Glad you had a nice trip.

[Julie]

Eating pancakes on a Greyhound bus sounds like a scene out of a movie.

[deb]

Because I am an unapologetic dork, I looked up other uses for malt syrup. You can use it in soft pretzels (though it will deplete your supply only minimally), apparently, it's often used in bagels, too (a surprising amount) and finally you can use 1 cup of it for 2/3 cup of molasses or 1:1 with maple syrup. Do you think my trove of haphazard information will one day make me rich on Foodie Jeopardy?

Those pancakes look fantastic, btw, forgettable or not!