What are Crispy Corn Cakes?

To put it simply, corn cakes are patties made from cornmeal, water and butter, pan fried until they are golden brown on both sides. This recipe was loosely inspired by our cousin Sarah who introduced us to a similar recipe of a camping trip a few years ago. Put a pin in that, because it is worth noting that if these corn cakes are easy enough to make while camping, then you can count on them being quick and easy to make at home.

How To Make Crispy Corn Cakes

One of the best things about this corn cake recipe is how simple it is to make. The corn cakes themselves are made from just a half dozen ingredients, cornmeal, butter, water, salt, sweet corn, and an optional jalapeño pepper. Begin by finely chopping the jalapeño and the sweet corn. Then put the butter and water in a saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil. Next mix together all of the previously mentioned ingredients in a large bowl, and voila you have your corn cake batter. Set this batter aside, allowing the cornmeal to soften, and prep your corn cake toppings.

This is the part where you can get creative! In this recipe, we call for black beans, scallions, cilantro, corn, onions, and feta cheese to top the corn cakes, but you should feel free to use whatever inspires you from your garden, local farmstand, or farmers market. Don’t be afraid to trust your intuition on this!

Once your toppings are prepped, heat a cast iron skillet over medium heat and throw in some butter. When the butter is melted, drop in a scoop of your corn cake batter. Shape the batter into a small patty and leave it to fry for several minutes until it is brown and crispy. Flip the corn cake to its other side and again allow it to brown. Repeat this process until you have used all of your corn cake batter.

Now generously pile your toppings on top of each corn cake and enjoy! Make sure to serve warm.

The Story Behind The Recipe

My cousin Sarah inspired us to create our crispy corn cake recipe when she whipped up a batch of corn pone on a camping trip a few summers ago. Corn pone traditionally comes from the southern United States, and growing up in Vermont I hadn’t heard of the dish, but once I tried it I was hooked. Our crispy corn cakes are not exactly corn pone, but they are similar in many ways. This recipe is perfect in the summer months because you can use whatever is fresh and available locally for toppings.

Shopping for Ingredients

Like all of our recipes, you can find the things that you need to make these crispy corn cakes from local sources. We would even encourage you to take your copy of the Vermont Farm to Table Cookbook when you visit your local farmers market and use the book as your shopping list! When you’re cooking with locally sourced ingredients sometimes you need to get creative, and while you probably don’t want to make major changes to the corn cakes themselves, you can experiment with toppings to your heart’s content! We highly recommend using whatever is fresh and delicious to top your corn cakes!

Cousin Sarah’s Crispy Corn Cakes

Serves 4 

For the Corn Cakes

• 1 cup unsalted butter, divided
• 1 cup hot water
• 2 cups cornmeal
• 2 ½ teaspoons salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• ½ jalapeno, finely chopped (optional)
• 2 ears corn, cut off the cob

For the Toppings

• 2 ears of corn
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes
• 4 – 6 scallions
• 1 medium red onion
• 2 jalapeno peppers, optional
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 4 ounces feta cheese
• 2 cups cooked black beans

Instructions

1. Place ½ cup of the butter and the hot water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.
2. Stir the salt, black pepper, jalapeno, and fresh corn into the cornmeal. Stir the hot water and butter mixture into the cornmeal until well combined. Set aside to allow the cornmeal to absorb the water while you prepare the toppings.
3. Next, prepare the toppings.
4. Blacken the corn on the grill on high heat or in a cast iron skillet, allow it to cool and cut the kernels off the cob.
5. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and blacken in a cast iron skillet on high heat.
6. Dice the scallions and red onion. 
7. Thinly slice the jalapeno if using.
8. Roughly chop the cilantro.
9. Crumble the feta.
10. Once the toppings are prepared, fry the corn cakes.
11. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat.
12. Scoop ⅛ th of the batter at a time into the hot skillet, similar to how you would make a pancake. 
13. Fry each cake in butter, adding more butter to the pan when needed until the cake is golden brown (about 2 minutes per side).
14. Top the corn cakes with beans, charred corn, blackened tomatoes, red onion, scallions, jalapenos, and cilantro and serve.