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Kornlet Oysters
To one cup of kornlet add two well-beaten eggs, two tablespoonfuls of flour, a scant half teaspoonful of salt and a dash of paprica. Drop, by spoonfuls, into a hot, well-oiled blazer and cook to a golden brown, turn, and brown the other side.
A corn fritter batter cooked in the blazer of a chafing dish, called "oysters" for the shape and size of the finished cakes rather than for any seafood in them. The only real obstacle is the trade-name ingredient.
- KornletA canned product of the period: the pulp scraped from immature sweet corn, unsweetened and slightly milky. The closest substitutes are fresh corn split down the row and scraped with the back of a knife, or canned cream-style corn drained of its thickened liquid. Frozen whole kernels pulsed briefly in a processor will also do; do not purée them smooth.
- BlazerThe shallow upper pan of a chafing dish, set directly over the flame. Any heavy skillet over medium heat is the equivalent, and easier to control than a spirit lamp.
- PapricaPeriod spelling of paprika. It is used here for colour and a mild warmth; smoked paprika would be out of place, so use a plain sweet paprika.
- Batter consistencyOne cup of corn pulp, two eggs and two tablespoons of flour gives a loose batter that spreads in the pan. If your corn is wet, add flour a spoonful at a time until the mixture mounds on the spoon rather than running off it.
- Fat and heat"Well-oiled" here means a thin film, not a fry. Medium heat, about three minutes on the first side and two on the second; too hot and the egg sets before the centre cooks.
- DonenessThe cakes should be set through and springy in the middle. Corn pulp holds a lot of water, so a golden exterior can still cover a raw, starchy centre.
- Yield and servingAbout a dozen cakes the size of a large oyster, enough for three or four as a first course or supper dish. Serve at once, plain, or with a wedge of lemon and crisp bacon.
"Corn oysters" or "mock oysters" appear in American cookbooks through the nineteenth century, the name attaching to any small fried cake of scraped green corn bound with egg -- a joke about shape and size rather than about ingredients. Kornlet was a branded canned corn pulp sold in the early 1900s, and the chafing-dish fashion of the 1890s and 1900s made frequent use of tinned and bottled goods, since the cooking was done at the table, away from a proper range. The spirit lamp's single gentle flame suits scrambles, creamed dishes and small fried cakes better than anything needing a hard sear.