Recipe 41: Corn Oysters

No oysters were harmed in the making of this recipe. This does not mean oysters will not be harmed in future recipes.

Corn, jalapeno, and cayenne pepper...many people take this and make a spicy cornbread or corn muffin. But that may be too ordinary for Emeril. He'd rather use a little less sugar and deep-fry it.

I must admit, I'd never been so intimate with a corn cob in my life. Usually, I put it to my mouth and chomp away. But Emeril insists you slice off the top of the corn kernels going length wise down the cob, holding the cob over a bowl. I was grateful for a shallow bowl and a short knife. The knife and the bowl do not always work together very well. Next you take the back of the knife and slide it down the corn cob, basically massaging out all the milky liquid you can. Then you slice off the rest of the kernels. After about two cobs, I found a good slicing point where you got the best of both worlds without having or being able to go back for the rest of the kernels. I utilized it on the last two cobs.

Then I minced the jalapeno, after I seeded and ribbed it and added in the spices and flour, and searched for the baking powder I'd left behind my dish drainer. If ever I go to cooking school, I fear I will fail Mise' en place(everything in its place), class. Maybe I just need to double the size of my kitchen and triple my counter space. First I have to be able to afford cheese and other expensive ingredients for this book. More about the budget later, for now, back to the food.

This recipe did call for heavy cream, but its already being deep-fried, so we know it is not healthy. Heavy cream can be healthy, in moderation, but there are waist-friendlier options out there. I did decide only to deep-fry half of the batter. I baked the other half. This served 2 purposes: 1)Some of this preparation was approaching a healthier form(I might try this with half and half or whole milk instead of the heavy cream in the future), 2)Deep-fry food needs to be served immediately, and a full recipe is hard to get rid of. Baked food can be left overnight.

I would also use less jalapeno for the baked recipe unless you like your food spicy. The jalapeno flavor with the cayenne comes through better in the baked recipe than it does the fried. When you bake it, you get basically jalapeno corn biscuits, that I expect James will ask for again.

Also, this recipe gets garnished with Essence of Emeril Creole seasoning, or whatever creole seasoning you have on hand. I bought the Essence sometime ago preparing for this recipe and used it. It did add a little spice to the semi-spicy corn fritter/oysterss, and its a little pretty but not wow and not required. They're called corn oysters, according to Emeril, because they resemble oysters. I think they're fritters or biscuits depending on the preparation.

I will definitely make this recipe again. I suspect James is already plotting ways to make it healthier so I will cook it more than once a year;-).