Our recipe is slightly altered from Alton Brown’s Corn Dog recipe (from the episode, “The Man Food Show”). We’ve dipped everything from beef franks to dried apricots in it, and we love it! …ok, we didn’t love the dried apricots, but they actually weren’t that bad…
Dry Ingredients
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp regular salt (or 2 tsp kosher)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Wet Ingredients
1 (8.5-ounce) can cream-style corn
1/3 cup finely grated onion
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
Other
things to fry
cornstarch, for dredging
safflower oil
fryer or electric skillet
Mix dry ingredients thoroughly in a large bowl. Mix wet ingredients thoroughly in a separate bowl. Add wet to dry and mix just barely long enough to incorporate them – don’t worry about the lumps. Allow to rest for 10 minutes (don’t skip this step!).
Bring oil to 375°F in fryer or electric skillet. Take thing-to-fry and dredge in cornstarch (make sure it is evenly covered, and tap off any excess). Next, dip in batter to cover completely, then place in fryer. Cooking time will depend on what and how big is the thing-to-fry, and it may need to be flipped for even cooking, but you can basically pull it out when it’s golden brown all over.
Our favorite things-to-fry: beef franks (cut into thirds to make “corn puppies”), onions rings, and sliced zucchini.
Serves: Tons. This makes a huge batch, so be prepared to fry lots of stuff. It doesn’t keep well as leftovers to fry later, so if you’re serving fewer than 4 people, you’ll want to cut the recipe in half.
Time to make: 15-30 minutes
Source: Jon, Jim, & Angie Hoffman