Corn pancakes with bacon

I had a request from a friend the other day for a red velvet cake. She was going to the christening of her new god son and wanted to have a magnificent cake to celebrate; what better way to show your affection than with a red velvet cake!
While flicking through my piles upon piles of Saveur mags I came across a Chicago issue and felt a little homesick. A corn pancake recipe caught my eye and with the leftover buttermilk I had in the fridge (from RVcake) I was able to make them and remember the flavours of our American life.   Now Australia and America have a lot of common food items but there are huge differences in ingredients used. For example, I'd forgotten how much oil I use to use in my 'American' cakes and batters. No wonder they turned out moist and delicious every time!
I didn't have cornmeal for my flapjacks/pancakes/hotcakes whatever you call them so I substituted polenta and they were really yummy. The recipe stated 'you must use lots of butter when serving and cooking'- I love that! You'd never see that in a modern Australian recipe, everyone is so conscious of weight, fat, calories etc so I found it very refreshing to read 'pile on the butter'.
Don't get me wrong, I am all for healthy living, good food and a healthy lifestyle BUT I am also aware that there are some foods that cannot be messed with and if some woman in the South side of Chicago who has been making these for the past twenty years tells me to serve her recipe of corn pancakes with lashings of butter then that is exactly what I am going to do........but hang on why stop there, bacon seems to be a good side for this meal so you know I topped it all off with rashers of bacon and then drizzled over maple syrup!
If your in the mood for a culture treat, whip up a batch of these corn pancakes, fry up your bacon and dig in. I probably wont be making them again for another month or so but that is alright, it gives my guilt time to stop messing with my brain!

Corncakes


3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup polenta (coarse)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup oil
2 eggs

Method
Place all dry ingredients into a medium size bowl and stir with a whisk to combine.
Place all wet ingredients into a large jug and whisk lightly to combine then pour into dry ingredients and stir to combine.
Do not over mix otherwise the batter will be over worked and cakes will be to heavy.
Melt butter in a medium hot frying pan and cook for to minutes on each side, place in a tea towel to keep warm until all the batter is cooked.
Serve with lashings of butter.