I love American style pancakes with maple syrup and bacon, and so this Tom Kerridge recipe (from Proper Pub Food) caught my eye. Would the addition of sweetcorn really make them better? In a word: yes. The results were fluffy, sweet and with more depth of flavour. Tom says you can pair them with chicken or game, but I naturally went with his breakfast version and laced them with syrup and served with my own home cured bacon.

Step 1 - Pancake mix

• Put half of the sweetcorn in a bowl and blitz with a food mixer (I used a stick blender)

• Add the flour and baking powder and continue to mix

• Add the egg yolks and milk and continue to blend

• Stir in the remaining sweetcorn
  Top tip: if you want the pancakes to be a bit smoother, pulse the mixer a little here, but the texture is one of the attractions of this recipe

• In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites to soft peaks and fold them carefully into the sweetcorn mix. This makes for an airy batter

Step 2 - Fry and serve

• Heat the oil in a frying pan on a low heat

• Add the batter in spoonfuls to the pan, allowing for some spread

• The pancakes will firm up and bubble at which point they can be flipped

• The pancakes can be any size you like: I made six pancakes easily. If doing in batches, keep cooked pancakes warm in an oven at 60 C

• Meanwhile, grill or fry your bacon

• To serve, stack up pancakes and bacon and drizzle syrup generously.

 Ingredients

• 200g canned sweetcorn (drained)

• 50g plain white flour

• 2 tsp baking powder

• 125ml milk

• 2 large eggs - separated

• 3 tbsp vegetable oil

• 12 rashers of streaky bacon

• Maple or golden syrup to serve