Superior Cornbread
Thank you Chef Reinhart to a wonderful addition to the Cornbread world!
I think this version would be wonderful for stuffing!
The night before preparation
2 cups of buttermilk
1 cup of corn polenta grits Put both of these ingredients in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap and set aside at room temp.
The next day add dry ingredients into large bowl as follows:
1 3/4 cup of unbleached all purpose flour
1/4 tsp of baking soda
1 1/2 tab of baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup of granulated sugar
1/4 cup of brown sugar
Add to the buttermilk mixture
3 large eggs
2 tab of honey
2 tab of butter melted
2 1/2 cups of corn, fresh or frozen
2 tab of bacon fat or veg oil
Note: He uses 10 slices of bacon crumbled in the recipe.
Mix wet and dry together and pour into baking dish, I used an old cast iron skillet. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes at 350. Time will vary depending on pan and oven.
Comments
(I assume this is the one from Reinhart's BBA?)
I've made it a few times.
I like it, but most people I've made it for didn't (or didn't think it traditional).
Cornbread is almost a religion in the South, so I wasn't really surprised.
I think it tries to be a sweet cornbread and a savory (dry) one at the same time, but achieves neither. It's more like a corn cake than a traditional corn bread.
I find it's better without the bacon, which overpowers it (at least the bacon I used did).
It certainly is all its own.
Religion, yes I do believe.....white or yellow, cast iron or pyrex, buttermilk or evaporated?? Goes on and on! Thank you!
I like the fact that he used the polenta and soaking it in the buttermilk, great action there! Have a great T-Day...
Regards
this is one of the three cornbread I make - the others are the Northern and the Southern cornbread from Cook's Illustrated. The addition of fresh or frozen corn is especially nice.
Karin
As a good ol' suthren boy, the bacon in a sweet cornbread is a perfect combination, and complements the bacon drippings I use instead of butter or lard. I have made this version, and my only complaint lies with the included kernels of corn. Now hush puppies will have corn kernels along with pork sausage and red pepper flakes, but my experience is that only yankees put it in corn bread.
When I was growing up, we had a neighbor down the road whose son was highly lactose intolerant. She would substitute orange juice for milk or buttermilk in her cornbread. It was delicious. Never could get my mom to make hers that way. :shrug:
cheers,
gary
Orange Juice is wild...literally. Guess I have something new to try. Gary, I think Cornbread is really as persoanl as Red Sauce is to Italians! Karin mentions in her comments about Cook's recipe being good, and it is...Mason Dixson line's occur frequently with many foods! I love white cornmeal too! Since you mentioned the orange juice, I think Cracker Barrell has wonderful white corn muffins, and they sell the mix...have you had it?
Regards,
Suzy
Suzy, I was just going to look up cornbread so I could make a T-day cornbread stuffing. Thanks so much for posting. Looks terrific! -Varda
Varda,
This is a great cornbread! But it is SUPER dense and moist....you can even grill it!
Thanks
Suzy
my grammy was from Missouri which I think is classed as Southern, the only thing she put in cornbread was cornmeal, regular flour (probably because cornmeal was much more expensive and you have to have something to hold it together) and egg and water, some bacon grease, no bacon chunks or sugar at all. Dop it into a skilet or pan and bake.
The one thing that she did that no one seems to do these days is scald the cornmeal first with boiling water. This softens the corn meal and adds a bit more moisture to the mix.
My borther said she used to add cracklings from rendered pig fat (its the left over brown bits of fibre in the fat) sometimes, mom sometimes added a tablespoon of sugar to it, but very rarely.
We ate a lot of this with bowls of beans, kidney, lima, broad, you name them we ate them, and corn bread always went with the beans. Sometimes in the bottom of the bowl, sometimes in the hand.
I am sure that was sooooo good! Yes, being from Southern Missouri I had my share of different types of cornbread. The Ozarks are famous for their southern foods. My dad always ate leftover cornbread with half and half over it. I think my favorite is white corn meal, and not a fine grind..cornmeal is so wonderful.
Hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving...
Suzy
a bit of sugar and bacon bits is a great addition to the mix.
anna