Fun Food Friday ends our week of corn. By now I hope you have had a fresh sweet local ear of corn in its pure “au naturel” state of on the cob. I eat my plain, straight up, no butter, no salt and let the corn taste shine through. However, we spoke of corn on the cob on Monday, corn with herbs on Wed and so today is another one of my favorites – Corn Bread. I must admit, although I do eat this straight up as well, a little butter on toasted corn bread is a bit of heaven!(Recipe at end.)
http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodfaq.html “Corn bread was not invented. It was a product of cultural exchange and practical necessity. Corn [aka maize] is a new world food. Native Americans were cooking with ground corn long before the European explorers set foot on New World soil. The food we know today as “corn bread” has a northern European (English, Dutch, etc.) culinary heritage. Why? Because the new settlers often had to “make do” with local ingredients [corn meal] when their traditional ingredients [finely ground wheat] were in short supply. When colonial American recipes carried the name “Indian” in their title (Indian bread, Indian pudding) it was because one of the ingredients was cornmeal. ”
This is what the food historians have to say: “Native Americans roasted their corn and ground it into meal to make cakes, breads, and porridges…The new cereal was precious and helped the early settlers to survive those first harsh years. ..Before long uniquely American dishes were being developed on the basis of this new grain, including an Indian bread called pone’ or corn pone’ (from the Algonquin word apan,’ [meaning] baked) made of cornmeal, salt and water. This was later called corn bread’ and has been a staple of American cooking to this day…Once the [corn] crops took hold throughout the colonies, cornmeal foods were everyday fare…” —Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 96)
http://www.edibleparadise.com/ ” Cornbread is an all-American bread…The settlers soon learned how to fashion breads from the meal ground from corn. And the rest is history – baked cornbread, hoecake, corn pone, johnnycakes, hushpuppies – all began here.”
Real Southern Cornbread
http://www.edibleparadise.com/bread/47/243-real-southern-cornbread.html
Annaliese KellerThis special recipe came from Ann Parker, a Georgia native, who is now a food writer and restaurant reviewer for The Santa Cruz Sentinel. In her soft Southern drawl, which becomes more pronounced when we’re talking about food our mamas used to make when we were growing up, Ann explained, “The secrets to my ‘muthuh’s’ wonderful cornbread: stone-ground cornmeal, buttermilk and a cast-iron skillet. She generally uses Yelton’s or Tenda-Bake self-rising cornmeal, but our favorite is Perkerson’s, which is harder to find. The recipe can be halved for a smaller skillet.”
INGREDIENTS:
2 cup self-rising* cornmeal
2 eggs, beaten
3-4 tablespoons cooking oil or melted butter
2 cups buttermilk, approximately
(*or add 1/4 tsp salt, 1 tablespoon baking powder and 1 teaspoon baking soda to plain cornmeal)
METHOD:
Preheat oven to 450°F.
* Coat a large cast-iron skillet well with oil and put it in the oven while preparing the recipe: it should be good and hot!
* Measure the cornmeal into a medium-sized bowl. Combine the beaten eggs and oil in a separate bowl and mix lightly; pour into the cornmeal, add the buttermilk and mix well with a wooden spoon. The batter should be soupy: thick but not sticky, with a definite “shine” to it (add more buttermilk until it shines).
* Remove hot skillet from oven, and carefully pour the batter in – it should crackle! This makes a crunchy, delectable crust.
*Turn oven down to 425°F and bake 40-45 minutes, or until the top is slightly browned and the sides pull away.
*Let the skillet sit on a cooling rack for about 5 minutes before cutting and serving. The hot cornbread is wonderful with butter, honey, jelly or apple butter. Also very good toasted under a broiler for breakfast the next morning (if you have any left).
SOURCE: Recipe courtesy of Ann Parker’s mother, Cynthia Parker, Athens, GA
More RECIPES: Boston Brown Bread, Anadama Bread, La Beth’s Vanilla Cornbread, Texas Cornmeal Muffins with Jalapeno, and Sweet Cornbread Muffins