Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Let the Cornbread Wars Begin!

Please, this is all in fun, but I nevah! I diminutive(ly) dropped the gauntlet, as any Southern lass, and would love to hear if you're wid me or agin me. I said, "What proper Southerner eats sweet cornbread such as Jiffy?"

This all started at Musings by Sage with his Cornbread story. (Not the food, but the nickname.) Well, I got to wondering if someone slipped something sweet in my buttermilk cornbread. As any good librarian, I went to check my reference sources and found two recipes. I couldn't find a straight recipe, sorry, but it makes sense. Why waste space in a cookbook with the boring everyday chore of making cornbread? Kind of like looking for a recipe for buttermilk biscuits.

UPDATE! Lori at Smokey Mountain Family History has graciously provided her mother's recipe for cornbread. Check out her post on this issue...

The first recipe came from Como Concoctions (1991), a Como, MS cookbook. Where's the sugah?!? The "note" was part of the recipe, I promise I didn't add it. Oh, and don't you know, Grace adds a bag of grated cheddar cheese instead of doing the extra work, now. Does anyone own a grater anymore?

The second recipe came from Magnolia Mixin' (1988), a Kosciusko, MS cookbook. I guess Miss Billie added buttermilk so as not to scare away potential Southern makers.

Mexican Corn Bread

1 cup yellow corn meal
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon soda
2 eggs
1 cup cooking oil
1 chopped onion
4 hot peppers, pickled OR fresh, finely chopped
1 cup cream style corn
¼ pound cheddar cheese, grated

Mix all ingredients together, stirring in grated cheese last. Pour into hot, greased skillet and bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

NOTE: A black iron skillet is ideal for this recipe.

Grace Shoaf ~ Como

Yankee Corn Bread

Serves 8 – 10
*2 cups self-rising cornmeal
*1 cup self-rising flour
½ cup sugar
2 cups buttermilk

Mix together and put in buttered loaf pan. Bake 1 hr. at 300 degrees. Cool, remove from pan. Slice and butter.

*Add ½ t. soda and 1 t. salt if using plain flour or meal.

Mrs. Billie Baker ~ Kosciusko

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maggie, my mother (May God rest her soul) made the best cornbread I ever ate. I use to love to crumble it up into a glass and pour sweet milk on it ! Heaven! And we made cracklin' cornbread too. Yum ! Yum !

maggie moran said...

Ew, it sounds good Paul! Did she use sugar?

Tiffany Norris said...

My "recipe" (i.e. Maw-Maw's estimation) looks like the Yankee one except take away the sugar and add an egg.
Crumble it up in a glass of buttermilk, add some onion, and that's supper on a hot summer night! Yum!

Erica said...

kathryn tucker windham gets on her soapbox about cornbread every time i hear her tell stories at a festival somewhere. she says on no account should you put sugar in your cornbread! and since she is the quintessential southern lady, she should know :)

Isabel said...

When I lived up North (New England), I made cornbread from a box, if I could find the box.

Now, I just go to a local restaurant to eat it or order it to go.

Never made it from scratch.

Lori Thornton said...

I posted a story and a recipe at http://familyhistorian.blogspot.com/2008/01/cornbread.html

maggie moran said...

Love it, Tiffany! My dad used to make cornbread for himself with the baby cast iron - I think I was a teenager at the time and way over cornbread - which he would cool and put in a glass of milk. Crushing it all together like a milkshake and enjoying it with a Wayne Western... :D

Good point, Erica! She would know! Wonder what brand of cornmeal she prefers? Martha White? Oh, and I bet her stories are funny. :)

Well, here's a treat, WW100! Head over to Lori's blog and mix you up some! Do you own a cast iron skillet? You'll need one of those. :)

Thank you so much Lori! Recipe and a story, I feel very epicultural! ;D

ricklibrarian said...

Maggie,

I buy my cornmeal at Graue Mill in Hinsdale, Illinois, and use the recipe that comes with every sack of the freshly milled cornmeal. It has great taste and texture. I usually make it into muffins. here are their recipes:

http://www.grauemill.org/recipes.htm

Rick

sage said...

First I start the damnyankee reading challenge and now the cornbread wars... I'm just become a professional agitator! I like that mexican recipe and that sounds like some of the variations I do with cornbread.

Anonymous said...

I don't know if she used sugar, but that cornbread curled mt toes Maggie! So good ! :-)

maggie moran said...

Wow! Thanks Rick!

I love the corn pone recipe. I have tried to explain this process to my yankee hubby, but being lost in the kitchen hasn't helped my explanations.

When I was growing up we would eat every Sunday lunch across the tracks at Baxter's. Baxter worked the register as his family ran the business. He was extremely dapper, tall, and lean. He had a pencil moustache. How cool! Anyway, they served pone to all the tables, and you could make out the hand prints. Thanks for the website and the bonus of a sweet memory.

maggie moran said...

Sage, you just cain't leave well enough alone. ;D

You know I'm having fun with you. I'm constantly facing racism questions, changing the fight to a lighter arena lifts my spirits.

Oh, hubby is home from the slopes and he said he puts a teaspoon of sugar in it. The recipe he found suggested 1 to 2 tablespoons. I'm unpure! Bah! :D

maggie moran said...

Food is good, Paul. Cornbread is Great! :)

Stefanie said...

My mom's from Oklahoma and she rarely made cornbread from scratch so I am very familiar with the little Jiffy mix box. I love my cornbread with honey smeared on it. yum :)

maggie moran said...

Stefanie - I could use a little right now, too! ;D

Diane said...

I'm reading a mystery set in Appalachia, and the main character went to visit a neighbor in the story and joined her for a supper of cornbread dipped in buttermilk . . .

I've made it from scratch, made it from the Jiffy box, made it like Marie Calendar's by mixing yellow cake mix and cornbread mix (serve with honey butter!), and recently made some "Confetti Corn Muffins" (the confetti is the red bell peppers and green jalapenos), and I have to say, corn bread is great in every form!

maggie moran said...

Amen, Diane! I think the war has come to a sweet peace. :D

Deana said...

People around here thought I was an alien child growing up because I hate cornbread and pintos. And trust me I think several generations here survived on those two. My mom will eat cornbread mashed up in mild in a glass. Oh it still gags me to think about that. I think that is why Martin and I married...we are the only two people in our county who hate corn bread and pinto beans!

maggie moran said...

Ah, two things you two don't have in common that brought you together! Good ole cornbread and pinto beans. I think you two have a little yankee in ya, Deana! ;D