Read Online The Cornbread Gospels by Crescent Dragonwagon - Free Book Online
Authors: Crescent Dragonwagon
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butter or oil by tablespoon into a small skillet or saucepan, then, using the same thus-greased tablespoon, measure in the molasses. Place on low heat to thin the molasses and melt the fat.
4. Beat the eggs into the milk in its measuring cup, and then stir in the warmed molasses and butter.
5. Combine the wet and dry ingredients with as few strokes as possible (the batter will be much darker than typical cornbread batter). Transfer it to the prepared pan.
6. Bake the cornbread until it is firm anddeeply brown, with browned edges slightly pulling away from the sides of the pan, about 30 minutes.
V ARIATION :
V EGAN “T HIRDED ” C ORNBREAD
In addition to the obvious (soy milk for dairy, egg substitute such as Eggscellence, page 352 , for eggs), add ¼ cup applesauce, which will soften the dense bread.
T HE W ORLD ’ S M OST E GREGIOUS C ORNBREAD
You might think, given the love I hold for cornbreads Northern and Southern, spicy and plain, in loaf, muffin, or pancake form, that I have never met a cornbread I didn’t like. This is almost, but not quite, true.
I witnessed a crime against one of the world’s great foods at a quasi-hip, pseudo-retro New York pancake house. The waiter set down a breadbasket on the table, before I’d even ordered. ( Breadbasket? At a pancake place? Is that carb overkill or what?)
I unfolded the basket’s napkin. Inside there were large, damp squares of something crumbly and yellow. I guess you could call it “cornbread” after a fashion—but it was very sweet, very, very, very cakey, and dotted with … chocolate chips.
As Joseph Conrad said, “The horror, the horror!”
A PPLE C IDER S YRUP
Apple cider syrup is an old New England sweetener. Sweet, a little tart, extra ordinarily full-flavored, it is nothing more or less than a reduction of apple cider, the water boiled away to leave only the essence of apple. Commercially, it’s made much in the same way maple sap is turned into syrup, in an evaporator, so it’s not surprising that one of the few places it’s produced is in Vermont.
Apple cider syrup has a honey-like consistency. It is excellent used not only in Quasi-Colonial Cornbread but over pancakes, French toast, or ice cream, or in marinades or salad dressings, where it adds a hauntingly delicious flavor.
Q UASI -C OLONIAL C ORNBREAD
M AKES 9 SQUARES
Apple cider syrup gives this cornbread a special flavor note. Depending on what era of “colonial” we are talking about, this probably would have been baked not in an oven as such, its flour might well have been “thirded” (see page 42 ), and it would not have had the optional fresh corn kernels added. Hence, the “quasi” in its name.
Vegetable oil cooking spray
½ cup unbleached white flour
¼ cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
⅔ cup stone-ground yellow cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons apple cider syrup (see Note )
3 tablespoons butter, melted, or mild vegetable oil
Kernels cut from 2 ears of fresh corn, about 1 cup (see Shuck and Jive, page 49 ; optional)
Butter, for serving (optional)
Apple butter, for serving (optional)
1. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Spray an 8-inch square baking pan with oil.
2. Combine the flours, baking powder, cornmeal, and salt in a large bowl and set aside. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, and apple cider syrup.
3. Stir together the wet and dry mixtures along with the melted butter or oil. Mix just enough to combine, stirring in the corn kernels at the end, if using. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.
4. Bake until deeply golden, about 20 minutes. Cool for a few minutes, and cut into squares. Serve, still hot from the oven, with butter and apple butter, if you’d like.
N OTE : If you don’t have commercially made apple cider syrup on hand (see Pantry, page 346 ), thaw 2 large cans of frozen organic apple juice concentrate, and boil them down to half their original volume, until the liquid becomes
4. Beat the eggs into the milk in its measuring cup, and then stir in the warmed molasses and butter.
5. Combine the wet and dry ingredients with as few strokes as possible (the batter will be much darker than typical cornbread batter). Transfer it to the prepared pan.
6. Bake the cornbread until it is firm anddeeply brown, with browned edges slightly pulling away from the sides of the pan, about 30 minutes.
V ARIATION :
V EGAN “T HIRDED ” C ORNBREAD
In addition to the obvious (soy milk for dairy, egg substitute such as Eggscellence, page 352 , for eggs), add ¼ cup applesauce, which will soften the dense bread.
T HE W ORLD ’ S M OST E GREGIOUS C ORNBREAD
You might think, given the love I hold for cornbreads Northern and Southern, spicy and plain, in loaf, muffin, or pancake form, that I have never met a cornbread I didn’t like. This is almost, but not quite, true.
I witnessed a crime against one of the world’s great foods at a quasi-hip, pseudo-retro New York pancake house. The waiter set down a breadbasket on the table, before I’d even ordered. ( Breadbasket? At a pancake place? Is that carb overkill or what?)
I unfolded the basket’s napkin. Inside there were large, damp squares of something crumbly and yellow. I guess you could call it “cornbread” after a fashion—but it was very sweet, very, very, very cakey, and dotted with … chocolate chips.
As Joseph Conrad said, “The horror, the horror!”
A PPLE C IDER S YRUP
Apple cider syrup is an old New England sweetener. Sweet, a little tart, extra ordinarily full-flavored, it is nothing more or less than a reduction of apple cider, the water boiled away to leave only the essence of apple. Commercially, it’s made much in the same way maple sap is turned into syrup, in an evaporator, so it’s not surprising that one of the few places it’s produced is in Vermont.
Apple cider syrup has a honey-like consistency. It is excellent used not only in Quasi-Colonial Cornbread but over pancakes, French toast, or ice cream, or in marinades or salad dressings, where it adds a hauntingly delicious flavor.
Q UASI -C OLONIAL C ORNBREAD
M AKES 9 SQUARES
Apple cider syrup gives this cornbread a special flavor note. Depending on what era of “colonial” we are talking about, this probably would have been baked not in an oven as such, its flour might well have been “thirded” (see page 42 ), and it would not have had the optional fresh corn kernels added. Hence, the “quasi” in its name.
Vegetable oil cooking spray
½ cup unbleached white flour
¼ cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
⅔ cup stone-ground yellow cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons apple cider syrup (see Note )
3 tablespoons butter, melted, or mild vegetable oil
Kernels cut from 2 ears of fresh corn, about 1 cup (see Shuck and Jive, page 49 ; optional)
Butter, for serving (optional)
Apple butter, for serving (optional)
1. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Spray an 8-inch square baking pan with oil.
2. Combine the flours, baking powder, cornmeal, and salt in a large bowl and set aside. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, and apple cider syrup.
3. Stir together the wet and dry mixtures along with the melted butter or oil. Mix just enough to combine, stirring in the corn kernels at the end, if using. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.
4. Bake until deeply golden, about 20 minutes. Cool for a few minutes, and cut into squares. Serve, still hot from the oven, with butter and apple butter, if you’d like.
N OTE : If you don’t have commercially made apple cider syrup on hand (see Pantry, page 346 ), thaw 2 large cans of frozen organic apple juice concentrate, and boil them down to half their original volume, until the liquid becomes
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