Rouses MARCH-APRIL_2017

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CORNBREAD

“The North thinks it knows how to make corn bread, but this is a gross superstition.

Perhaps no bread in the world is quite as good as Southern cornbread, and perhaps no

bread in the world is quite as bad as the Northern imitation of it.”

—Mark Twain

native grain, I think that truly, if we’re

talking real cornbread, it’s the tortilla …but

these are fightin’ words to many.)

Lundy’s version is the standard-bearer of the

white South. Here are some oversimplified

generalizations describing the three main

American skeins of cornbread:

1. Southern cornbreads as made by whites

traditionally contain all cornmeal (usually

white), no flour, no sugar. They use

buttermilk, are usually leavened by baking

soda, and baked in a hot skillet, with bacon

fat, though butter is sometimes used.

2. Yankee cornbreads use equal or greater

amounts of white flour than cornmeal,

and that cornmeal is yellow. They are often

quite sweet, and usually made with sweet

(“regular”) milk, not buttermilk.Their go-to

fat is butter, their leavening baking powder,

and they’re generally baked in a room

temperature pan.

3. The traditional cornbread of black

Americans reflects the great migration

of people of color from South to North,

combining the best elements of each.These

cornbreads mix yellow cornmeal and flour,

but never more flour than cornmeal. They

are a little sweet but not too much, and are

baked in a hot skillet.Their fat may be butter,

bacon fat, vegetable oil, or a combination of

all three. They also combine both baking

powder and soda, and use buttermilk.

In the face of such loyalties, with so many

authentic, beloved recipes and related

family stories, what was I, the author of a

book whose single subject was cornbread,

to do? Especially when I took delight in

almost every recipe, including those which

contradicted each other?

What I did was title my book

The Cornbread

Gospels

. “Gospels” with an s; plural, not

singular. If there are many mansions in

my father’s house, why should there not be

many cornbreads in my mother’s kitchen?

Each cornbread has its own flavor and

texture, its own story and ethnicity, its own

ideal go-withs. Cornbreads like Lundy’s

— pure, satisfying, but on the dry side —

could not be better when accompanying a

nice soupy bowl of beans, or even crumbled

into the beans. It’s also perfect used in that

old Southern delicacy, incomprehensible to

those who have not eaten it, but addictive to

those who have, crumbled into buttermilk

and eaten with a spoon (on the culinary

continuum of cereal and milk, or yogurt

and granola — grain and dairy, consumed

together).

Flour-containing cornbreads would turn

to mush if used thus. But when you want a

tenderer, more moist, less austere cornbread,

one that will serve as a beloved go-with to

almost any meal and is delicious served on

its own, I bow to the African-American

style cornbreads.

The recipe that follows is a variation of the

one that began my cornbread journey. It

was made by a black woman named Viola,

a Georgia native, our neighbor. I was in my

teens, living in Brooklyn, New York, and

Viola’s cornbread astounded me. It was

part of a goodbye dinner she made for us,

a few nights before my then-husband and

I moved to the South. There, eventually, in

the tiny Ozark mountain town of Eureka

Springs, Arkansas, I owned and ran a

country inn and restaurant called Dairy

Hollow House for many years.

My version of the recipe Viola gave me, the

first I’d ever had that was baked in a buttery

hot skillet (which adds the incomparable

crispness on the bottom and sides), was, as I

used to say, “the sun around which the other

planets on the menu revolved.”

It is not overstating it to say that that move

— from Brooklyn to the South — and this

cornbread both changed my life.

For the better.

Crescent Dragonwagon

Crescent Dragonwagon — yes, that’s her real

name — is a James Beard award-winning

culinary writer and cookbook author. She has

also written 28 children’s books. This is her

first contribution to our magazine.

Cornbread

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

Vegetable oil cooking spray

cup unbleached white flour

cup stone-ground yellow cornmeal

tablespoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1¼ cups buttermilk

tablespoons sugar

egg

¼ cup mild vegetable oil

tablespoons butter,

or mild vegetable oil

HOW TO PREP

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spray a 10-inch

cast-iron skillet with oil and set aside.

Sift together the flour, cornmeal, baking

powder, salt and baking soda into a medium

bowl.

In a smaller bowl, whisk together the

buttermilk, sugar, egg and oil.

Put the prepared skillet over medium heat,

add the butter, and heat until the butter melts

and is just starting to sizzle. Tilt the pan to

coat the sides and bottom.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and

combine them quickly, using as few strokes as

possible. Scrape the batter into the prepared

pan and bake the cornbread until it is golden

brown, about 20 minutes.

Let cool for a few moments, and slice into

wedges to serve.