Right ! Let's Have This Out Right Now! Cornbread

[oldhouseman]

One more viewpoint..

I make it both ways based on who is going to sit down at the table. I find out how my guests like it and serve it that way. True Southern Hospitality. And tea is always available both sweet and unsweet in my home.

One special point I must state is that I use my great grandmothers cast iron skillet for cornbread -just as she did-and that pan NEVER gets used for anything else! And she got that pan from her mother. Great Gran. was born in 1864 and died in 1968 so I rekon that pan has seen some serious times and mounds of cornbread. It has a patina that any professional chef would kill for. And it has a surface like glass that nothin' sticks to!! I get a perfect "cake" of cornbread every time.

 

[gyrafoam]

Oh Lawdy-------

You get a "pone" of cornbread when baked in a skillet! LOL

 

[launderess]

Corn Pone

Is a much more dense thing, quite rich and very good eats.

Hush Puppies are either dense or light, but fried and are EXCELLENT with fried fish such as catfish .

 

[launderess]

Jiffy Corn Muffin/Bread Mix

Seem to recall mother and others using Jiffy from time to time, mainly when they were pressed to get something on the table in a hurry. But honestly it takes but a moment to whip up cornbread from scratch that find mixes totally un-necessary.

Oh yes, Jiffy mix is made from GMO corn, something I don't like and use organic corn meal (indeed as one uses organic flour for all baking) to avoid the stuff.

Corn bread, pones, and puppies are quite easy to make because the batter is not and should not be beaten long, like a cake. IMHO too many persons get carried away when making corn bread and try to make it into something it is not, which spoils things. Rather like making biscuts.

As for sugar in one's corn bread batter, will give you that perhaps a pinch is "fine", however when one wants cornbread, one wants just that. Not something baked to resemble a cake, or worse those huge god-awful things sold in shops or Starbucks as "corn muffins".

 

[launderess]

Corn Bread & A Glass of Clabber

Now that is "down home" snack if there ever was. *LOL*

If one cannot find clabber, good *real* buttermilk will do.

L.

 

[gyrafoam]

Well, in the "deep south"-------

cornbread baked in a skillet is known as a "pone".

 

[vacuumfreeeke]

I'm a Florida native, but I think cornbread should be as sweet as yellow cake with a thick layer of butter for the frosting. I only make homemade and I use the recipe on the back of the quaker cornmeal box...

 

[sudsmaster]

I've had dry, unsweetened cornbread that has made me gag. One of those dry crumbs always seems to seek out and find the wrong pipe. Not my favorite, although I could see that it could serve a nice carb base for meat and gravy.

I happen to like the sweet, moist, flavorful cornbread. It's delightful. But I haven't ever made it (the dry stuff turned me off) and now that I'm glutenfree, it's taken a while to find a gluten-free mix. But I found some at Trader Joe's over the weekend and will be trying it out soon enough.

 

[jeffg]

GMO Corn

"Experts estimate that up to 70 percent of the food products sold in the U.S. may contain some genetically modified ingredients. Besides the well-known and discussed fruits and veggies like tomatoes, corn and soy, there are a myriad of processed foods containing GMO's. However, when it comes to these foods, most are unidentified---you'll only know about those that have been independently tested and found to contain GMO's. Recognize any of your favorites?

{Fritos Corn Chips (Frito-Lay will stop using GMOs in the future but have not given a date yet), Bravos Tortilla Chips, Kellogg's Corn Flakes, Total Corn Flakes, Blue Morning cereal, Heinz 2 Baby Cereal, Enfamil Prosobee Soy Formula, Similac Isomil Soy Formula, Carnation Alsoy Infant Formula, Quaker Chewy Granola Bars, Snackwell's Granola Bars, Ball Park Franks, Duncan Hines Cake Mix, Quick Loaf Bread Mix, Ultra Slim fast, Quaker Yellow Corn Meal,

Light Life Gimme Lean, Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix, Land 'O Lakes Butter, Cabot Creamery Butter, Fleishmann's Margarine, Gardenburgers, Boca Burger Chef Max Favorite, Morningstar Farms Better 'n Burgers, Green Giant Harvest Burgers, McDonald's McVeggie Burger, McDonald's French Fries, Kraft Salad Dressings, Ovaltine Malt Powdered Mix, Bac-Os Bacon Flavored Bits, Old El Paso Taco Shells, Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix, Coca Cola, Nestle's Chocolate, NutraSweet (aspartame), Karo Corn Syrup "

http://www.greenmoneyjournal.com/article.mpl?newsletterid=14&articleid=117

 

[mathewhebailey0]

Frybread

Anyone tried some Native American Indian frybread? If you been to a powwow or other native american or related event or to a reservation,I'll think you'll love it. Google search for Indian frybread recipe

 

[charbee]

Cornbread and Clabber...

Launderess: My mom used to treat herself to a bowl of crumbled cornbread and *real* Buttermilk on a regular basis. I have to say I got my love of Buttermilk from her.

 

[sudsmaster]

Me and Buttermilk

I have tried buttermilk only once in my life.

It was at a somewhat famous roadside restaurant on Hwy 80 between SF and Sacramento, called "The Milk Farm". I was a poor student at UC Davis, and one of my housemates got a job there behind the "bar".

Another housemate and I went to visit while Bea was on shift. I could have anything I wanted, on the house. I'd never tried buttermilk before and I had the notion that it would be something like a milkshake. I wound up spitting the first gulp back into the glass, and told her in all seriousness, "this buttermilk has gone bad", but I noticed my other housemate snickering. She silently took it back and that was that. Haven't tried buttermilk since. Can't understand why anyone would like it. Awful stuff. But ok if part of pancake batter, I suppose.

 

[launderess]

To Each His Own

Mind you there is "Buttermilk" and there is buttermilk.

It has been harder and harder to find the real stuff for ages as dairy production has changed.

 

[sudsmaster]

Is "real" buttermilk supposed to taste like spoiled milk???

 

[earthling177]

Oh, jeez! I like both kinds of corn bread... like people said, it depends on what you're having it with. I feel like I want to turn the question around and ask "it's corn bread, what's not to like, sweet or not?", but people will just fall into the flame war again.

So I'll try a different question. Do you feel like if you were in a blind taste test of lots of different foods and all you had to answer was "I like it" or "I don't like it", do you honestly feel like you'd love one and hate the other? Because it feels to me that it's a simple case of two rather different dishes that unfortunately share the same name, so people expecting one get pissed when they get the other.

Not that different from other foods, like "coffee" and "orange juice". I've seen people who can't stand freshly squeezed OJ and people who can't stand any packaged OJ. Then there is the perennial "It's not coffee unless it's an espresso" and the "espresso is not coffee and everyone that says so is wrong".

If they had different names, no one would bat an eyelash, I think.

And quite honestly, I never expected this thread to be started by Launderess, usually so nice and proper, even when people are obviously doing the laundry in a completely wrong way...

;-) ;-) ;-)

Cheers, all!

 

[gyrafoam]

Whole buttermilk------

is an essential for fine quick breads AND any kind of chocolate cake, IMO.

It is hard to find in some communities. Greg has a hard time in Omaha.
Almost always easier to find "low fat" Buttermilk.
Hmmmmm, now lets see-----we remove the "butter" from "buttermilk" and what do we have-----soured skim milk perhaps?! Yech!

In Atlanta, Mayfield dairy markets it in a green half-gallon container and their products are very good. And here in Roanoke it is easy to find------we are so "country" out here.

I can make cornbread with sweet milk, but it will never have the correct (old southern) flavor or texture as far as I am concerned.

Whole buttermilk rocks in baking!

 

[westingman123]

I'm with you, darling...

A glass of cold buttermilk and a good hunk of corn bread is better than dessert! I WISH I could find clabber around here, what wouldn't I say about that...

 

[charbee]

"Real Buttermilk"...

I guess it is an acquired taste, but I love it. No, it doesn't taste like "soured milk"...more like a fine-quality liquid yogurt, really (but without that odd yogurty aftertaste). It contains cultures, and is much thicker-textured than regular milk. The "lowfat" kind is thin and runny, and really just plain nasty...doesn't even work well for baking! The "full fat" kind (depending on your source) is thick, full-bodied and extremely tasty. We're lucky enough that Austin is full of "Froo-Froo" natural grocers who stock at least one variety. Now...if there was a *real* dairy nearby, that would be heaven.

 

[hunter]

One of the things I miss not being able to have dairy...

...is good buttermilk.

Trust me, vinegar in almond milk does NOT do it.

 

[launderess]

Clabber - aka Bonny Clabber

Is thick and rich, coming from allowing unpasturised milk to ferment at controlled heat and humidity. Unless one lives near or on a dairy, or with access to unpasturised cow's milk, real clabber is almost impossible to find these days.

Bonny Clabber takes it's name because the process was brough to the United States from Anglo-Scots who settled in the Appalachian mountian area and the South. In Scotland "clabber" can mean a thick sort of mud.

Clabber is rather like a pudding and is eaten with nutmeg and other spices, besides cornbread for breakfast in the ole South.

Real buttermilk was the fluid left over after butter was churned from cream. What one sees mainly today is cultured buttermilk, which is buttermilk made by injecting bacteria into pasturised cow's milk and allowing it to ferment under control. At one time cultured buttermilk was labeled so consumers wouldn't confuse it with the "real" thing. However that is largely no longer the case as real buttermilk is very hard to find anyway.

Buttermilk is actually quite good for one, and contains less fat than whole milk because it is made either after much of the fat has been turned into butter.

L.

 

[cleanteamofny]

Corn Bread from the Sunbeam Deluxe Mix master Mixer Book

First get yourself a Southern Cast Iron 12" Skillet (Lodge) that is well seasoned!
And don't you dare use anything else or I'll ban you from my kitchen!
LOL

Pre heat your oven to 425*
Come on gurl, you can do this........

Take
1 cup All Purpose Flour
1 cup Corn Meal
1/4 cup of Sugar,
4 teaspoons of Baking Soda
3/4 teaspoons of Salt

2 Eggs
1 cup of Milk
1/4 of Butter

Now take your dry ingredients and shift and blend together.

Now it's time to work darling so get out your whisk and leave that electric mixer alone!

Melt your butter and blend into that dry stuff then add your milk and eggs.
Now work that arm honey and make sure you don't over beat it!

Are you following so far?

Now take that beautiful black skillet put 2-3 Tablespoon of vegetable or canola oil in it to coat the bottom and sides.
Pour batter and bake for 20-25 minuets.

If not brown enough, throw it under the broiler until perfect color is achieved.

You ain't done yet!
Now get that cold stick of butter out and coat bad boy when it comes out of the oven.
Naked bread needs to be covered to keep its moistness!

 

[hunter]

Beware of enameled lodge cast iron

I love Lodge cast iron. I use my dutch oven and fry pan almost daily.

Beware, however, of their enameled cast iron. It is China made.

I have banned China made items from my kitchen, in concern about lead and other materials in glazes.

Of course that meant I had to go out and buy some Le Crueset stuff .

I will buy US and first world stuff for food. Otherwise, not. (thank GOD for Goodwill and the Salvation Army, the biggest source of my kitchen items these days)

Hunter

 

[j2400]

"thank GOD for Goodwill and the Salvation Army, the biggest source of my kitchen items these days"

I know the feeling. Thrift stores are about the only retail place left where I can find much that actually does come from a first world nation.

 

[cleanteamofny]

Who's going to enter?

Since we are on the subject......

http://www.nationalcornbread.com/

 

[toggleswitch2]

ooooh Larry would you look at the size of that thing!

There are less-bionics somewhere sweating!

~One of the things I miss not being able to have dairy...

Two words: LACTOSE PILLS. (a/k/a "Dairy Relief" pills). This enzyme taken just before or concurrent with dairy products will help one digest them without the effects the lactose-intolerant (dairy intolerant)face. Nic thing is it doesn't work by getting into the bloodstream, so it's not a pharmaceutical in the sense of other pills.

1- IIRC we are the only species on Earth that drinks the milk of another species.

2- In nature don't all animals stop consuming milk at a certain age? Why don't we? Perhaps we are not meant to be able to digest milk and dairy products after a certian age.

3- Milk and dairy are THE MOIST FATTENING foods. Remeber cow's milk is designed to (and does) get a calf up to 200 lbs (90.1 kg) in a year.

We now return to our regularly scheduled programme.

 

[cleanteamofny]

Gutterman should have caught on!
LOL

 

[circlew]

"only species on Earth that drinks the milk of another

Why Toggles, have you never owned a cat?

 

[hunter]

Actually for me it isn't the lactose.

I'm allergic to the milk protein. I was it was as simple as lactase I miss REAL cream and REAL cheese!

 

[sudsmaster]

Lactose

After years (30) of thinking I might be lactose-intolerant, I finally discovered that I'm really wheat gluten intolerant (celiac). Since then I've been able to enjoy fresh milk again, which is a delight. I get the reduced (2%) fat stuff, and don't drink a lot of it (usually just with cereal in the morning) but it matters to me.

Of course I miss all the wonderful stuff that's made with wheat, but I'd rather not go through the consequences of consuming wheat gluten again. I got a blood test this morning so we'll see if Science agrees with my empirical findings. I did a "challenge" last night by consuming some wheat noodles, and was feeling ill for hours afterward, and my blood sugar shot up as well.

IMHO milk fat (and butter and cream) is far less harmful to the human body than partially hydrogenated fats (which still can be found in many processed foods, margarines, shortenings, etc). Julia Child said so decades ago, and she was right. Moderation is the key...

Most people of European ancestry maintain their ability to digest lactose for life. Asians often lose it at an early age. On the other hand, Asians don't get wheat gluten intolerance as much as Europeans because their diets usually don't include much wheat when they are children. That may change in time, what with the introduction of more wheat products in Asian cuisine (noodles, mainly).

Humans are probably the only animals to drink the milk of other species because 1) We've been able to domesticate cows and other milk producers, 2) We have soft hands that can mimic the action of the suckling calf to get the cow to produce milk, and 3) Because we figured out how to do it about 10,000 years ago.

On the other hand, we don't generally drink the blood of other animals, but there are plenty of animals that do (bats, various insects, etc...). So what is really natural?

 

[charbee]

Beans & Cornbread, Y'all...

It's what was for suppuh, y'all...;-)