You'll love this cornbread with a bit of fire
About 100 years ago in another lifetime, I ran a take-out business with regular weekly features. There were taco salads on Tuesdays, garlic chicken pasta on Fridays and scrumptious smoked barbecue chicken and cornbread on Thursdays.
People loved this cornbread. What no one knew is we used a mix, a shortcut I inherited when I took over management.
One Thursday, we ran out of the cornbread mix, but we did have corn meal. With an hour until a clamoring herd of hungry people on our doorstep, we tried the recipe on the bag. It was awful.
The next day, after some failures, we came upon the recipe that follows. It is terrific: flavorful, moist, full of corn kernel goodness. And easy.
A word about jalapeños: Some are as fiery as Habañero peppers and others are as mild as green bell peppers. One cannot tell by looking at or smelling them. Jacque Pepin, a great chef, advises cutting the tip off the pepper before mincing it to assess its heat. If blazing, de-seed and use gingerly as the seeds are hotter than the flesh; more often it will be on the mild side, in which case, chop and use the whole.
With the weather alternating between T-shirts and shorts to wool turtlenecks, this would be a noble accompaniment to your next batch of soup. Have fun with this, make it your own.
Whole Kernel Cornbread
1½ cups corn meal
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1½ T baking powder (about 4 teaspoons)
½ cup vegetable oil
Salt
½ cup sugar
½ to 1 jalapenos, fine dice assess heat (assess heat desired)
½ cup shredded white cheddar cheese
½ to ¾ cups (4-6 oz.) fresh or frozen corn
- Grease/spray 8-inch square baking pan, or 8-9 inch cast iron skillet
- Preheat oven 425 degrees
- Combine all dry ingredients: cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt
- Separately, combine buttermilk, eggs, jalapeños and oil
- Add wet to dry, just until combined, but smooth. Do not over mix as this develops the gluten and toughens the result.
- Fold in corn and cheese
- Pour in pan. Bake about 20-30 minutes, until wooden toothpick in center is clean and/or sides pull from pan
Have fun with this. It goes well with ribs, baked beans, and potato salad.
Susan Delbert is the National Press Club executive chef. She oversees the Club's catering and two restaurants, the Fourth Estate and the Reliable Source. Contact: [email protected].