On New Year’s Day I was lurking in the baking aisle at the Safeway, where I came across a handsome mid-thirtyish man (born 30 years too late, darn it!) searching the shelves frantically. “Do you see any cornbread mix?” he asked.
Well, no. Neither of us could see any cornbread mix.
“We always have black-eyed peas and cornbread for New Year’s, and my two kids are looking forward to it. I’ve been to two other stores and can’t find any cornbread mix!”
“Cornbread is pretty easy to make from scratch,” I suggested.
“No, no,” said he. “They can tell the difference. They won’t eat it unless it’s made from a mix.”
OMG! Poor babies!
We found a box of corn muffin mix. “Look,” said I. “This has got to be the same stuff. Just mix it up and pour it in a baking pan. They’ll never figure it out.”
He studied the corn muffin mix box. “Oh, they’ll figure this one out, all right. Somewhere I’ve gotta get actual, real, cornbread mix.”
He went off in search of another grocery store. I picked up a package of flour and went off in search of dinner.
LOL! During all of this anxious study, neither of us thought about the Marie Callendar’s just up the road. They surely would have sold him some cornbread, already cooked and hot. And no doubt it comes from a box.
Given half a chance, I’d have shared this recipe with him, adapted slightly from James Beard (mine has no cream but more sugar):
Extremely Good Cornbread
1¼ cups milk
1/3 cup melted butter
More butter to grease the pan
1/2 cup flour
1½ cups yellow cornmeal
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar (the crunchy turbinado type is very good)
1 Tbsp baking powder
3 eggs
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Melt the butter. Generously grease an 8½ x 11 baking pan with some more butter, and leave a teaspoon or more of butter on the bottom of the pan.
Pour the milk into a 2-cup measuring vessel. Add the eggs. Using a fork or wire whip, beat the eggs thoroughly into the milk.
Place the greased pan, empty, into the oven to preheat. This should melt the chunk of butter you left in the pan.
While the pan preheats, pour the egg-milk liquid into the dry ingredients. Add the 1/3 cup melted butter. Mix together well using a wire whip or wooden spoon.
When the batter is mixed and the pan is hot, lift the pan out and place it on a heat-proof surface. Quickly pour the cornbread batter into the pan and immediately return the pan to the oven. Bake the cornbread about 15 to 18 minutes.
Cut in squares. Serve hot with butter and honey.
Now, if that weren’t bad enough for your health, I’ve come up with something that is truly suicidal. You’ve heard of fried polenta? Well…why stop with mere fried cornmeal mush? Go for
Fried Cornbread
Leftover cornbread
Olive oil
A little butter
Herbs to your taste (I used some herbes de Provence)
Salt and pepper to taste
Slice a few squares or oblongs of cornbread. Now cut them in half horizontally, so one side is baked and the other is the inside of the cornbread.
Skim the bottom of a frying pan with olive oil. To ensure that the cornbread browns, add a teaspoon or so of butter…or more, according to gluttony taste. Preheat the pan over medium heat.
When the pan is hot enough to melt the butter into the olive oil, set the pieces of cornbread in the pan, baked side down. Sprinkle some herbs over the top surface of the bread. Go on about your business while the bread fries…but pay attention, because this happens surprisingly fast.
When the bottom side is browned, gently flip the bread over and brown on the other side. Season as desired with salt and pepper.
Et voilà! A hearty and tasty side dish. You could probably sprinkle a little Parmesan over it, if desired. It’s very good. Indeed. This may be the highest and best use of cornbread.
Except for entertaining small children, of course.
Corn bread, WalMart has boxes of that.
@ George: That would have been a thought, too. He looked pretty middle-class — I guessed he was part of the African-American community that moved into the area to the west of my area before prices hit the sub-sub-basement. He probably doesn’t frequent Walmart. But since he was really worried that his kids were going to be disappointed, he might have gone there had either of us thought about it.
I have to say that I find it entirely strange that people would prefer box-made over scratch. But my mom prefers box brownies, so I shouldn’t say I haven’t heard it before.
I love the sound of your cornbread, but not the fried!
@ Kerry: I have to say, Duncan Hines makes a mean brownie mix! It actually is better than brownies I’ve made from scratch. Betty Crocker and Pillsbury…not so much.
Hi, just to let you know I pinged you: http://frautech.wordpress.com/2012/01/09/versatility-coefficient/