It's not even been a week, but let's see how much I remember...here's the base recipe, which I chose because I had plenty of grits, but very little cornmeal left, to go with the vegan chili adjacent soup I'd made.
cornbread with peppers, onion & cheese, baked in cast iron pan. I did increase the saturation some to make it look a) more appetizing but also, to be fair, b) more what I actually remember it looking like. Photographed 03sep2020.
- 1/2 C corn grits (coarsely ground corn meal)
- 1/2 C corn meal
- 1/2 C all-purpose white flour
- 1/2 C WW flour
- 1 T vinegar (&/or lime juice) added to make up
- 1 C (soured) milk (i.e. buttermilk)[1]
- 1 t sugar (or 1 T...)
- 1.5 t baking powder
- 0.25 t baking soda
- 2 eggs (reduce to 1 is fine)
- 2–4 T oil (reduce to 2T?)
- 1 C grated habanero (or regular) cheddar
- 1/3 –1/2 C? finely chopped onion
- 1 (or 2 jalopeno) finely minced hot pepper[2]
- 1/3–1/2 C finely chopped sweet (mini) peppers (e.g. 3)
- 2 T butter
N.b. cheese and veges can easily add up to 2C
Method
- add vinegar (and/or lime juice to milk to sour it. Or substitute yogurt and/or sour cream and/or soured, thinned whipping cream)
- preheat oven to 400F
- melt 2 T butter in cast iron pan;
- mix dry ingredients
- add oil & eggs; beat in well
- add milk, milk
- add veges & cheese, mix just to distribute
- swirl melted butter onto sides of pan
- add batter; put 5 slivers of butter on top of batter
- bake until toothpick comes out clean (19 minutes in this case) and top is golden brown.
Edges should be browned and slightly crispy; edges has an overall slightly chewy texture behind the thin crust of burnt crispy butter bits—this is what made this version special.
Add'l notes: I didn't add the butter, and wouldn't’ve thought to use so much. It does make a lovely crust, so reduce oil in batter to bare minimum (2T), so butter can make up the crust. Dots of butter may have been put on top, like a pie-crust—this was a pretty rich variation.
Bacon fat variation:
- 1-1/2 C grits (one cup slightly ground in blender)
- 1/2 C www flour
- 1 T lime juice plus enough milk to make
- 1 C (butter)milk substitute
- (approx) 6 T bacon fat, divided
- 1/4 C aquafaba
- 1 egg
- 1.5 t baking powder
- 1 t sugar
- 0.25 t baking soda
- 3/4 t salt[3]
- 1–2 jalopeno peppers, chopped fine (include seeds & pith)
- (approx) 1 C sharp cheddar, grated
- 1/3 – 1/2 C onion, diced fine
- 1/4 C minced cilantro (opt)
Method
- sour milk by adding lime juice;
- place roughly 1/4 C bacon fat in skillet
- place in oven, heat to 400
- mix dry ingredients, cheese & veges;
- carefully remove 2 T melted fat from skillet & mix in
- assemble remaining (liquid) ingredients, mix into batter
- carefully remove pan from oven (again)
- spread batter into pan
- dot with more bacon fat (about 1 or 1-1/2 T)
- bake at 400 d F for about 15–16 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean and cornbread is nicely browned (like the picture)
- (made 11mar23)
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Sylvus Tarn