Cornbread (Corn Muffins)
Cornbread is synonymous with the cuisine of the Southern United States. It is often served as a side dish to traditional BBQ classics like ribs and pulled pork but its origins date back thousands of years. Cornbread is actually just about American (North American technically) as you can get. Native Americans have been harvesting corn for thousands of years and cornmeal cakes were a staple of many tribes' diets. Though the idea of cornbread is very old the version that we think of today is distinctly modern. Baking powder, the leavening agent of cornbread, was not invented until 1843 and was not widely used until the 1900s. Today there are several variations in ingredients and cooking techniques but any quick bread leavened with baking powder and containing cornmeal can be called cornbread. One of the most popular forms is baking in a cast iron skillet. The skillet is preheated so that the batter starts to cook right away, creating a crispy crust. I still have not got around to seasoning my skillet so I went with corn muffins. I still preheated the muffin pan but ,being aluminum, it did not hold heat like cast iron would have. By the time I had scooped all the muffins the pan had pretty much returned to room temperature. This recipe comes from
The Joy of Cooking, one thing about this book is they often say things like, "2 or 3 eggs." This can be good if you are short an egg you know you can still get by but when the recipe isn't totally perfect it leaves you wondering if it would have made a difference. Overall the corn muffins were decent but I found them kind of dry. Also the recipe said use vegetable oil, shortening or bacon fat; having some bacon fat on hand I obviously used that. Disappointingly it was not noticeable in the final product. There are a lot of variables that could be the cause of the dryness so I will have to revisit this recipe at some point.
Verdict: Would make again with some variations.
Cornbread is synonymous with the cuisine of the Southern United States. It is often served as a side dish to traditional BBQ classics like ribs and pulled pork but its origins date back thousands of years. Cornbread is actually just about American (North American technically) as you can get. Native Americans have been harvesting corn for thousands of years and cornmeal cakes were a staple of many tribes' diets. Though the idea of cornbread is very old the version that we think of today is distinctly modern. Baking powder, the leavening agent of cornbread, was not invented until 1843 and was not widely used until the 1900s. Today there are several variations in ingredients and cooking techniques but any quick bread leavened with baking powder and containing cornmeal can be called cornbread. One of the most popular forms is baking in a cast iron skillet. The skillet is preheated so that the batter starts to cook right away, creating a crispy crust. I still have not got around to seasoning my skillet so I went with corn muffins. I still preheated the muffin pan but ,being aluminum, it did not hold heat like cast iron would have. By the time I had scooped all the muffins the pan had pretty much returned to room temperature. This recipe comes from The Joy of Cooking, one thing about this book is they often say things like, "2 or 3 eggs." This can be good if you are short an egg you know you can still get by but when the recipe isn't totally perfect it leaves you wondering if it would have made a difference. Overall the corn muffins were decent but I found them kind of dry. Also the recipe said use vegetable oil, shortening or bacon fat; having some bacon fat on hand I obviously used that. Disappointingly it was not noticeable in the final product. There are a lot of variables that could be the cause of the dryness so I will have to revisit this recipe at some point.
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