This week's southern experimentation.
So I love cornbread. I first discovered how yummy cornbread could be when I was in high school. I used the recipe onthe back of the purity cornmeal bag to make cornmeal muffins. It was sweet, soft and crunchy all at the same time. Since then I've tried several different variations of cornbread. My favourite ended up being my own recipe that was based on the purity recipe but with some modifications on salt, omitting the sugar, and adding sharp cheddar, corn, and jalepenos. That way it is a savoury cornbread. I also had the opportunity to try an indian corn bread that was made with cumin and cabbage. That corn bread was soooo good and it had a kick. However I was never successful at coming up with anything close to it.
Today I was watching diners driveins and dives and I saw someone making something called hot water corn bread. Basically you mix cornmeal with some seasoning, butter and some hot water. The water cooks the cornmeal. You then scoop some of it with an icecream scoop into the pan or hot griddle with some oil.
This is what I learned. 1) You need to have boiling water, not just hot water. 2) Cornmeal prepared in such a way absorbs A LOT of oil. 3) Hot water cornbread is very bland. Maybe I didn't make it right, however I won't make it again. What I got was a crunchy oil patty of cornmeal that had very little taste. I seasoned it with butter and salt and omitted the sugar as I don't like sugary breads. I did add corn. I think with this recipe it needs sugar. It wasn't what I thought it would be, which is billowy soft corn with a crispy crust... it's sorta like that but not billowy... and flavourless. I'll stick to baking cornbread for now and leave the hot water cornbread for the experts!
I ended up throwing away all the bread I made and went onto making some bisquick buttermilk pancakes. Bisquick is an amazing product!
Today I was watching diners driveins and dives and I saw someone making something called hot water corn bread. Basically you mix cornmeal with some seasoning, butter and some hot water. The water cooks the cornmeal. You then scoop some of it with an icecream scoop into the pan or hot griddle with some oil.
This is what I learned. 1) You need to have boiling water, not just hot water. 2) Cornmeal prepared in such a way absorbs A LOT of oil. 3) Hot water cornbread is very bland. Maybe I didn't make it right, however I won't make it again. What I got was a crunchy oil patty of cornmeal that had very little taste. I seasoned it with butter and salt and omitted the sugar as I don't like sugary breads. I did add corn. I think with this recipe it needs sugar. It wasn't what I thought it would be, which is billowy soft corn with a crispy crust... it's sorta like that but not billowy... and flavourless. I'll stick to baking cornbread for now and leave the hot water cornbread for the experts!
I ended up throwing away all the bread I made and went onto making some bisquick buttermilk pancakes. Bisquick is an amazing product!