56 replies to this topic

[andiesenji]

In the thread about cornbread in Japan I tried to explain how the batter should look, i.e. not totally runny but still pourable. Difficult to explain so I decided to put it into photos, start to finish.
I don't always start with the unmilled corn but did this batch just for illustration purposes.
This is a white sweet "dent" corn - so designated because of the dent in the top of the kernel.

First, the corn in the mill.

How the milled corn looks, set for a medium grind.

The ingredients: 2 cups cornmeal, 2 cups buttermilk, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 2 tablespoon hot fat (I used bacon drippings this time).
Option is 2 tablespoons (or more) flour, this can be adjusted to personal preference.


The buttermilk mixed with the cornmeal and salt.

Everything added except the soda and fat. It should look like porridge that has just begun to thicken. Note that when stirred up, it will hold shape for a few seconds.


The batter just poured into the hot skillet. Note the bubbling around the edges.


In 400 degree oven at 25 minutes, nearly done.


Done! Note that the edge of the cornbread has pulled away from the sides of the skillet.


The crumb - desirable texture. Note how the color has developed. Cornbread made with yellow cornmeal will be much yellower.

Corn has a natural sweetness, however if you like a sweeter taste simply add a couple of tablespoons of sugar. There is no need to add additional liquid for this amount. However if you add more than two tablespoons of flour and the two tablespoons of sugar, you will need to add a bit more liquid which can be water or buttermilk. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of buttermilk for each additional 1/4 cup of dry ingredients to maintain the same texture.

Edited by andiesenji, 06 March 2005 - 09:39 AM.

[bakerboy]

aaaahh, now THATS cornbread. Those are some great shots. i love good southern cornbread. I do not like sweet "cake like" cornbread. Occasionally i'll crumble in some of the cooked bacon into the batter. My grandfather made cornbread this exact way.(sans the grain mill, which is very cool by the way. Gotta get me one of those.) He would break some cornbread into chunks in a glass and cover it with buttermilk and eat it with a spoon....which is to this day one of my favorite ways to eat cornbread. Okay, now i'm going to have to summon the hillbilly in me and make some cb.
nice photos dood.

[patti]

Great demo of cornbread making, andiesenji. It never even occurred to me that cooking from scratch might mean milling your own corn. I feel all Betty Crocker-ish when I don't use Jiffy. Now I see I'm only Sandra Lee!

[andiesenji]

I have had a couple of email inquiries about the mixing utensil.
This is what is known as a "Danish whisk" and is ideal for mixing quick breads as it mixes the ingredients rapidly without working the batter too much. This is particularly useful with regular wheat flour batters where you do not want to develop the gluten.
It is easy to grasp, for those of us with arthritic hands, as you can hold it as you would hold something like a potato masher.
It is also great for working slack yeast dough.

The first one I got from King Arthur Flour several years ago but they are now available at Amazon, just do a search for Danish Dough Whisk.

Edited by andiesenji, 06 March 2005 - 10:31 AM.

[Jaymes]

Really, really wonderful photos. Thanks so much! I do wish, however, that you had called in a helper so that you could photograph the batter going into the skillet. Would have been terrific to see the consistancy of the batter as it poured. Not to mention the bubbling as it hit the hot skillet.

In the "hot cereals" thread, my dad talked about when he was a kid and they'd have to grind their own corn.... Of course he didn't have that wonderful mill that you showed.

Isn't it funny how something, such as cornbread, that seemed like such an unimportant, humble, accepted, unnoticed and unremarkable part of one's existence growing up turns out to be so marvelous when one thinks about it?

[emmapeel]

How do you keep your oven so clean? it's one of my life's mysteries. Great Cornbread...mmmmm. I like that you don't add flour and use bacon fat. Very authentic southern style cb. Thanks for the lesson and photos.

Edited by emmapeel, 06 March 2005 - 11:18 AM.

[andiesenji]

This oven is a Cadco convection and the interior is quite easy to keep clean, however I have to confess that I personally do not clean it.
I have a live-in housekeeper, a young woman from Hungary who is attending design school and working for me under a special visa/school/ work permit.
She is a cleaning fanatic and maintains everything in pristine condition.
She is the only person I have ever known that cleans and polishes the INSIDE of the dishwasher!

[fifi]

You really know how to make cornbread . . . that's for sure.

That is pretty much exactly my recipe. No, I don't grind my own corn but I suppose I would if I had a neat mill like that. Can you adjust the fineness of the grind?

[andiesenji]

You really know how to make cornbread . . . that's for sure. 

That is pretty much exactly my recipe. No, I don't grind my own corn but I suppose I would if I had a neat mill like that. Can you adjust the fineness of the grind?

You can adjust it from very fine to very coarse,
It is an impact mill so will not "burn" the grain the way burr grinders will and it will produce very fine flour.
I am extremely pleased with the way it operates. I have had several grain mills and this one is far superior to all the others.
Because corn is a relatively high moisture grain and will often clump, I freeze it, then dry it in a dehydrator before grinding - I do have to grind it twice, first set at the coarsest setting, then grinding that again to medium (or fine if I want corn flour but even with the drying, that does clump).
However burr mills do a very poor job on corn, beans, etc.
It does a beautiful job on rice, burr mills tend to "burn" it and it will have a bitter taste. Not so with this one.

[Hiroyuki]

The ingredients:  2 cups cornmeal, 2 cups buttermilk, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 2 tablespoon hot fat (I used bacon drippings this time).
Option is 2 tablespoons (or more) flour, this can be adjusted to personal preference.

Great thread. Great photos, great instructions, and above all, great recipe. I gotta go for that "no sugar and no or little flour" recipe!
Thank you, andiesenji, for your time and effort.

[Hiroyuki]

I have had a couple of email inquiries about the mixing utensil. 
This is what is known as a "Danish whisk" and is ideal for mixing quick breads as it mixes the ingredients rapidly without working the batter too much.  This is particularly useful with regular wheat flour batters where you do not want to develop the gluten.

Quite interesting. Must be ideal for making tempura batter, too.

[Chris Amirault]

Great stuff, Andiesenji. I bow down to your mill!

Isn't it funny how something, such as cornbread, that seemed like such an unimportant, humble, accepted, unnoticed and unremarkable part of one's existence growing up turns out to be so marvelous when one thinks about it?

Yep. John Thorne devotes a great many pages to this marvel in his Simple Cooking.

[M. Lucia]

Thanks for the illustration, this is pretty much how I do it also (with purchased cornmeal).
Interestingly, my grandmother and mom always preferred white corn when making homemade cornbread.

[therese]

Great pics and info, andie. Your finished product is thicker than I'm used to, but otherwise very much a trip down memory lane.

[andiesenji]

Sometimes I bake the same recipe in a 12 inch skillet and it comes out just about an inch thick and very crusty.
The next time I will make it in the larger skillet.

Edited by andiesenji, 06 March 2005 - 10:35 PM.

[andiesenji]

and, an additional note:

I also use this basic recipe for griddle corn cakes, but with the addition of a little flour, no more than 1/4 cup, possibly a teaspoon of baking powder if the first ones do not puff enough.

I also sometimes add a cup of cooked rice to the mixture with a little more buttermilk if the batter is too thick, to make "philpy" a rice cake that was one of the things made by my grandfather's cook several times a week. She wrapped them carefully so they could be packed in the lunch bags the men who worked out in the fields carried.

She made several versions, some quite thin and very crusty, almost like a "lace" cookie, others thicker and more cake-like.
There are several lowcountry versions of rice bread and rice cakes, some with rice flour, some with corn, etc.

In some versions she also added mashed beans.

It is an interesting combination and is a complete amino acid chain.

Edited by andiesenji, 07 March 2005 - 12:15 PM.

[AK@Spicehouse]

More importantly, where do I get an exchange student to clean the inside of my dishwasher.? Any info would be appreciated.

and, an additional note:

I also use this basic recipe for griddle corn cakes, but with the addition of a little flour, no more than 1/4 cup, possibly a teaspoon of baking powder if the first ones do not puff enough. 

I also sometimes add a cup of cooked rice to the mixture with a little more buttermilk if the batter is too thick, to make "philpy" a rice cake that was one of the things made by my grandfather's cook several times a week.  She wrapped them carefully so they could be packed in the lunch bags the men who worked out in the fields carried.

She made several versions, some quite thin and very crusty, almost like a "lace" cookie, others thicker and more cake-like.
There are several lowcountry versions of rice bread and rice cakes, some with rice flour, some with corn, etc. 

In some versions she also added mashed beans.

It is an interesting combination and is a complete amino acid chain.

Edited by AK@Spicehouse, 07 March 2005 - 12:47 PM.

[andiesenji]

Anka is not an exchange student. She is a student at design school in L.A. because she won an international competition and was invited here with a scholarship partly paid by the school here and partly by a company in Hungary, the rest by her parents.
She was living in a house with several other students but had difficulty studying because of constant parties and etc. She is a serious student (looks like a model).
Her parents are friends of my boss and he asked me if I knew of any place, such as a family home, where she could stay. I joked that if I lived closer to town she could stay with me and she said she didn't mind the driving. It was her idea to work as my housekeeper as a good work history counts as part of her experience here.
I pay her a salary, provide a car plus her room and board and travel expenses, insurance, etc.
She did not want to even take a salary but I insisted we keep everything legal.
As I have said in earlier posts, she loves to clean. I have not yet caught her cleaning the back step with a toothbrush, but she does use the power washer on it.
You could, if you wished, eat off the floor IN THE GARAGE.
I mean, I always kept a clean house but now it is nearly like a surgery suite.

[andiesenji]

I have had a couple of email inquiries about the mixing utensil. 
This is what is known as a "Danish whisk" and is ideal for mixing quick breads as it mixes the ingredients rapidly without working the batter too much.  This is particularly useful with regular wheat flour batters where you do not want to develop the gluten.

Quite interesting. Must be ideal for making tempura batter, too.

I use it when I make scones which can become tough and dense with just the heat from ones hands mixing the dough.
I use this whisk then scoop them onto a sheet pan with a disher of whatever size I want, from tiny to 4 oz, rarely larger, then simply dip a spoon into ice water and press down on the top to flatten them.
They remain light and flakey, none of the hockey puck disasters so often sold in stores.

[touaregsand]

Wow, Andie. Now that's what I call made from scratch! Cornbread is one of my favorites with lots of butter of course. Now I'm waiting for you to churn your own butter!

[andiesenji]

Wow, Andie. Now that's what I call made from scratch! Cornbread is one of my favorites with lots of butter of course. Now I'm waiting for you to churn your own butter! 

I do that too. Although I have an electric churn.
It requires "raw" cream and it isn't as easy to get as it once was. I have an electric pasteurizer to make sure it is safe. for when I make butter and cheese.

I took some of my homemade cream cheese and sour cream to the eG potluck last October.
Everyone there seemed to find it okay.


I should add that I don't make everything from scratch all the time. There are some perfectly good commercial products that are nearly as good as homemade, sometimes better.

I just like to know that I CAN do it if I wish. I have always been curious and it has not diminished with age (nearly 66), in some ways it has become more acute.

I have been ordering the Cabot butter, brought to our attention last November by Fat Guy in "Butter just like in the old country"

It is certainly as good as my homemade butter and considering the time involved in making it, the cost (including shipping) is not that much more.

I also like to make some things my own way so I know absolutely what goes into them. Pure and simple is my motto. Homemade butter doesn't always have a lot of color.
Homemade lard sometimes does have a bit of color and sometimes is grainy but very rapid cooling can remedy that. You just have to perfect the technique.

The next time I make butter I will photograph the process.

Edited by andiesenji, 07 March 2005 - 01:48 PM.

[sizzleteeth]

Awesome andiesenji - I didn't see this thread until just now.

Great pics and clear info.

You are definitely a cornbread master!!!!

[fou de Bassan]

Andiesenji, you make a mean cornbread!! My great-granny would have been impressed as she was a stickler on crumb. Alas, I never made into her personal pantheon of great cornbread cooks but she didn't have anything against my fried chicken.

[andiesenji]

Thanks for the illustration, this is pretty much how I do it also (with purchased cornmeal).
Interestingly, my grandmother and mom always preferred white corn when making homemade cornbread.

Where I grew up in western Kentucky, yellow corn was known as "hog corn" or "horse corn" as it was usually fed to livestock.
The white "shoepeg" dent corn raised on the farm for our use often had one or two red kernels on an ear - we called them "lucky Indian corn" . It always seemed those ears were especially sweet, fresh or dried.

We had a neat "huller" that we kids loved to operate, a hand-cranked machine for removing the dried corn kernels from the cobs. We didn't have to do it, it was work, but it was also fun.
There was also one that had a kerosene (coal oil) motor and later still an electric one.

Farmers in the area would come to our place, rent time on one of the machines to hull the corn, then pay to have their corn ground in the grist mill (water powered), white corn for table use, yellow corn for chicken feed (**and other enterprises ).
They made a social event out of it, groups of men in overalls standing around, telling tall tales about their hunting dogs, their mules, their fishing exploits, etc., smoking roll-your-own cigarettes or chewing tobacco and passing around a bottle or two.
(** from the "other enterprises" )

For us that was fun, hanging around the mill, cranking the huller, listening to the stories.
I feel sad for today's kids who have the entire world at their fingertips via the internet but will never know how much fun one can have just being in the midst of activities such as this.

As corny as it may sound today, these rough, poorly educated men rarely used profanity. A "Dag nab it", "Dad burn it", "Dern" an occasionall "Damm" was about all we ever heard.

Edited by andiesenji, 10 March 2005 - 10:13 AM.

[tejon]

I took some of my homemade cream cheese and sour cream to the eG potluck last October. 
Everyone there seemed to find it okay.

Ahem. I just found this thread and had to comment. The cream cheese and sour cream were far beyond "okay"! Both were incredible, especially the cream cheese. Makes me weep a bit when I break open the block of Philly - it's just not the same.

Edited by tejon, 24 October 2005 - 08:50 PM.

[KatieLoeb]

I hadn't noticed this thread before either. Andie, I just have to say that
I am endlessly impressed with your attention to detail, insistence on home made ingredients and fluency with all manner of cooking and baking. You are truly awe inspiring.

[andiesenji]

Heavens, I am blushing. As I said in an earlier post, I do not always make everything from scratch but like to know that I could if I had to.
I love the flavor as well as the texture of freshly made cream cheese, butter and etc. There is just something about it that one couldn't find except in some of the old-fashioned delis that used to make their own. Now the food police and people suing at the drop of a hat have put paid to that. The hysteria over lysteria means no more home made goodies sold in stores, at least here in Calif.

I used to be able to buy "clean-out" cottage cheese when I had large dogs, from Alta Dena dairy.
It was the stuff that was in the system between different types of cottage cheese and was sold in big bags, cheap! It was perfection good, just two kinds mixed together.
Now they can only sell it to hog farmers, by law...

[chow guy]

Thanks a bunch, for what looks like a great recipe. I'm going to make it this week and add some Chimayo red chiles from my garden and fresh corn... in my mothers old cast iron skillet.

[Bill Miller]

Beautiful lesson. I do mix the cornmeal with equal flour though--we just like the consistancy that way. We never add sugar but I have had cornbread with cream corn added and enjoyed it.

[Jaymes]

Both were incredible, especially the cream cheese. Makes me weep a bit when I break open the block of Philly - it's just not the same.

Don't know where you live, but if you choose not to make your own, it might be worth a little investigation to find other options. There are several Amish communities nearby us and we buy homemade cream cheese from them.