The Cornbread Gospels Read Online Free Page B

wedges from the pan.

“P ERFECT ” N EW S OUTH –S TYLE C ORNBREAD
    M AKES 6 THIN WEDGES
    Pam Anderson was at one time the executive editor of Cook’s Illustrated , the magazine that fanatically tests every recipe, and every assumption about that recipe, countless times. In 1998, she published a book called The Perfect Recipe. I was curious to see her take on cornbread, since she’d tried using every possible variety of cornmeal, a wide range of fats and cooking methods, and liquids from sour cream to sweet milk to buttermilk.
    I’ve adapted her favorite recipe here. Like a spoonbread, it calls for saturating the cornmeal with boiling water before mixing it into a very simple batter. The method gives this bread the simple, straight-up wholesomeness of a pure Southern cornbread, but with a moister crumb.
    Vegetable oil cooking spray
    1 tablespoon butter
    1 cup stone-ground yellow cornmeal
    ⅓ cup boiling water
    1 teaspoon sugar
    ½ teaspoon salt
    1 teaspoon baking powder
    ¼ teaspoon baking soda
    ¾ cup buttermilk
    1 egg
    1. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Spray a 10-inch cast-iron skillet with the oil, add the butter, and place the skillet in the oven.
    2. Place ⅓ cup of the cornmeal in a small, heat-proof bowl and pour the boiling water over it, stirring well with a fork.
    3. Combine the remaining ⅔ cup cornmeal with the sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a medium bowl.
    4. Whisk the buttermilk into the moistened cornmeal, then add the egg, beating well. Combine the wet and dry mixtures, stirring until not quite blended.
    5. Take the by-now-very-hot skillet from the oven and pour the melted butter from the skillet into the batter. Stir a few times, until the ingredients are blended, and pour the batter into the hot buttery skillet.
    6. Immediately return the skillet to the oven. Bake the cornbread until it is golden and quite crusty, about 20 minutes. It will pull away from the edges of the skillet more than is usual. Turn the cornbread out on a rack, let it cool for 5 minutes, and then serve, still warm.

    T HE G RIND ON S TONE -G ROUND
    You’ll see that I call for stone-ground cornmeal throughout this book. Unless I specify a particular grind, such as fine or coarse, go ahead and use standard, medium-grind “stone-ground cornmeal.” And do be sure it’s stone-ground , which is far, far better than degerminated, mass-produced, steel-ground cornmeal; cornbread just isn’t its wholesome, hearty, delightfully gritty self without it.

    H OW TO S EASON A C AST -I RON S KILLET
    A cast-iron skillet, properly seasoned, plays a major role in the preparation of the cornbreads in this chapter. What’s more, it is as much a part of every working kitchen as is a good, sharp chef’s knife. If you lack either, please remedy the situation at once.
    A seasoned cast-iron skillet is solid black, with a smooth, dully shining surface that is not quite but almost nonstick. You might inherit one. You might find one in ideal shape at a flea market or yard sale. But you might have to buy a new one, or an old one that has rusted, and in these cases you must season it by following a process I am about to describe. This prepares it for use.
    Never use a new cast-iron skillet (or an old one with rust spots) without first seasoning it! Seasoning seals, smooths, and finishes the straight-from-the-factory cast iron and brings about the natural, (mostly) nonstick cooking surface. Seasoning also prevents rust and assures that foods cooked in the pan will not react (or will react very little) to the iron—no discoloration or metallic taste.
    Of course, even if you follow the process exactly, your skillet will not at first have the perfect, dull-shiny smooth black surface you may recall from your grandmother’s kitchen. It takes not only seasoning, but repeated use over time, to get your cast-iron skillet just right. But it will go from gray, to brown, to deeper brown, and eventually become its own beautiful black self. This is an