Edward Behr
R E C I P E S

Spoonbread

By Edward Behr

Spoonbread is a counterpoint to usual American cornbread. Where that calls for much more cornmeal than liquid, spoonbread calls for the reverse. The earliest recipe appears to be Sarah Rutledge’s in The Carolina Housewife, published in 1847, although she calls it “Owendaw Corn Bread,” after a place, now Awendaw, near Charleston. (Her recipe named “Spoon Bread” is for pancakes dropped from a spoon.) Rutledge combined hominy and cornmeal with whole beaten eggs and milk, and she baked the spoonbread in a pan deep enough to allow it to rise. “It has the appearance, when cooked,” she wrote, “of a baked batter pudding, and when rich and well-mixed, it has almost the delicacy of a baked custard.” The hominy would add another texture, but real hominy (cooked with alkali, the same as Mexican nixtamal) is hard to find in many places, and only one other old recipe I’ve seen calls for any form of corn other than cornmeal (that’s Mary Custis Lee’s recipe in her notebook, transcribed almost word for word from Sarah Rutledge). Unlike recent recipes, the one below has no baking soda or powder and no beaten egg whites; it relies for lightness only on the air in the batter, to the point that it rises like a soufflé. It goes with almost any savory food, including braised beef or pork (especially a red-wine braise, such as oxtail stew).

 

2 cups (500 ml) milk

1 cup (150 gr) cornmeal, preferably yellow, for color

3 large eggs

2 tablespoons (60 gr) butter, melted, plus butter for the dish

¾ teaspoon salt

 

Place 1½ cups of the milk in a saucepan and stir in the cornmeal. Bring to a bubble, stirring, and cook 5 minutes, slowly, still stirring. Pour the hot cornmeal mixture into a large bowl. Whisk in the remaining milk, then the eggs, whisking well to incorporate air, then the melted butter. Pour the mixture into a buttered 1-quart (1-liter) oven dish or bowl. Bake at 375° F (190° C) until swollen and lightly brown on top, about 40 minutes. Serves 4.

From issue 106

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