December 5, 2012

"In America all cornbread is in the shape of corn, that's how you can tell if it's real. "

So saith Chip Ahoy, who tells a very old joke about learning numbers and gives a recipe bereft of numbers.

And Chip wants me to tell you that "you can get your hands on one of those pans that makes cornbread in the shape of corn... through the Althouse-Amazon portal where you'll find several styles to choose from. He's right. There's this, this, and this extra-fancy one.

26 comments:

Mel said...

In the South, Chip, all cornbread is in the shape of a cast iron skillet, served in pie-shaped pieces, and we know it's real by the smell and taste. :)
But the corn-shaped pans are cute, I'll give you that...

Shouting Thomas said...

The best cornbread is made with raw milk. I get mine from F&C Brooks and Sons Dairy Farm in Stone Ridge, NY. Raw milk produces a very smooth texture in the cornbread, and it has a very high fat content. Good for you!

Visiting the farm is a hell of a lot of fun. More cats than you can believe. A barn full of milk cows and that wholesome smell of cow manure.

Best if you bring your own quart Mason jars. Otherwise, you gotta pay them for a jar. The milk is still warm from the cows when your jar is filled up.

You're getting up earlier these days, Althouse. That's an old fart thing. Me too!

Unknown said...

the Althouse-Amazon portal

I really don't want to read about the Althouse portal and I don't care how many people you've invited to enter it.

Ruth Anne Adams said...

Having one of those neat-o pop-up cards, hand made by Chip Ahoy himself, is one of my 'bucket list' items.

al said...

While this won't put any money in Ann's pocket better cast iron is available at flea markets, resale stores, and garage sales. Look for Wagner and Griswold. The old cast iron is smoother and easier to cook with.

And as Mel states - corn bread should be made in a skillet. With butter.

Shouting Thomas said...

I really don't want to read about the Althouse portal and I don't care how many people you've invited to enter it.

Surly bastard at 6:15 a.m.?

What you just said didn't need to be said. If you're not interested, all you have to do is refrain.

Something of an asshole, huh?

Shouting Thomas said...

And as Mel states - corn bread should be made in a skillet. With butter.

In my hometown, people make corn bread with bacon fat. Great!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Paco Wové said...

"I really don't want to read about the Althouse portal"

Bet THAT got a big laugh from all your middle school buddies this morning!

rhhardin said...

Cornbread makings

Unknown said...

Surly bastard at 6:15 a.m.?

Dear Shouting Dumbass -

The world does not share a single time zone. Have someone with at least a second grade education explain it to you.

edutcher said...

At Cracker Barrel, it's shaped like muffins (Quasy Dog loves 'em).

Jake Diamond said...

the Althouse-Amazon portal

I really don't want to read about the Althouse portal and I don't care how many people you've invited to enter it.


So glad we all voted.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

Here in Texas, there's something wrong with you if you don't have a greasy old coffee can sitting in the back of the fridge with bacon fat in it. You put it in your cast iron skillet to melt while the oven is preheating, then add your corn bread batter. Which of course, you serve with chili, which should be made with dried ancho chiles, beef cubes (not ground beef) and no beans.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

(p.s. put the bacon fat in the skillet to melt, not the coffee can. That would not turn out well.)

Unknown said...

You're getting up earlier these days, Althouse. That's an old fart thing. Me too!

Next Shouting Dumbass will want to share his daily bowel movement schedule with us.

Unknown said...

Here in Texas, there's something wrong with you

True enough.

Chip Ahoy said...

I tell you what, this cornbread is really good and I don't even like cornbread that much. It's wrong, I know. I lived in Louisiana and I recall a woman being very specific about cornbread. It should not be sweet. And it should not be light as I make them. Also, I don't think mine will make good cornbread stuffing because it's too light, and that's what I really want it for. I just don't like the brick-y kind that when you rub butter on it the crumbs come off onto the butter the the knife gets all cornbread crumby and the butter gets all cornbread crumby and there's cornbread crumbs all over the floor by where you're sitting and on your lap and in your shirt. Is that just me?

Shouting Thomas said...

Jake, you truly are a sour ass son of a bitch.

Did you catch your testicles in your zipper this morning?

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

No, it's not just you Chip, eating cornbread certainly has its exasperations.

Chip Ahoy said...

I had a cast iron cornbread mold and the pieces kept getting stuck. I heated up this glass one as I did the cast iron one, as you do for Yorkshire pudding. That's where I got the idea tonight.

I think originally with Yorkshire pudding they were using the roasting pan inside a fireplace under a spit. They'd pour batter into the pan onto the hot grease sitting on coals containing all the hot drippings and flavorful beefy bits.

They'd stretch a meal this way filling their stomachs first so when it came to the beef they wouldn't be so starving. But the problem was all the juicy fatty goodness was gone having been used in making the Yorkshire pudding so a different gravy was prepared for the meal.

I think they made the Yorkshire pudding in batches over time as the beef roast cooked and dripped, and not all at once as we think of doing in the oven. Also, modern day versions seem to use plain vegetable oil and not pan drippings and right there quit a lot will be missing in translation.

I notice also people are not heating the pans first. To high as their ovens will go. They're supposed to rise like mad out of the pan. All the samples I look at on Google images and YouTube are risen but not outrageously risen. They should fill the whole oven. I think that's because of those two things, not using pan drippings and not pouring batter into scorching hot pans.

This cornbread was poured into 400°F glass, first butter that sizzled immediately, and it seems to have behaved like a Yorkshire pudding and lifted right out of the molds and formed a very nice and appealing crust.

Clyde said...

I can attest that they also sell them at Cracker Barrel, since I saw them by the cash register the last time I ate there.

Clyde said...

@ edutcher,

At the local Cracker Barrel, the cast iron cornbread molds were in the traditional shape of ears of corn. I noted that because my mom had some just like that when I was a kid.

delagar said...

Skillet. Bacon fat. NO SUGAR.

If your corn bread is sticking to your skillet, Chip, you haven't seasoned it properly.

No one should be buying skillets anyway. Didn't your mama give you one when you left home?

Lauderdale Vet said...

This made me smile. When I read the article, before I clicked to read the commentary, I thought to myself "well, MY cornbread is the shape of my skillet!"

Heh.

I like my cornbread a little sweet, like my corn tamales.

Tyrone Slothrop said...

Erika said...

Here in Texas, there's something wrong with you if you don't have a greasy old coffee can sitting in the back of the fridge with bacon fat in it.


When I lived in Alaska I learned to use a coffee can to bake loaves of bread. The resulting loaf looks amazingly like a cannelured lead pistol bullet after it's been fired into a wet phonebook. The loaf is just the right diameter for baloney sandwiches.

Astro said...

Some of us eat our cornbread with black eyed peas. I gotta feeling you might like this video:
I Gotta Feeling