[Sca-cooks] Corn Bread

[Pixel, Queen of Cats]

On Thu, 5 Jul 2001 tgl at mailer.uni-marburg.de wrote:

> There is a chapter on corn/maize in the herbal of Hieronymus Bock 1539,
> later ed. 1570. He says that it is used to make bread:
>
>    "...gibt guot schön weiß mäl/ vnd süß Brot" (fol. 223, 1570 edition)
>
> There is also a chapter on corn/maize in the herbal of Leonhard Fuchs
> 1543. He says: that the plant was imported from Turkey, that it easily
> grew in Germany, that the plant was quite common in his time, that it
> was grown in many gardens AND that corn/maize was used to bake bread:
>
>    "Dise korn seind erstlich ... auß der Turckey in vnnser land
>     bracht worden. Bekommen gern/ darumb sie nun fast gemein seind/
>     vnd in vilen gärten gezilt werden. (...) Man macht aber auß disem
>     korn über die massen schön weiß meel/ vnd becht darnach brodt
>     darauß/ das macht leichtlich verstopffung"
>     L. Fuchs: New Kreüterbuoch, Basel 1543, chap. CCCXX
>
> Castore Durante in his Italian herbal 1585 mentions three culinary uses
> among other things: Pane, polenta, torta
>
>    "Fa la farina bianca, della quale si fa bel pane, la sostanza del
>     quale è più grossa, & pi` viscosa del nostro. ... Fanno di questa
>     farina i contadini le polente, & le torte aggiuntoui butiro,
>     & formaggio, & è cibo non insuaue: ma genera grosso nudrimento".
>     C. Durante p. 217f.)
>
> << Someone on our Kingdom list is arguing that old line: if they had
> ingredient X in period, they must have had cooked dish Y. In this
> case, the discussion is centering around ... Cornbread >>
>
> >From a logical point of view, the conclusion "there was cornbread in
> Europe prior to 1600" does not necessarily follow from the premise
> "there was corn/maize in Europe prior to 1600".
>
> Nevertheless, as far as I can say, both statements
> -- "there was corn/maize in Europe eaten by humans prior to 1600"
> -- "there was cornbread in Europe eaten by humans prior to 1600"
> are true statements.
>
> Th.


I would argue that it should be "bread made from corn" rather than
"cornbread", as "cornbread" is a more modern creature involving chemical
leavening.

Wouldn't they have ground the maize into a finer flour than what meal
usually is?

Anybody want to try baking bread with corn flour (not corn *meal*,
flour) this weekend with yeast? If I get time, I'll try it, although I
have food to prepare for the cook's showcase (I decided to skip sauces and
do meat pies from Guter Spise, due to time constraints) so I might not
manage the corn bread.

Margaret FitzWilliam