[Sca-cooks] Cornbread....

[Michael Gunter]

>The difference between Yankee cornbread and Southern
>cornbread is not the sugar, exactly, but how it is
>perceived and used in the two cuisines.

Interesting observation. But then I've never seen
Northerners using cornbread.

>As an example, friend of mine from Kentucky, towards
>the end of the month when he was down to beans and
>bacon (and beer) would make up a big pot of beans
>every night, or heat up the previous night's beans,
>and he HAD to have corn bread to go with them.

My mother would do the same thing. Beans and potatoes
and cornbread was a lot of meals when I was growing up.
She was a waitress raising two sons. Tough job.

>he'd
>put bacon grease in a pan and fry it up- pretty good,
>actually, with some greens on the side.

I've seen that done sometimes. When I try it the stuff
splatters everywhere. My mother made some pretty good
"fried cornmeal mush" upon occasion. But the way I was
raised to make it is that you grease up the pan really
well. Then heat the pan in the oven and then pour in
the mix. So the bread both baked and fried. I hate
mushy cornbread. (I have to admit that I was delighted
to see Alton Brown do the same thing on his show featuring
cornbread).

>Myself, it's not the sugar per se in Yankee cornbread
>that I dislike, although I'm not known for my sweet
>tooth.

I love sugar in my pone. But it really depends on what
the cornbread is used for. I like it unsweetened in my
beans or chili or stews. I like it sweet when it's a
side dish. And cornbread with sugar and milk eaten as a
midnight snack or for breakfast the next day is another
joy.

>It's the position it holds in a meal, that
>makes something truly Southern or not, to me.

Nice thoughts, and I agree with most of it. But I was
raised to like it either way, depending on it's use. Of
course there were always snooty purists who would say it
had to have it and those who swore the other way. The rest
of us would just eat it as we liked it.

Speaking of snooty purists, I found a canned chili last
night that didn't really suck. It even had (shudder) beans.
Wolfgang Puck's chili soup is pretty good with a nice dollop
of Medium Pace salsa. I had a craving and didn't want to
take the time to make real chili. Eaten with a nice ribeye
steak it made for a very happy Gunthar. (And them's th' best
kind!)

>Phlip

Yers,

Gunthar

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