Hardly any other dish is as political and polarizing as corn bread. If you think the pineapple-on-pizza debate is hot, ask someone from the American South if cornbread is supposed to be sweet or savory. Much like the big Sugar in Grits debate, the cornbread issue often provokes a profound reaction, especially among blacks.
You know, corn was one of the few crops the enslaved recognized when they were forced to work on plantations in the New World. Although its domestication dates back 10,000 years to southern Mexico, the general historical consensus is that the Portuguese introduced corn to Africa in the 16th century. West Africans knew how to manipulate corn kernels and prepare delicious dishes – especially baked goods – without milk, butter, and eggs. The original American cornbread recipe calls for cornmeal, salt, hot water, and lard. That’s it.
Cornbread is American, even more so than apple pie.
According to food historian and author Michael Twitty “[w]Today we call hat cornbread, puffy and leavened with egg, it was corn [once] pone. It originated from British colonists who adapted their baking to white corn flour. ”In Jamaica, where I come from, corn pone is a dense dessert made from yellow corn flour and smells of nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice. It takes a skilled hand to make sure it doesn’t get as solid as a brick. There’s an old Jamaican saying, “A bad pone can kill a pig.”
With Juneteenth around the corner, I’ve had tons of conversations about cornbread – its origins, its transformation, and its meaning. For African Americans, cornbread represents an intuitive desire to be reflected in the pantheon of American cuisine. We all love fried chicken and know its origins, but at some point cornbread was appropriated and its origins messed up. Cornbread is American, even more so than apple pie. Do you want evidence? The Southern Foodways Alliance has made a decision Corn Bread Nation as the title of her anthology of southern food writing.
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In the kitchens of the Great House, making corn bread enabled the enslaved cooks to transport themselves home. As the cornmeal flowed through their fingers as they measured the ground flour, the memories of the middle aisle faded for a moment. The flowing yellow or white flour reminded her of that kenkey, Pap, ungali, and pastry bread – dishes made from ground corn they would eat at home.
I see cornbread as a palantir – mystical and indestructible – representing what was and a prediction of our future.
Cornbread has long been revered in Texas, the birthplace of Juneteeth. An 1853 New York Times article published 12 years before June 15 about Texas said, “Cornbread is the staple food – anything made from wheat flour is as scarce as ice in the Sahara.” It are many different types of cornmeal on the market and I’ve tried most of them. Texans prefer pan-fried cornbread over the corn muffins you’d find in South Carolina, for example, and I prefer cornbread made from finely ground cornmeal. Although coarsely ground flour makes a better crumb, I like a corn bread that I can mock up without a drink. (I don’t like when my cornbread eats like a Popeyes cookie.) If you like Jiffy, good for you, me too.
I see cornbread as a palantir – mystical and indestructible – representing what was and a prediction of our future. As divisive as it is, it also brings us together, especially when you make fun of how someone else is doing theirs. My aunt puts cream colored corn in hers. I have cheddar cubes and scotch bonnet pepper stains in mine. I’ve seen Caribbean chefs add orange peel and coconut, and I’ve seen chefs in the South American use whole grain corn and bacon in their mix. However you cut it, cornbread is freedom manifested in one delicious bite at a time.
Here’s my favorite cast iron pan cornbread recipe that I keep making. Sugar is optional.
How to make corn bread from the cast iron pan
ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups ground cornmeal (make sure it’s not cornmeal! Please don’t make this mistake. When in doubt, choose medium or coarse grain)
- 3/4 cup self-rising flour (keep the side eye to yourself, self-rising flour is a gem!)
- 1 ¼ cups buttermilk
- 2 tablespoons of hot water
- 1 piece of butter, melted; plus a quarter of a stick, unmelted
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 30 g can of whole grain corn, drained
- ½ cup white sugar (yes, optional)
Place the cast iron pan in the oven and preheat to 425F. In a bowl, mix together melted butter, buttermilk, eggs, and sugar if you like. Mix the cornmeal and flour in a separate bowl. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients, then mix with a wooden spoon. Add corn and hot water and work in. Take the hot pan out of the oven and put in the butter knob (¼ stick). When it melts add the cornbread mixture. It should sizzle. Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes or when a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
