CORN BREAD

Pain de Mais.

It has been said, and justly, that the only people who know how to make corn bread are the Southern people, and that the further you go south of Mason and Dixon's line, the better the corn bread, corn cakes, corn mulfins, that will be offered you. Throughout Louisiana the dainty "Egg Breads," Corn Cakes, Muflins, "Crackling Bread," etc., are the gra- cious offerings that typical Creole planters place before the guests who have been invited to partake of morning hospitality. As in these an- cient Southern manors, so also is the olden Creole homes of New Or- leans. The Creole planters of the an- cient regime had their plantation and city homes, and life gravitated between the one and the other with pleasing and inflnite variety. And so the cookery of the Creole New Or- leans is the cookery of Creole Louisi- ana, and in this^cookery Corn Bread occupies, with "Potato," "Hominy," "Rice," and "Wheat Breads," Its unique and interesting place.

It may be added here that the Cre- oles, like all true Southerners, never use the yellow corn meal for mak- ing bread, but always the whitest and best meal. In the South the yel- low meal is only used to feed chick- ens and cattle.

Plain Corn Bread.

Pain de Ma'i's.

1 Quart ot the Finest Indian Meal.

1 Teaspoontul of Salt.

A Heaping Tablespoonfui of Lard or Butter.

1 Pint of Water.

Pour just enough boiling water over tlie meal to scald it through and through, without making a dough or batter. Stir it well, and let it grow tepid. It will then be quite dry. Add a melted teaspoonful of lard or but- ter. Mix this well, and add water, and beat till the batter is very smooth. Dissolve one teaspoonful of soda in a little boiling water, and add to the mixture, and grease a baking pan. Turn the mixture in and bake In a quick oven for about thir- ty-five minutes, till a golden brown. Take the bread from the pan whole, and place on a hot platter, and serve, cutting it at the table into slices about two inches long and three wide, and serving with butter.

Egs Corn Bread.

Pain de Mais aux Oeufs.

1 Quart of Cornmeal. 4 Easra.

1 Tablespoonfui of Butter or Lard.

1 Pint of Milk (Buttermilk if Possible).

1 Teaspoonful of Salt.

Scald the meal with boiling water suflScient to melt. Beat the yolks ot the eggs very, very light. Add the corn meal and melted butter, and the salt, and beat till very light, moist- ening with the milk. Then add the whites of the eggs, beaten to a stiff froth. Beat all well together. Pour into a buttered or greased pan, or into shallow tins, and bake quickly. This is the real Creole Corn Bread, so highly praised by all tourists through Louisiana. The secret of the exquisite flavor depends upon the proper beating of the eggs, as well as on the rising of the corn bread itself. If the eggs are well-beaten, the corn bread will need neither soda nor yeast to make it rise properly. Some add a. tablespoonfui of sugar when they wish to have sweetened corn bread. Corn bread, to be de- licious, should always be served hot and generously buttered.

Nonpareil Corn Bread.

Pain de Mais Nonpareil.

2 Gups of Indian Meal.

1 Cup of Flour. 3 Eggs.

2% Cups of Sweet Milk.

1 Tablespoonfui of Lard.

2 Tablespoonfula of Sugar (if desired).

2 Teaspoonfuls of Baking Powder.

1 Teaspoonful of Salt.

Beat the eggs very, very light, the whites and yolks sepsirately. Melt the lard or butter, and gift the Bak- ing Powder into the sifted meal and flour. Stir this into the yolks of the eggs and the milk. Blend thorough-

ly. Add the whites, beaten to a stiff froth. Beat well together, and bake quickly and steadily in a quick oven for about a half hour. Serve hot, with butter.

Risen Corn Bread.

Pain de Mais au Levain.

X Quart of Cornmeal.

1 pint of Milk or Water. 3 Eaga.

1 TeasDoonful of Salt.

2 Tablespoonfula of I'east.

Beat the eggs well, and use boiling water or milk to blend the cornmeal, eggs and salt together. Then add the yeast, which you will .have dis- solved in a little hot water. Set the bread to rise for three or four hours and then bake in tins or in a greased pan, like a pone of bread, or make it into loaves.

Again, the risen corn bread can be made much more quickly by simply adding two tablespoonfuls of yeast powder to the batter, or a half tea- spoonful of soda, dissolved in a cup of milk. Mix thoroughly, and bake in buttSred tins or a pan. Always scald the meal with boiling water first.

Steamed Com Bread.

Pain de Mais Si la Vapeur.

1 Cup of Flour.

1 Cup of Louisiana Molasses.

2 Cues of Sweet Milk.

2 Teaspoonfuls of Baking Powder.

, Scald the meal. Beat the eggs very light, and beat the milk into them till very light. Add the molasses and yeast powder, and blend w_ell. Then add the flour, mixing and beat- ing till thoroughly blended. A half 3Up of sugar may be used instead. of the molasses. Tie In a cloth, as you would roll a pudding, and place in a steamer, on top of a pot of boiling water, and cover first with a close cloth, and then with the steamer cover, and steam for three hours. Then turn into a hot dish, and eat as a plain dessert, with a Brandy or Hard or Cream Sauce. (See Pud- ding Sauces.)

Cornmeal Pone. Pain de Mai's CrSole.

1 Quart of the Finest Indian Meal. 1 Teaspoonful of Salt. A Heaping Teaspoonful of Lard or Butter. 1 Pint of Sour Milk or Buttermilk. 3 Eggs. Pour just enough boiling water over the meal to scald it through and through, without making a dough or batter. Stir it well, and let' it grow tepid. It will be then quite dry. Beat two eggs very light, apd add to the meal, and add a melted tablespoonfui of lard or butter. Mix this well, and add the milk or buttermilk, and beat till the batter is very smooth. Dis- solve one teaspoonful of soda in a

little boiling water, and add to the mixture, and grease a baking pan. Turn the mixture in and bake in a quick oven for about thirty-live min- utes, till a golden brown. Take the pone from the pan whole, and place on a hot platter, and serve, cutting it at the table into slices about three inches long and two wide, and serv- ing with butter.

A Plain Pone may be made by using hot water and lard, instead of milk and butter, making a thick dough, and form into loaves and bake. But it bears no comparison to the real Creole Pone, as made above. Nevertheless, this is a very good and nutritious white corn bread. In the rural districts of Louisiana the lard is often omitted, and the pone made simply of the hot water and cornmeal.

Corn Dodg^ers. Petits Pain de Mais.

1 Quart of Indian Kleal. 1 Tablessioonful of Lard. 1 Teaspoonful of Salt. Scald the meal with boiling water. Add the melted lard and the salt. Use sufficient boiling water to make a very stiff batter or soft dough. Then take up a handful of the mix- ture, and mold it with your hands into oval mounds, tossing the cake of dough lightly between your hands in a dexterous manner, and leaving the impression of your fingers across. Bake the pones thus formed in a quick oven. They may be served at dinner, and are delicious when prop- erly made.

Petits Gateaux Cuits dans la Cendre.

1 Quart of Indian. Meal.

1 Tablespoonful of Lard. 1 Teaspoonful of Salt. This is a real old Southern darky cake. The ancient Creole negroes of Louisiana excelled in making and baking it, so that no. ashes clung to the clean white cake. An ash cake, as the name suggests, is al- ways baked in the ashes, on the open hearth, and wood ashes must be used. The darkies had a rouring fire and' a sufficient quantity of hot ashes. They swept a clean place on' the hearth and drew out a pile of hot ashes, and placed the pone of bread, shaped like the Corn Dodgers, on top of the ashes. This was covered with hot ashes, and let bake to a nice brown. Then the cake was drawn out of the ashes, wiped clean with a cloth till every particle of ashes that adhered in the crevices disappeared, and served hot with butter or mo- lasses.

Again, the old Creole darkies wrap the cake In a layer of fig leaves, to bake more neatly, but the real Ash Cake is baked as above.

Fried Corn Cakes.

Gateaux de Mais Frits.

1 Quart of Indian Meal.

1 Tablespoonful of Lard.

1 Teaspoonful of Salt.

Make the dough as above, adding, if you wish, a well-beaten egg, and milk instead of water. Beat till very light, and drop the stiff batter in large spoonfuls on a frying pan that you will have greased well with fat bacon skin. These cakes are very delicious when properly made. They must be fried to a golden brown. After each cake is taken from the skillet, the latter must be wiped oft and regreased with the fat bacon before putting the next cake upon It. Serve hot at breakfast or dinner. HOEOAKE. Gateau a la Houe.

1 Pint of Plour.

% Teaspoonful of Salt.

Boiling Water Sufficient to Make a Batter.

These cakes may be baked on a griddle, just as you would a griddle cake, and served with butter. But the old Southern cooks, of which the Louisiana Creole plantation cooks were not the least, always baked these cakes on a hoe on h,ot coals in front of a wood fire, right out in the open air, before their cabin doors, or in their cabins before the roaring hearth fire. Hence the name Hoecake. The Hoecake was made of flour, with sufficient Tvater to moisten it well. A teaspoonful of butter or lard was added.

The term Hoecake, so extensively used by the field hands, was taken up by masters and mistresses, and applied to a biscuit bread made of one pint of flour, one-half pint of milk, one teaspoonful of y«ast pow- der, and two spoonfuls of butter or one of lard, kneaded well together, rolled out with a rolling pin, and cut criss-cross, like diamonds, with a knife, and baked in the oven.

This delightful refinement of the ancient Hoecake is served at dinner with a glass of milk or cream, as an accompaniment to Compotes of Fruits.