Scalded Corn Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the batter
In a bowl, mix cornmeal and coarse sea salt.
Pour boiling water over the mixture, stirring constantly until it forms a thick mush.
Let the mixture cool, then beat in the egg.
Bake
Melt a small piece of lard in a baking pan to prevent sticking.
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into the pan.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until golden.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Cornmeal
- Forms the main body of the bread and gives it its characteristic grainy texture.
- Boiling water
- Swells and gelatinizes the cornmeal starch, turning it into a thick mush that holds together.
- Egg
- Binds the mixture and adds structure as the cornbread sets in the oven.
The step that matters
Let the mixture cool before adding the egg. Eggs can scramble or cook unevenly when added to very hot mush, so the mixture should cool enough that the egg blends smoothly into the batter.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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