Delicate 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
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a bowl, mix the milk, lard, baking soda, and salt.
Stir in enough cornmeal to achieve a batter consistency similar to sponge cake.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish.
Bake for 20 to 30 minutes until golden brown.
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
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that hydrates the cornmeal and gives the batter its moisture.
- Lard
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and helps the surface brown.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in sour milk to release gas, helping the bread rise.
- Cornmeal
- Forms the body of the bread, setting into its structure as it bakes.
The step that matters
Stirring in the cornmeal to the right consistency. The batter should be similar to sponge cake. Too little cornmeal makes a thin batter that spreads and bakes dense, while too much makes a stiff batter that bakes dry and crumbly. Cornmeal has no gluten, so its thickness controls the final texture.
“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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