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Southern Corn-Bread
1 cup sour milk 1/2 teaspoon soda dissolved in 1 teaspoon water 1 egg-yolk 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups corn-meal White of one egg beaten stiff and added last Mix in the order given and bake in muffin-tins or in a shallow pan in a moderate oven (350 degrees F.) for fifteen minutes. To be real Southern corn-bread, this should be made of white corn-meal made from the whole grain.
A lean, eggy batter with no wheat flour, no sugar and no fat — the plain Southern style. It comes together in about five minutes, so have the pan hot and the oven ready before you mix.
- Sour milkThis means naturally soured raw milk, thick and acidic. Buttermilk is the direct modern substitute, cup for cup; failing that, stir 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar into a cup of whole milk and let it stand ten minutes. The acid is structural here, not a flavour note — it is what the soda reacts with.
- Soda dissolved in waterDissolving the 1/2 teaspoon of soda before adding it prevents bitter pockets in a batter that has no flour to disperse it. The recipe adds it second, in the order given, so work briskly and get the pan into the oven promptly, since the lift is largely spent within a few minutes.
- CornmealWhole-grain white cornmeal, as the recipe insists, means meal with the germ still in it, usually stone-ground. It can behave differently from modern degerminated meal in how much liquid it takes up, and many cooks find it fuller in corn flavour. Whole-grain meal goes rancid, so buy small quantities and keep it in the freezer.
- Batter consistencyWith 1 cup of liquid to 1 1/2 cups of meal this is a thick, spoonable batter rather than a dough. Coarse stone-ground meal may drink more liquid than expected; loosen with a spoonful or two of the soured milk if it stiffens too far.
- Oven and panThe recipe's 350F is what it calls a moderate oven. A hotter oven in a preheated, greased cast-iron skillet is a common modern preference for a crisper crust. Fifteen minutes suits muffins or a thin sheet; a thicker pan of batter is likely to want longer and a clean tester.
- GreasingThere is no fat in the batter at all, so the pan must be well greased with bacon drippings, lard or butter and heated before the batter goes in. Otherwise the bread welds itself to the tin.
- The beaten whiteFolding in the stiff white last is the only aeration beyond the soda. Fold gently with a spatula rather than stirring, and do not let the mixed batter stand.
- Yield and servingRoughly 8 muffins, or one shallow pan, serving about four. Best eaten hot from the oven with butter; unsweetened cornbread of this kind does not keep well.