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Corn Bread
11/2 CUPS CORN MEAL 1/2 CUP WHITE FLOUR 4 TEASPOONS BAKING POWDER I TEASPOON SALT 2 TABLESPOONS SUGAR I-2 EGGS I 1/2 CUPS MILK 2 TABLESPOONS MELTED SHORTENING Mix dry ingredients together; beat egg, add milk and shortening and mix all together well; pour into buttered baking pan, bake in medium oven 35 minutes, or in hot oven 20 minutes.
In Texas, when made with yellow corn meal this is called "yaller bread."
I CUP FLOUR 1/2 CUP CORN MEAL I TEASPOON SALT
A standard sweet-leaning skillet cornbread, written for a wood range and a camp oven. The proportions are sound; only the oven language and a few typographic ones and twos need translating.
- The ones and twosSeveral quantities are printed with a capital I where a numeral 1 belongs: 1 teaspoon salt, 1 to 2 eggs, 1 cup flour. Read them as ones.
- Oven temperaturesA "medium oven" is roughly 350-375F for the 35-minute bake; a "hot oven" roughly 400-450F for the 20-minute bake. The hotter, shorter bake gives a crisper crust and a slightly drier crumb.
- EggsOne egg gives a crumbly, old-style bread that wants butter; two gives a finer, more cake-like crumb that holds together for sandwiching. Choose deliberately rather than splitting the difference.
- ShorteningIn this period shortening meant lard or a hydrogenated vegetable fat. Melted butter, bacon drippings or a neutral oil all work.
- Baking powderFour teaspoons to two cups of dry meal and flour is a lot by current standards but not out of range for a batter this wet. Use fresh powder and get the pan into the oven promptly, or the lift is spent before it sets.
- The panThe recipe says only a buttered baking pan; an 8- or 9-inch square pan or a well-greased 9-inch cast-iron skillet will do. If you use a skillet, heating it greased in the oven before the batter goes in gives a browned bottom crust, though the recipe does not ask for it.
- Doneness and yieldThe centre should spring back and a tester come out clean; the edges will pull slightly from the pan. Serves six to eight, and it is best within a few hours of baking.
- Cornmeal grindThe recipe does not specify a grind. Modern fine degerminated meal behaves differently from coarser stone-ground, and the batter may read thin at first. If it looks thin, let it stand five minutes before judging, or add a spoonful more meal.