Lesson 5: Cornbread
The quintessential American quick bread is a snap to make and easily variable. It can be made in a loaf, muffins or sticks, with cheese, jalapenos, corn and different varieties of corn meal. Definitely check out "The Best Quick Breads," it has a wide variety of cornbread recipes.
A Corny Story
Even though I was born in the Midwest and grew up in the South, I never really ate homemade cornbread until I met the man who is now my husband. His mother has the best recipe for cornbread, which my husband has made better by baking it in a cast iron skillet. This is one of those nice but not necessary things for quick breads that just takes it over the edge from good to spectacular. The reason for this, really, is the extra oil you put in the bottom of the pan while it heats, so when you dump the batter into the pan it fries and makes this great crispy brown crust.
Because of my late introduction to cornbread, I really think of it as a Southern dish, but as “The Best Quick Breads” tells us, there are variations in the Midwest and New England as well. But like good biscuits, I think Southerners lay special claim to making the best cornbread.
