Cornbread

Long ago and far, far away, My Prince and I were not in another galaxy but on the other side of the planet. As it happened, we managed to get hold of some corn meal, which was not a common foodstuff in that area. With no cookbook and limited experience with cornmeal, I had no idea how to make cornbread, even though we were longing for the taste. I sent an urgent message back home and asked for the recipe. As near as I can remember, this is what came:

• 2c cornmeal
• 1c flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• milk to make pourable
• bake at 425 degrees until done

I've been thinking about making my own cornbread mix so that I can quit buying the pre-packaged mixes and still avoid all the measuring whenever I want to make a batch of cornbread. I did a trial run the other day, mixing up a double batch of the above recipe to see what I came up with. I used half of the resulting batter to make regular cornbread and the other half to make something more exotic.

The cornbread turned out dry. I may need to up the flour a bit. I might need to add oil, but I 'd like to avoid that if I can. More milk might also be good, but I will have to measure that to see what I'm splashing in there.

The other dish was more interesting. I decided to add (1 can of) pinto beans to the cornbread batter along with (1 small can of diced) jalapeno peppers, (1 can of ) whole kernal corn, and (1 can of) diced tomatoes. The bread was still a bit dry on the outside, but moist on the inside, maybe too moist. I cooked it in a large glass baking dish at 425 degrees until the center was firm and browned.

The taste was quite nice. Served hot with grated cheese, it was good; served with crumbled brisket and cheese it was delicious. I might make this dish again.

In the meantime, I'm going to tinker with the cornbread recipe so that I can get that "instant" batter made. And, no, I will not add sugar to the recipe. Putting sugar in cornbread makes cake. I don't care who calls it "southern" to put sugar in there, that's just immoral and should be illegal.