The Cornbread from Home
Or the fact that some American things are just better with spices
I will not hold you hostage and force you to read unnecessary background history before sharing the recipe for the best cornbread ever (It is the best, I will die on this hill). So skip and go straight to the recipe.
Apart from Texan barbeque, which should be one of the world’s top things that can be done to meat, I have one more favourite from cuisine Americana. A spiced up cornbread.
If you’re American, especially mid or southern American, you may think you know where I’m going with this, but hold on to your Stetsons, because I’m about to go from sweet and mellow to dirty and spiked up in about 10 seconds.
The recipe is very loosely based on the one my friend Proma baked the first time I met her. Out of the many friends I have imported into my life after marrying Kumar, Proma is one and it is essential to note here that she is by far the best cook I have encountered in my life. I don’t throw around phrases such as “best cook” easily.
That should also tell you why this is the best cornbread I have ever had. A very close second are the cornbread muffins from Willie Mae’s - an institution in New Orleans that has long been considered to produce the best fried chicken in the world. In the world, people!
Back in the summer of 2019, Kumar and I waited two hours in a queue that looked like an advertisement for corporate DEI (read: people who had travelled from across the world), for a taste of Willie Mae’s famous food just because we listened when Anthony Bourdain spoke up. See below for reference.
That food was something else. Something that we will be talking about for years to come.
Buuuut, this specific cornbread beats Willie Mae’s. No lie. The secret is a smattering of cumin seeds, ghee instead of butter and a pinch of turmeric or smoked paprika for depth. If you’re a soul food purist, look away now.
Spiced-up Cornbread
Ingredients:
1 tbsp butter for greasing the skillet
1 cup All-Purpose flour
1 1/4 cup cornmeal
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1/4 turmeric powder
1/4 tsp red chilli powder or smoked paprika (feel free to replace with sweet paprika)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup grated cheddar cheese, use the sharp kind
1/2 cup dried cranberries
4 Indian or Thai green chillies, finely diced (feel free to replace with 2 medium jalapeño peppers, finely diced)
2 large eggs
1/4 cup granulated sugar
4 tbsp ghee or clarified butter
1 cup buttermilk or sour milk (sour milk is made by combining 1 tbsp of white vinegar to 1 cup of cold milk and letting the mixture sit for about 5 minutes)
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 C/400 F.
Place the tablespoon of butter in the centre of a 10-inch cast iron skillet (or baking pan 8 x 10 inch or similar). Put the pan in the oven till the butter melts and is bubbling slightly at the edges. Don’t let it burn!
In a large bowl combine the flour, cornmeal, cumin, turmeric, chilli powder, baking powder and salt to create dry mix.
Separately, take 1 tsp of the dry mix and toss with the cheddar, green chillies and the cranberries, till all are lightly coated. Fold into the dry mix above.
In a small bowl, beat the eggs with sugar till the sugar is mostly dissolved. Add the ghee and buttermilk and stir to combine.
Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the wet mix. Gently combine without over-mixing. A few knobbly bits in the batter are just fine, even preferable.
Pour the batter into the hot pan.
Bake for 18-30 minutes. The baking time entirely depends on how your oven handles heat, but start checking at the 18-minute mark. The edges of the bread should be starting to come off the sides, and a skewer pierced through the centre should come out clean. If you cornbread has cracks on top (like in the photo above) then it’d be perfect.
Cool till it reaches room temperature, slice and serve.
Notes:
Cornbread doesn’t just go well with fried chicken or ribs, try it with South Indian style prawn curry or Bengali style mutton curry!
You can bake up this batter as muffins as well. Muffins will need about 15-20 minutes, but start checking at the 15 minute mark.