The Simple Things

Taking time to live well
  • Home
  • Subscribe
  • SHOP
  • Newsletter
  • About
  • Work with us
  • Home
  • Subscribe
  • SHOP
  • Newsletter
  • About
  • Work with us

Blog

Taking Time to Live Well

  • All
  • Chalkboard
  • Christmas
  • Competition
  • could do
  • Eating
  • Escape
  • Escaping
  • Fresh
  • Fun
  • gardening
  • Gathered
  • Gathering
  • Growing
  • Haikus
  • Interview
  • Living
  • Looking back
  • Magazine
  • magical creatures
  • Making
  • Miscellany
  • My Neighbourhood
  • Nature
  • Nest
  • Nesting
  • outing
  • playlist
  • Reader event
  • Reader offer
  • Shop
  • Sponsored post
  • Sunday Best
  • Think
  • Uncategorized
  • Wellbeing
  • Wisdom
Photography: Mowie Kay Words: Rachel Oakden

Photography: Mowie Kay Words: Rachel Oakden

Food from afar: Cornbread (and Thanksgiving)

Lottie Storey November 22, 2018

This American soul food sounds like a simple proposition: a yeast-free loaf rustled up in half an hour to sponge up the juices from a gumbo or turn a bowlful of beans into a filling supper. But, like all cherished national dishes, cornbread stirs up strong feelings among those who grew up on it. No two recipes are alike.

First, the cornmeal: white* in the south, yellow in the north, and sometimes cut with wheat flour for a lighter, cake-like texture – a sacrilege to lovers of crumbly pure-corn coarseness. Second, the liquid: eggs are non- negotiable, but do you stir in milk, buttermilk or sour cream?** Most contentious is the issue of sweetness. North Americans tend to include honey, while southerners like it savoury, often adding onions, corn kernels or chillies.

In Britain we know cornmeal by its Italian name, and while ‘polenta’ is generally finer than the US version, it still combines beautifully with buttermilk to make a spongy ‘cornbread-lite’. But authentically gritty bread requires authentic corn – the indigenous grain native Americans lived on for millennia – so, just like our own real-bread aficionados, American foodies seek out stoneground meal.

Grittily artisan or fluffily fine-grained, the best thing about cornbread is the crust that contrasts so moreishly with its soft centre. It comes from being cooked in a smoking-hot skillet moistened with bacon fat or butter before the batter is poured in. Baked in the oven until firm, it wants to be eaten warm, although any leftovers will surely come in handy. Cornbread dressing (that’s ‘stuffing’ on this side of the pond), is a side dish that no Thanksgiving turkey should be without.

TUCK IN: You can buy stoneground heirloom cornmeal from Anson Mills in South Carolina, which ships to the UK if you fancy making your own (ansonmills.com).

*different varieties of corn produce white, yellow and even blue grains.
** used to enrich the soufflé-style variation known as spoonbread.

This feature was published in issue 41 (November 2015)

More Thanksgiving ideas

Featured
Nov 22, 2018
Food from afar: Cornbread (and Thanksgiving)
Nov 22, 2018
Nov 22, 2018
Nov 25, 2016
Black Friday: Alternatives to the shopping frenzy
Nov 25, 2016
Nov 25, 2016
Sep 20, 2016
Recipe: Rustic autumnal fruit tart
Sep 20, 2016
Sep 20, 2016

From our November issue…

Featured
nov chalkboard.JPG
Nov 20, 2018
November: a final thought
Nov 20, 2018
Nov 20, 2018
chickpeasnew.jpg
Nov 16, 2018
Hanger: the struggle is real
Nov 16, 2018
Nov 16, 2018
maltloaf.jpg
Nov 15, 2018
Cake facts: malt loaf
Nov 15, 2018
Nov 15, 2018

November's The Simple Things is out now - buy, download or subscribe.

 

InEating Tagsfood from afar, thanksgiving, recipe, cornbread, issue 41, november
  • Blog
  • Older
  • Newer
Featured
  Buy ,  download  or  subscribe   See the sample of our latest issue  here   Buy a copy of our latest anthology:  A Year of Celebrations   Buy a copy of  Flourish 2 , our wellbeing bookazine  Listen to  our podcast  - Small Ways to Live Well
Feb 27, 2025
Feb 27, 2025

Buy, download or subscribe

See the sample of our latest issue here

Buy a copy of our latest anthology: A Year of Celebrations

Buy a copy of Flourish 2, our wellbeing bookazine

Listen to our podcast - Small Ways to Live Well

Feb 27, 2025
Join our Newsletter
Name
Email *

We respect your privacy and won't share your data.

email marketing by activecampaign
facebook-unauth twitter pinterest spotify instagram
  • Subscriber Login
  • Stockists
  • Advertise
  • Contact

The Simple Things is published by Iceberg Press

The Simple Things

Taking time to live well

We celebrate slowing down, enjoying what you have, making the most of where you live, enjoying the company of of friends and family, and feeding them well. We like to grow some of our own vegetables, visit local markets, rummage for vintage finds, and decorate our home with the plunder. We love being outdoors and enjoy the satisfaction that comes with a job well done.

facebook-unauth twitter pinterest spotify instagram