Fare Exchange: A toasty winter tea and several variations on cornbread

Jane Henegar

This is a morning for getting into a serious discussion about cornbread. As I spoke with some of you about the cornbread art, these questions arose: How is corn pone different from cornbread? How about hoe cakes? What difference does buttermilk make? And while we are on buttermilk, how do you make buttermilk pesto similar to the one served at Hennen's Restaurant? Finally, a cornbread lover asked for menu suggestions for pairing cornbread with barbecue.

And before we begin, let me remind you that the recipes printed in Fare Exchange have not been tested except by their senders. Let us know how they work for you, as well as any variations that succeeded in your kitchen.

TEA AS TONIC

Shall we open the discussion with a toast, a toasty cold-weather version?

Susan Potts wrote, "In response to Mary Coffey's request for a good old-fashioned spiced tea recipe, I happily share my mother's recipe. When the weather got cold or when we were out of school for a snow day, Mother always whipped up this tea. I still have the little glass juicer that she always used to extract the juice by hand from the oranges and lemons, although now I use my modern electric juicer. This fruity spiced tea will soothe a scratchy throat and stuffy nose. I hope Mary finds, as I do, that it warms the heart on a cold wintry day."

This is one of those recipes that is comforting simply to read about.

Spiced Tea

2 lemons

3 oranges

1 quart water

12 cloves

2 to 3 cinnamon sticks

2 quarts strong tea

2 cups sugar

Wash lemons and oranges. Extract juices from lemons and oranges. Boil rinds with cloves and cinnamon sticks in a quart of water for five minutes. Remove rinds, cloves and cinnamon, and then add juices, the tea and the sugar. Serve piping hot.

EASY SPOON BREAD

Jane Guthrie stirs up cornmeal as her mother did, into spoon bread. And she encourages us, "This is not a recipe you need to be afraid of. Spoon Bread is indomitable. I've made it in a Pyrex loaf pan, in my small black iron skillet, and have doubled or tripled the recipe to bake in several loaf pans or a large black iron skillet."

Mother's Spoon Bread

2 cups milk

3 tablespoons real unsalted butter, plus a little for rubbing on top of baked bread

2 cups self-rising cornmeal

3 eggs

Heat milk with butter in a Pyrex glass measuring bowl in the microwave until butter is melted and milk is hot. It may sort of foam.

Add cornmeal, stirring until lumps are dissolved and mixture becomes more or less a thin mush. Don't worry about a few lumps.

Beat eggs, and add to the mush. Pour into greased Pyrex loaf pan or your baking container of choice. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. It looks like a pound cake just out of the oven. Rub a little butter to melt on top. Serve immediately straight from the pan with a serving spoon, or wait a bit and slice.

CRISPY CORNBREAD

This treasure came from a nameless correspondent. "To the Hungry Husband looking for a really good cornbread without flour, I can relate. My mother and grandmother would have been horrified at the suggestion of flour in their cornbread, as I am also. Flour makes it cake-like."

Buttermilk Cornbread

3/4 cup Bob's Red Mill medium-grind cornmeal, whole-grain and stone-ground (see note)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon soda

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 egg, slightly beaten

2 tablespoons bacon grease (vegetable oil will work, but is not as flavorful)

Mix cornmeal, salt and soda. Add buttermilk and then egg. Mix well.

Place 2 tablespoons bacon grease in small (6 1/2-inch) iron skillet and heat. My grandmother would sprinkle a little of the plain cornmeal into the skillet as it heats to make it crunchy.

Pour half of the grease into the batter. Mix well. Pour batter into skillet. Leave skillet over burner on top of stove 2 to 3 minutes.

Place in hot oven - 400 to 425 degrees - for 20 to 25 minutes.

Note: I have found this meal at Food City on occasion, but always at Whole Foods. Be sure to get the medium grind. It freezes well.

COLORFUL CORNBREAD

Clifford Burdette enters the conversation with authority. "I've had this recipe over 20 years. It was given to me by my cousin who got it from his mother from an old cookbook. I don't know how old the recipe is or where it originated from, but it is delicious." This one gilds the lily: cheese, peppers, corn and onions.

Mexican Cornbread

1 1/4 cups self-rising cornmeal

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 cup Cheddar cheese, cut into inch cubes

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

1 to 2 chopped, seeded jalapeno peppers

1 cup bell pepper chopped fine (or a combination of red, yellow and green sweet peppers)

2 eggs

1 cup yellow whole-kernel corn, well drained, or cream-style corn

1 medium onion, chopped

Scant 1/2 cup cooking oil

Mix all ingredients in large bowl.

Variation: Read on to see the idea of heating the oil in a skillet before adding to the other ingredients. You may pour into 9-inch cast-iron skillet - or, instead of adding the oil to the batter, first pour the oil into a cold skillet and heat the skillet in the oven while preparing the cornbread mixture. When the oven reaches 450 degrees, remove the skillet and pour the oil into the batter, stir the mixture, then pour it back into the hot skillet and bake. The oil will sizzle when you pour it into the batter, but it makes for a golden brown crust. This is a secret of old Southern cooks.

Bake at 450 degrees for 30 minutes or until top is golden brown.

JUST A DASH

Lucy Boyd's message gave just a dash of an idea about cornbread and then another quick hint for green beans.

"I hope Hungry Husband received a good cornbread recipe, but, if not, tell him the secret to outer crispiness is to use an iron skillet and a hot oven (425-450 degrees) and to preheat the skillet with some bacon grease in it. Pour the batter into the hot grease."

Now for the green beans. "Do I recall someone asking how to make canned green beans taste good? Pour off the water; add a tablespoon of melted butter and a half-teaspoon of beef-flavored Better Than Bouillon. Heat as desired and remove the beans from the butter with a slotted spoon."

We've run out of room for today, but Mary Ann McInturff's sour-cream cornbread is waiting beside my computer. And a tasty butter chicken and a salad with beets, so you'll just have to come back next week.