Recipe: Old Fashioned Spoon Bread

I was looking for recipes that went well with baked ham and, found that in the south, Spoon Bread is a tradition. I had no idea what it was…. being the Yankee that I am… so I went looking for an explanation.

According to southernfood.about.com, Spoonbread or Spoon Bread is a pudding-like bread generally eaten with a spoon or fork. Spoonbread is usually made in a casserole with cornmeal as the main ingredient.

We like cornbread so I decided to give it a try. It came out exactly as described…. not quite a pudding… not quite a cornbread. At first taste, I thought it was bland… but as I ate it with my other food… I realized I really liked it… it seemed to add a texture to the meal and allowed the flavors of the other foods in the meal to dominate.

I found lots of recipes for Spoon Bread… and all were practically identical… some veered off the beaten path, so to speak… but I decided to try the basic Southern traditional one.

Here is the recipe.

Enjoy!



Old Fashioned Spoon Bread Recipe

All you need:

¾ cup cornmeal, stone ground or water ground, if possible
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup boiling water
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons baking powder

All you need to do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Generously grease an 8x8 glass or ceramic baking dish.

Combine the cornmeal and salt in a medium bowl.

Stirring constantly, gradually add the boiling water. Stir until smooth and no lumps are left.

Stir in the melted butter.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until no bits of yolk or egg white remain.

Add the milk to the eggs and beat until incorporated.

Add the egg mixture to the cornmeal mixture and stir until incorporated.

Sprinkle the cornmeal mixture with the baking powder and whisk to blend.

Turn the mixture into the prepared baking dish.

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 30 minutes or until firm.

Serve spoon bread with lots of butter.