Spoonbread is a moist

cornmeal Maize meal is a meal (coarse flour) ground from dried maize. It is a common staple food and is ground to coarse, medium, and fine consistencies, but it is not as fine as wheat flour can be.Herbst, Sharon, ''Food Lover's Companion'', Third Editi ...

-based dish prevalent in parts of the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...

. While the basic recipe involves the same core ingredients as

cornbread Cornbread is a quick bread made with cornmeal, associated with the cuisine of the Southern United States, with origins in Native American cuisine. It is an example of batter bread. Dumplings and pancakes made with finely ground cornmeal are st ...

– namely cornmeal, milk, butter, and eggs – the mode of preparation creates a final product with a soft, rather than crumbly, texture. As the name implies, the consistency is soft enough that it needs to be served and eaten with a spoon. Although named a "bread", spoonbread is closer in consistency and taste to many savory puddings, such as Yorkshire pudding. The basic recipe involves making a cornmeal mush from cornmeal and milk or water, which is then set aside to cool slightly. After that melted butter, beaten eggs, and any seasonings are stirred in, and the batter is poured into a buttered cast-iron skillet or baking dish and baked until set. There are two basic variations, depending on how the eggs are treated: if the eggs are beaten whole, it creates a denser version with a pudding-like texture; if the eggs are separated and the whites whipped to incorporate air, the spoonbread effectively becomes a cornmeal soufflé. Fluffy Spoonbread

History

The earliest versions of spoonbread are believed to be of Native American origin, and settlers in South Carolina commonly called it ''Owendaw'' or ''Awendaw'' in reference to the local Sewee tribe

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

. Recipes similar to spoonbread began appearing after the end of the colonial period, although these are either sweetened for a dessert course (and typically called Indian pudding), or incorporate wheat flour, as in Mary Randolph’s 1824 cookbook '' The Virginia House-Wife''. The first printed recipe for recognizable spoonbread appeared in ''The Carolina Housewife'' cookbook by Sarah Rutledge in 1847. Her recipe for "Owendaw Corn Bread":

Take about two teacups of hommony, and while hot mix with it a very large spoonful of butter (good lard will do); beat four eggs very light and stir them into the hommony; next add about a pint of milk, gradually stirred in; and lastly, half a pint of corn meal. The batter should be the consistency of a rich boiled custard; if thicker, add a little more milk. Bake with a good deal of heat at the bottom of the oven, and not too much at the top, so as to allow it to rise. The pan in which it is baked ought to be a deep one, to allow space for rising. It has the appearance, when cooked, of a baked batter pudding, and when rich, and well mixed, it has almost the delicacy of a baked custard.

Spoonbread spread widely during the 19th century. According to ''The American Regional Cookbook'', "Spoon bread is found throughout the South, in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

where it may have originated, the Carolinas and Mississippi. It is also found on Nantucket Island, in Massachusetts, where it is called Bannock". The elevated technique of separating the eggs to create a risen, soufflé-style of spoonbread originated with enslaved African American chefs trained in French culinary method, such as James Hemings. Subsequently it has become a traditional side dish in soul food. Spoonbread also epitomizes the three-part blending of Indigenous, European, and African American cuisines that characterize Southern food. As North Carolina chef Bill Neal writes, "Spoon bread… is based on the native staple, corn. The soufflé technique is European, and it was black expertise that combined ingredients and technique for this aristocratic favorite". Spoonbreads became further popularized (and the current name adopted) around the turn of the 20th century, as soda-acid forms of leavening (such as

baking soda Sodium bicarbonate (IUPAC name: sodium hydrogencarbonate), commonly known as baking soda or bicarbonate of soda (or simply “bicarb” especially in the UK) is a chemical compound with the formula NaHCO3. It is a salt (chemistry), salt compose ...

with some form of acid elsewhere in the recipe or baking powder) replaced yeast for corn-based breads in Southern cooking. These leavening agents allow spoonbread to get a better rise than the eggs alone provide, although they are not strictly necessary. Since 1997, Berea, Kentucky, has been home to an annual Spoonbread Festival held in September.

References

{{Corn Cuisine of the Southern United States Savory puddings Maize dishes Bread dishes Native American cuisine

History

See also

References