Each time I’ve talked on the phone with my friend HD these past few weeks, he’s made an offer in the form of a warning.
“You better come out here and get some of these greens before it freezes or they get too big,” he will say.
While I’ve taken him up on his invitation no less than four times and he’s already put up 10 gallons of greens, his patch of turnip and mustard greens remains pristine, as if no one has pulled the first fistful.
I suppose one can eat greens without cornbread, just as one can eat a hot dog without mustard or red beans without rice. But then why would you want to?
As we picked, HD expounded on the finer points of making cornbread. He uses self-rising cornmeal and cooks his in a skillet on top of the stove, flipping the pan of bread like a flapjack cooked over a campfire.
I come from a family that has strongly held cornbread biases. The female members have imparted those biases to me, as I’ve labored to make that perfect accompaniment to HD’s greens.
Around our kitchen there are two cornbread taboos: sugar and flour.
I’m not sure why Northerners drink their tea without sugar and put it in their cornbread (add sugar and it’s cake) while we here in the South do the opposite.
There’s the issue of plain cornmeal versus self-rising cornmeal. Self-rising cornmeal contains the necessary leavening agents, baking soda, baking powder and salt, and only requires the addition of an egg and buttermilk.
The important thing is the cornmeal.
The best we’ve been able to find in these parts comes from Sciple’s, a water-powered stone-ground cornmeal from a mill near De Kalb that, according to the bag, has been in continuous operation since 1790.
Tem’s Food Market in Macon stocks Sciple’s cornmeal, yellow and white in two- and 10-pound bags. Yellow and white each have their adherents — I like to mix the two.
Or one can take a field trip to Sciple’s Mill Road north of De Kalb where cornmeal, flour, grits and fish fry can be purchased on the honor system. If you want to see the mill in operation, that usually happens from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturdays.
If you have corn or wheat to be ground, you’ll be charged the same price the mill has charged for 230 years, one-eighth the weight of the grain milled.
The great thing about cornbread is its versatility. An accompaniment to your meat-and-three, a dressing for the Thanksgiving turkey, with barbecue or simply with pinto beans. Even crumble it in a glass of buttermilk — don’t turn up your nose until you’ve tried it.
With each batch I’m refining my recipe, but here’s where I am now. It’s really simple.
Put into a large or two medium to small well-seasoned skillets three to four tbs. of butter, peanut oil or bacon fat and place into a cold oven set to 450 degrees.
While oven and oil are preheating, whisk in a large bowl, an egg and 1-1/2 cups of buttermilk. To the mixture, add two cups of cornmeal. You may need to add more milk to achieve the desired consistency of pancake batter. Stir in 2 tsp. of baking powder, 1/2 tsp. baking soda and 1 tsp. of salt.
OK, this part is important. When the oven reaches 450, and not before, pull out skillet(s) making sure oil coats area that will come in contact with batter. Pour and stir excess oil into batter, and then, using a whisk or spoon, quickly pour batter into skillets. Put skillets back into oven. In 30 minutes remove skillets, run knife around edges of cornbread and flip, keeping bread in skillet.
As with all breads, the best time to eat is when it’s warm. Have it with your greens or with butter and honey, sorghum or maple syrup. Try not to hurt yourself.
Birney Imes ([email protected]) is the former publisher of The Dispatch.
Birney Imes III is the immediate past publisher of The Dispatch.
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