Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Brown Sugar Buttermilk Cornbread


One of my projects for this summer is perfecting my skillet cornbread recipe. I recently came upon a stray All-Clad skillet, belonging to one of my friend's ex-girlfriend who ended up dropping out of school, moving to another school, and becoming a lesbian. No one was very surprised, and needless to say, she wasn't coming back for her kitchenware. (She also left a Professional Kitchenaid mixer, which I gladly claimed). The pan is somewhat of a mystery. I know that it is the bottom part of a Braiser, used to sear before putting the top on to, well, braise. But alas, I don't have the top, quite a shame. Ok, so the mystery part. The skillet part seems to be coated in a non-stick material. This is all well and good except, I can't find that a non-stick braiser even exists on the All-Clad website. So I'm just going to assume, that I have a genuine, one of a kind, non-stick, bottom half, of an All-Clad braiser.

This pan, just happened to be the perfect size for skillet cornbread, inspiring the proceeding recipe. Now I know that the sweetness of cornbread is debated across the states, and I, in true Northerner tradition, like my cornbread on the sweet size. Not Boston Market sweet, but something that lends itself well to butter and honey. This recipe produced a nicely browned but moist cornbread with a hint of sweetness to it. It's gonna be hard to top for the rest of the summer.

Brown Sugar Buttermilk Cornbread
1 cup yellow cornmeal
3/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon brown sugar plus 1 teaspoon for topping
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 (14 oz. or so) can cream-style corn

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Sift together first 5 ingredients in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, scramble together eggs until uniform. Add in buttermilk, eggs, and 2 tablespoons of the oil to the dry ingredients. Gently fold in creamed corn till evenly incorporated. Coat an ovenproof 9-10 inch ovenproof skillet with the remaining 2 tablespoons oil and put in preheated oven for about 5 min. Carefully remove from oven and quickly pour in batter and put back in oven. Bake for 22-25 minutes, until cracked on top and browned around the edges. Cool slightly and sprinkle the top with remaining 1 teaspoon of brown sugar. Serve warm.