Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Corn Bread, A Modern Kitchen Guide cookbook, 1940

I finally found a wining recipe!  Hubby and I love cornbread, especially with his homemade chili recipe.  The chili recipe is a super duper secret that hubby won't share.  I've asked.  It's the same chili his mother used to make.  He's been making it since before we met so I really have no claim.  Ha ha.

First I'd like to share this with you this cookbook, covered with adorable oilcloth by Mrs. Cohen.  I found it at the estate sale at her home.  The whole bookshelf to the left of the fireplace in the living room was filled with oilcloth covered cookbooks.  There were all different prints and colors, blending together making it feel like a piece of art.  I wanted to buy them all.  I should have at least taken a pic.





Here's the recipe:


I made this recipe without any changes but it needs some "updating" in terminology.  "Sweet milk" is just regular milk.  I noticed in vintage cookbooks this term is often used to differentiate whole milk from lower fat varieties or buttermilk.  To be a true vintage cook you could try to find milk with the cream on the top and use that, shaking it first.  I once got it from our CSA.  Freaked hubby out when he poured it onto his cereal.  Thought it was curdled.  I ran into the kitchen just in time to save it from going down the drain.

Another change I made was in mixing the dry ingredients before adding them to the wet.  The recipe doesn't explicitly say to do this but I think it's assumed that the cook has some basic kitchen knowledge.

Here is is typed up and easy to read.

1C Flour
1C Corn meal (The recipe called for white corn meal but I only had yellow.)
 4t Baking powder
1/2t Salt
1/2C Sugar
3T Melted butter
2 Eggs
1C Whole Milk

Preheat the oven to 400.

Mix the flour, corn meal, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.  In a larger bowl beat the eggs and mix in the sugar and milk.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet, mix well and then mix in the butter.

Pour into a greased 8 or 9 inch square pan (the recipe doesn't say the size but I made a dozen and a half muffins which is about the same as one vintage square pan.) or 18 muffin cups lined with papers.  Bake for 25 minutes or until brown and springy to the touch.

From this to...

...this!


















Everyone loved these, even my daughter who said "Mom, I don't know if I like corn bread."  (She ate 3 so apparently she does.)   My son said they were better than dad's chili, something I'm glad hubby didn't hear.  My oldest daughter was at work during dinner and came home hungry.  Her eyes lit up when she found the cornbread.  So all in all I'd say we have a winner!!

I hope everyone is having a great August and savoring the last weeks of summer.

Sarah

2 comments:

  1. That is a pretty cookbook! I love the cover.

    Goodness, Sarah, that is a lot of sugar in the recipe! I like southern recipes which typically don't use sugar at all or maybe just a couple of teaspoons. My favorite uses less than a 1/4 cup of flour in relation to the cornmeal and also uses buttermilk. You should try it with buttermilk sometime! Be sure to add baking soda if you do. ;)

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    Replies
    1. That's what I thought about the sugar too.

      Thanks for the tip about buttermilk!

      Sarah

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