Cornbread is an all-American bread, tracing its humble roots back to the days of the early settlers. When the first colonists arrived in North America, wheat flour was unavailable and they had to turn to local resources to make their bread. Corn was one of the first crops to be grown by the Native Americans, and ground corn had long been used for cooking. The settlers soon learned how to fashion bread from the meal ground from corn. And the rest is history – baked cornbread, hoecake, corn pone, johnnycakes, hushpuppies – all began here.
Although many people associate cornbread with the South and Southwest, it’s a popular quick bread served all over the US with many regional variations. If you have Southern roots, you are probably familiar with an unsweetened, skillet cornbread with a crunchy, crispy crust. A Southern comfort food treat is to crumble leftover cornbread into a tall glass of cold buttermilk and eat it with a spoon as a snack before bedtime or in the morning, much like cereal. Skillet cornbread is also used for making the famous oyster stuffing served during the holidays in the South.
If you’re from “up North” in the New England states, you’re probably familiar with Boston or Vermont brown bread, a moist bread containing cornmeal and other hearty flours that is steam cooked in a can, studded with raisins, and sweetened with molasses or maple syrup. Anadama bread, a cross between cornbread and yeast bread, had its inception in a seaport town in Massachusetts.
Moving our culinary journey West, in Texas you’re likely to find a fluffier cornbread, baked with jalapenos, corn kernels, and cheese – just the thing to dip or crumble into a big bowl of chili con carne. Slightly sweetened corn pudding, a casserole that is a cross between creamed corn and corn bread, also became a popular Tex-Mex side dish.
By the Gold Rush in the mid-1800s, just about every imaginable variation of cornbread made its way to California. Today what many of us are familiar with as cornbread (at least in California!) is the fluffy sweet corn cake served and made famous by the Marie Callender restaurant chain. Their cornbread mix is now sold nationally in supermarkets, a testament to Americans’ love of cornbread.
Whether you prefer your cornbread unsweetened and skillet baked (or fried) or cake-like and sweet, there’s a cornbread for everyone. There are many choices of corn meals to choose from, including coarse, gritty stone ground meals (also used for polenta) to fine-as-flour versions, to white or yellow meals depending on the variety of corn used for milling. Ingredients for cornbread can be as simple as water and salt; richer versions might include milk or buttermilk, eggs, sugar, butter, and a leavening agent. Most are familiar with the recipe printed on the cornmeal box from the grocery store (which is very good!) but there are many other tempting cornbread recipes, depending on your whim.
Cornbread is the perfect accompaniment for chili, soup, and stew during the cooler Fall months. Cornbread is easy, quick, and delicious. Serve it warm with butter or drizzle it with honey. Any way you slice it, it’s good stuff.
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 staple foods of the Hopi people in Arizona.
For crispier cornbread, sprinkle a little cornmeal into the hot, greased pan before adding the batter.
In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Blend in the corn, chilies and the cheeses.
Before long, the colonists were copying or creating uniquely American dishes made from cornmeal. Among them was a version of Indian bread made of cornmeal, salt and water called pone or corn pone. The name came from the Algonquin word apan, meaning “baked.” The Narragansett word for cornbread, nokechick, became no-cake and then hoe-cake. Because cornbread traveled well, some began calling it journey cake, which evolved into the name Johnny cake. But whatever it was called, it was all cornbread. During the early colonial days, cornbread became a staple of American cooking that has lasted even to this day.
If you have leftover cornbread, wrap it well in aluminum foil and refrigerate it. To reheat it: Sprinkle a little water on the bread, re-wrap it loosely in the foil and bake it for 7 to 8 minutes in a preheated 400-degree oven.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder. Stir in the egg, milk and vegetable oil until well combined.
By the Gold Rush in the mid-1800s, just about every imaginable variation of cornbread made its way to California. Today what many of us are familiar with as cornbread (at least in California!) is the fluffy sweet corn cake served and made famous by the Marie Callender restaurant chain. Their cornbread mix is now sold nationally in supermarkets, a testament to Americans’ love of cornbread.
Although many people associate cornbread with the South and Southwest, it’s a popular quick bread served all over the US with many regional variations. If you have Southern roots, you are probably familiar with an unsweetened, skillet cornbread with a crunchy, crispy crust. A Southern comfort food treat is to crumble leftover cornbread into a tall glass of cold buttermilk and eat it with a spoon as a snack before bedtime or in the morning, much like cereal. Skillet cornbread is also used for making the famous oyster stuffing served during the holidays in the South.
Cornbread is an all-American bread, tracing its humble roots back to the days of the early settlers. When the first colonists arrived in North America, wheat flour was unavailable and they had to turn to local resources to make their bread. Corn was one of the first crops to be grown by the Native Americans, and ground corn had long been used for cooking. The settlers soon learned how to fashion bread from the meal ground from corn. And the rest is history – baked cornbread, hoecake, corn pone, johnnycakes, hushpuppies – all began here.
Moving our culinary journey West, in Texas you’re likely to find a fluffier cornbread, baked with jalapenos, corn kernels, and cheese – just the thing to dip or crumble into a big bowl of chili con carne. Slightly sweetened corn pudding, a casserole that is a cross between creamed corn and corn bread, also became a popular Tex-Mex side dish.
Cornbread is the perfect accompaniment for chili, soup, and stew during the cooler Fall months. Cornbread is easy, quick, and delicious. Serve it warm with butter or drizzle it with honey. Any way you slice it, it’s good stuff.
The Southern History Of Cornbread | Southern Living
FAQ
Did cornbread originate in America?
What does cornbread mean in slang?
What is the Native American word for cornbread?
What do they call cornbread in the South?
Is cornbread a bread?
Cornbread, any of various breads made wholly or partly of cornmeal. Cornbread is especially associated with the cuisine of the Southern and Atlantic U.S. states. Because corn lacks elastic gluten, it cannot be raised with yeast; consequently, most cornbreads are leavened with baking powder or are baked unleavened.
What can be used as a substitute for egg when baking cornbread?
Aquafaba might be used as a substitute for the egg when baking cornbread. Aquafaba is chickpea water that has a similar function to eggs.
Where did Cornbread come from?
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 staple foods of the Hopi people in Arizona.
What is cornbread made of?
A typical contemporary northern U.S. cornbread recipe contains half wheat flour, half cornmeal, milk or buttermilk, eggs, leavening agent, salt, and usually sugar, resulting in a bread that is somewhat lighter and sweeter than the traditional southern version.