Jordan's Cornbread
I’ve been living in North Carolina for 17 years now. I’ve been here longer that I lived in California but I still find it hard to accept that I am from NC. I suppose it could be for a variety of reasons such as the cultural differences or my aversion to southern culture since I felt so disconnected from the constant biblical preaching and discrimination for being a non-white, homosexual.
Southern cuisine never really caught my attention. I remember when I first came to NC and I was offered a BBQ sandwich. I assumed it was going to be something smothered in BBQ sauce but to my surprise it was a pulled pork sandwich in a vinegar based sauce. Needless to say I felt so betrayed! Then in 9th grade a friend of mine invited me to his house for a birthday party. He said “we are having a pig pickin’ for my birthday.” Personally I had never heard of such thing so I asked what it was. He told me, “It’s like a barbecue.” Great! I thought. I imagined things on the grill, potato salad and typically barbecue sides. So imagine my surprise when I got to his party and there was a giant grill with an entire pig sprawled out head and all! You could say that was one of the many reason I stopped eating meat. I enjoyed a sad side salad as I stared at the grill in disgust as people literally picked the pig apart.
Then there came the holidays when people would make all kinds of southern dishes like collard greens and fat back, turkey necks, black eyed peas with pork belly and many other questionable choices. I have nothing against these dishes they are just not things I would ever consider eating.
So I finally make it to college in Raleigh, NC. Raleigh is not a big city but it definitely has some better food choices than those found in the small town I grew up in. I remember my freshmen year of college there was an organized meet up on campus to give you “cooking lessons” I thought that sounded great! My partner, Chase, and I went to go learn a thing or two. I supposed this was a beginners course because the recipes these girls were teaching us were crockpot meals and other basic things like “salsa cornbread.” The girls made the dishes and let us try them and let me tell you that bread was pretty sad. It was flavorless and dry. I took a bite and I was done with it.
Cornbread has been of those things from the South that it took me some time to get accustomed to eating. It seemed that everyone but me was obsessed with this gritty mess of "bread." My best friend, Jordan, introduced me to this recipe and I was suddenly a believer. I met Jordan my second year of college. We started working together and just clicked. She has been there for me throughout my entire culinary journey, I remember having nights together where we would stay up late at night baking cupcakes or we would host each other for dinners. We practiced makeup on each other and enjoyed lots of wine.
We have always inspired one another to try different foods and be creative, We would make all kinds of messes in the kitchen but we always had fun. Back in 2015, Jordan invited me over to her apartment for dinner. She has always been so kind to accommodate my dietary restrictions so she decided to make a vegan jambalaya. She paired it with some homemade cornbread and butter. I told her I didn’t really care for cornbread but because she took all this time to make it I would give it a try. I took one bite and my culinary palette blossomed. This cornbread was delicious, it was moist and slightly sweet so it paired well with the spicy jambalaya. I was so into this bread I had seconds and thirds.
You have to give it a try because if you were like me and didn’t care for cornbread before you are now going to be a believer!
Jordan’s Cornbread
Yields 1 loaf or one dozen muffins
Ingredients:
1/4 cup melted butter
1 cup milk
1 egg
1 1/4 cup cornmeal
1 cup AP flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Preheat oven to 400. In a large bowl beat butter, milk and egg. Add dry ingredients and stir until flour is moistened. Pour mixture into a large cast iron skillet or a muffin tin. Bake 20-25 minutes or when a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 5-10 minutes.
