OLD SCHOOL + SAUERKRAUT = OLD SCHOOL KAPUSTA

Well they're out, and they look much more appealing than the last batch (also Old School). I was really going to wait a little while before I tried this recipe again especially since I felt like I blundered through it the last time. But no, I got to bed early (not long after midnight) and went right to sleep--for about an hour. I think I dreamed of "Old School" cornbread. I know I woke up thinking about it, to the exclusion of everything else for a ridiculously long time. Surely I won't go back to that dream, right. Finally, I resolved to use the good Russian name for sauerkraut I found in my cabbage lore research. I applied it to another batch of Old School (with accessories).

  It's a little embarrassing to push on with the variations without yet making one batch to specs, but the pone must go on. So I do'od it. This time the buttermilk was only 1cup, instead of the 2 cups called for in the 1/2 Piggly-Matt-Wiggly recipe. Replacing the other cup of buttermilk, was 1cup of sauerkraut and its juice (cut short). The heated bacon drippings were replaced by heated corn oil, but I was careful this time to be as stingy with the oil as the recipe was, I only used a fuzz more than the 1/4 cup called for. This oil also supplied the partial teaspoon I put in each cell of the mini-loaf pans.

 I considered keeping it simple, but I do love my cheesy, peppery cornbread. I cubed and grated the 3 to 4 oz of extra sharp cheddar cheese, and prepped the peppers (chipotles in Adobo and pickled jalapeno nacho slices). After mixing my dry ingredients and pouring them in a bowl on the side, I heated the oil on low till it gave that sweet smell and oiled the pans and placed them in the oven. Next I added the cornmeal, salt, baking soda mixture, to the wet ingredients (except the oil) and mixed thoroughly. At this point I added the hot oil to the bubbling batter, and noticed it looked a little thin. A quick mental inventory had me wondering if I had shorted the yellow corn meal, and since I was pretty sure, I added 1/4 cup of yellow cornmeal to the mix and pulled the pans out of the oven to begin filling them.

I wondered at first if maybe I'd added too much cheese. I really had to cut loose and gently pry to get any of these to come loose from the pans, but since it was every single one I can only guess it's the halfa-cup less oil (compared to a batch of kentucky cornbread of similar size). I only tore one piece up in the removal process, it was yummy.

Oh yeah, I had to test a chipotle one too, (I got a little too generous with the chipotle and adobo a couple of batches ago and I'm still a little gun shy). Ow I did it again, I think. It's a little hard to tell for sure, tonight we had the last of the batch of slightly over warm chili. Lots-o-cornbread happening this week, but I'll try to get the 4x6 recipe card for this article together later this week.