The Fourth Caribbean Reduction

This cornbread contained 1/2 a coconut and all it's milk, but had no visible coconut.   Before opening, the coconut got a good sanding to keep it from dropping so much dust in the bowl. When struck repeatedly around its equator with the back of a heavy knife, it gave up about 6 oz coconut milk.

 This time the coconut didn't let go of the shell worth a darn, so removing the dark outer layer was not as easy as last time. After bumping a knuckle on the grater a couple of times and wasting a few more min. on the Parmesan grater, I cut the coconut into pieces about 1/2 an inch wide and sliced off the brown layer (badabing). The heck with grating. The 1/2 coconut, the coconut milk, and 2 cups of no-fat buttermilk went into the blender and became pureed.   

A measured cup went in the pot to get the first mark for the tape (on the butter knife). The rest of the puree was then added and measured to make the dots on the tape (so I could tell where I started). I started hot (6 on the stove eye). By the time it got to 1 1/2 cups, it looked like grits and was spitting painfully out of the pot. Close enough.

 We hit it hard at dinner and shared some with a neighbor. It was so good that it was almost gone before I thought to grab a picture for the article. 




2 1/4 cups self-rising cornmeal
  1/2 med onion (grated)
 1 cup corn oil
 3 eggs
 15 oz can cream style corn
 the 1 1/2 cups reduced puree
1/4 cup pickled jalapenos
3 chipotle peppers in adobo
4 oz extra sharp cheddar
28 min at 425 degrees F

Caribbean Reduction # 3

Kentucky Cornbread PI Deep Cover, brings back the cream style corn and grated onion, and squeezes in 2 cups fresh coconut, 1/2 cup pineapple, and 6 oz pineapple juice as well. I have a friend who likes coconut flavors but isn't fond of the texture. This one should be right up his alley. 

I got no-fat buttermilk by mistake, so I used the chance provided by the missing milk-fat to squeeze in more fresh coconut.
2 cups grated fresh coconut
6 oz pineapple juice,  2 slices pineapple 
2 cups of no fat buttermilk
 made up the puree. Of this mixture 2 cups were reduced to one cup for the batter. The remaining 12 oz of puree were frozen for later.

 This batch made one pan of mini-loaves, one cast iron pan of corn looking sticks and the rest went into this 8 1/2 inch skillet. The reduction went faster this time 30 min, was all it took.
1 cup of coconut/pineapple reduction  
2 eggs
15 oz can of white cream style corn
1 1/2 cup self-rising cornmeal mix
3/4 cup corn oil
1/2 medium sized onion (grated)
4 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup pickled nacho slices 
1 can chipotles in adobo sauce (I used about 2 peppers)
28 min @ 425 degrees F
 This Kentucky cornbread has numerous hidden virtues. The reduced buttermilk-coconut-pineapple puree disappears like the cream style corn, while the cheese, peppers, and adobo sauce all sink in during baking.         

  

Kentucky Cornbread P I

No I haven't taken up private investigating (except its cornbread aspects). We are, however, going undercover, pineapple incognito. 

Fiber's good OK, but the coconut I got for this second run at the Caribbean Reduction (02) is positively hairy, so sanding was first. The canned coconut milk was interesting but had way too many ingredients. No dried sweetened coconut flakes this time either. 

If you haven't opened a coconut before (hope you got a juicy one) hold it over a bowl, rap it sharply with the backside of a heavy knife at its equator, rotate and repeat. I had to go around 4 or five times before it finally cracked. Up till it cracks keep clearing dust from the bowl. 
  

    After grating off the dark brown outside of the coconut meat, I grated about a cup for the batter. The coconut milk (about 7 oz) was added to the juice from a 20 oz can of crushed pineapple (about 6 oz) and reduced by 3/4. The tape marks the depth of the un-reduced juice.


                                                    

The recombined juices, pineapple, and grated coconut were tweaked to add up to 15 oz. The 3/4 cup of corn oil was shared out to the pans and the remainder was poured into the wet ingredients along with 1 cup buttermilk and 2 eggs. After mixing the wet ingredients well, 1 3/4 cups self-rising cornmeal was measured up and set aside. While the pans were heating the corn meal mix was stirred into the batter.

The finished cornbread showed no coconut or pineapple. I'm looking forward to my next P I cornbread test, where similar amounts of crushed pineapple and fresh coconut are to be combined with onion, peppers and cheese  (minus the reduction).

Caribbean Reduction # 1

The question last time was, "How much pineapple can one batch of cornbread hold?" The "Caribbean Reduction" started with 20 oz of crushed pineapple, 13.5 oz of coconut milk, and about 1/2 cup fresh pineapple. 

 Mashed in a colander the 20 oz crushed pineapple gave up 6 oz juice. This was added to the 13.5 oz of coconut milk and boiled while whisking to keep it from foaming. This was slow as I was a reduction rookie (45 min) but the smell was amazing. 

I figured it would be tough to tell just how much reduction had
occurred, so at the beginning I stuck a butter knife in the mix to get a start point to mark with tape.






The reduction continued till the level had fallen by 2/3. I then dumped the pineapple back in and poured it in a measuring cup. The new combined volume was 16 oz. The "Kentucky Cornbread 2.0" recipe I'm working from normally got 15 oz of cream style corn. 

 The oil this time was all corn 3/4 cup was all
the oil used. First all the pans got a little oil in each cell then the rest was added to the batter along with two eggs and 7 oz of buttermilk (instead of the usual 8). Before heating the pans the wet ingredients were mixed well and the 1 1/2 cups self-rising cornmeal mix was measured and put aside. While the pans were preheating the corn meal mix was stirred in. The last minute add-ins included flaked sweetened coconut, about 1/2 cup pineapple (half-a-pinky sized) pieces, and some pepper-jack for a few.

  After 28 minutes (in my oven) at 425 degrees f they were ready. WooHoo.



                                            







As Dr Zoidburg would put it "It was me, I'm tha hero!"
If only I were that excited, for all the time and flavor intensifying steps, this cornbread was still pretty mild. I liked all the pineapple fiber hidden away in it, still, most of the pineapple taste seemed to be coming from the add-in chunks. The concentrated coconut milk also remained pretty low key. But what about all that hidden fiber (slightly more than a pound) hmm? What if the pineapple were actually hiding out? See "Kentucky Cornbread P I" (pineapple incognito).

The Quest For Coconut Cornbread

This isn't my first attempt at a coconut cornbread, just the first edible one(s). My first attempt was several years ago. I tried coconut milk, yogurt, and olive oil, hmm.  It did teach me not to change too many things in a recipe at the same time, or you can't tell what's working and what's not.  

I took baby steps this time, kinda. All the oil in this first Kentucky cornbread half-batch was replaced with coconut oil. It sat kinda weird on my stomach, not surprising since it seems most people supplementing their diet with coconut oil for its various benefits stop at about one teaspoon a day. 
                                                                   

   On the next batch and a half, I backed down a smidge on the coconut oil. Only the oil for the pans was coconut while the batter got corn oil. This lowered the amount (of coconut oil) per serving (piece) to about half a teaspoon. It tasted better (corn oil has a mild flavor) and sat better on my stomach, especially in quantity. This time it was all three, cheesy, cheesy with pickled jalapenos, and cheesy with adobo sauce and chipotle peppers. The three butter knives allow air flow for cooling and drying of the skillet slab.


Time to double down again. First two oils were used instead of one. Then, 1/4 cup of grated onion was replaced by 1/2 cup of crushed pineapple in the batter. Once the batter was loaded into the pre-oiled pre-heated pans tidbits of pineapple, sweetened flaked coconut, and in this case Swiss cheese were added.

 Woo hoo! Ok, one more mystery. How much pineapple can this mix support? I'm wanting to drain a can of pineapple tidbits and replace half the 15 fl oz of creme-style corn normally called for. Maybe even add some of the reduced pineapple juice (drained from the tidbits) into a few mini loaves or muffins to see how well that works. It's gonna have to wait a while though, I've got a lot of cornbread on hand right now (even some frozen).

A Black n Blue Thanksgiving Hawaiian

Even with a shortage of good pictures, this post with it's Spam vindication message needed doing.  I wanted to be thorough this time. For one thing, Spam had to be better than it turned out last time, so this time I gave it a running start. Both the pan fried (some finished off with a splash of black coffee for the red eye gravy glaze) and the oven browned Spam were pretty good. Both were a whole lot better than the cool pink, straight from the can style used in the first Blue Hawaiian experiment.

This test batch recipe included both bacon (also very compatible with pineapple) as well as Spam. The black n blue comes from the smashed black beans and the blue stains that appear around the grated purple cabbage pieces. Sauerkraut cut short, Swiss cheese, and pineapple wedges were the last of the toppings. Butter knives to support the cooling pone helped dry the disk without flipping it a couple of times. Standing on edge worked OK for the mini loaves, with the cob shaped sticks balanced on top.

A BLUE HAWAIIAN HOWDY Y'ALL

 I was thinking about the Russian style cornbread (red cabbage, red onion, black beans) and wondered, "What else might go well with the red cabbage taste, and weird blue dots and rings?" Of course corned beef came to mind, and bacon, and maybe some Swiss cheese. I knew I was on a roll. While gathering ingredients for a Lake-House Black Iron Reuben experiment, I saw the Spam. Ta-Da, a star is born.

 From the beginning the Blue Hawaiian would not be denied. It called to me from the edge of sleep. Heck, it's not like I could sleep with the rowdy cornbread dancing around in my head. Besides, no way I was letting this one get away. After I got up and outlined the recipe, I managed to get to sleep for almost three hours. Then too excited to sleep, I went on to the grocery store for cornbread ammunition.

 There is one baby picture (ingredients), but even though I've made it twice now, I still have no pone portraits to share. The somewhat involved process yielded Blue Hawaiian cornbread in a bunch of styles, German, East German, Russian, and Swiss cheesy (second time around).

Trying out so many different accessory sets made the set-up slow. The basic Blue Hawaiian cornbread included pineapple and spam, red onion, red cabbage, and optional Swiss cheese. In preparation I grated the purple cabbage and the red onion, which I added to the buttermilk to soak and purplize (a technical term). The Swiss cheese and Spam were sliced into 1/4 in square (or smaller) 2 inch long strips. The sliced pineapple was cut small as well, 1/2 inch at it's widest. This is where I should've browned the Spam, but no. I've made the Blue Hawaiian variety twice now and I've only found any Spam in the finished pone once, in the skillet version where I laid the strips on top with the cheese.

  Versions, varieties, styles, the technical lingo of the cornbread science frontier is still quite young. Who knew cornbread could rate such a pedigree? We spun the Blue Hawaiian cornbread a number of different directions. An early favorite was the German, with it's squeezed, short-chopped sauerkraut, and bacon. Personally I liked the Russian variation with it's smaller than a cranberry globs of smashed black beans. Still, I did enjoy the East German treatment, sporting the black beans of the Russian style and unadorned sauerkraut. All these were presented in the Blue Hawaiian style, with spam and pineapple.

  If this seems like a lot of ingredients to stuff into a black iron, corn shaped, pone mold at once, yer right it is. So far I don't think any of them got as done as they could. Don't get me wrong. They're brown top and bottom, but I think if I let them have 5 min. more than the standard 25 min @ 425 f, they'd be better. Still, most of them were gone as soon as they cooled enough to touch.

 The small skillets have yielded some excellent results except when, trying to use up the last of the batter, I put in more than slightly less than an inch of batter. I suspect the cake like tendency was a result of too much  onion juice, nearly 1/4 cup, from my 1/2 of a grated, racket-ball sized, dark red onion. It did seem to take unusually long to cook, but this could just be an oven variation since I was making it at a friend's house. It smelled amazing and looked blueberry. If I'd managed to keep any, I'm sure it would've made great left-over pone.

 Good pictures will have to wait for the sauteed Spam test batch, but I'm afraid that may be Spam's last stand. The kids have shown no love for the Spam and I found it only an "official seeming Hawaiian" pineapple compliment. Actually I doubt the fried Spam test batch will hold a candle to the baconized (Spam free) version.
We'll see, aloha y'all.
 

OK, SO THE HONEYMOON'S OVER

  Eh, about time. I can't say I was happy at the wake up call though. It has been sometime since I had a batch just come smoothly together, release well, and not tear up. Ok, I have kept the mix in a constant state of change even to the color of corn meal, but lately it's seemed like even the foundation pone was having a go at my ankle. I had begun to wonder when a batch would go my way again.

  At 25 min the skillet pone was looking a little pale. Four min later and the mini-loaves were about to go past done, and on toward brickette style.

Although the orphans from the black iron adventure were a homely bunch, four of the six had gone on to a better place before dinner.

The nine inch black iron frying pan yielded a really amazing golden brown cornbread discus so good, two wedges with my soup and was only a good place to stop.

 The bigger loaf (disc) was denser than an old school (non self-rising), and though very moist it didn't lean toward cake-like. I was very careful not to scorch the oil in the preheat, and I did get a nice bottom crust. I think if I can get the skillet hotter  I can get a crispier, thicker, bottom crust.

 The difference in time needed to warm the mini-loaf pan and the skillet was a bit of a hassle. I believe that halfa batch of batter would make a somewhat thinner disc without compromising the moistness.

 The resulting lower crumb to crust ratio promises yet another interesting test batch, even if it is hard to turn away even a little from such a winning taste combination.    

 Release was a breeze. After allowing the skillet to cool for seven or eight min I covered it with a small towel and a plate and flipped it over. After letting it to cool and dry another fifteen or twenty min I wrapped it on up in the towel.

 Looks like the cornbread  schism  has passed. Wohoo! The future may or may not hold a pone distribution empire, but I am very optimistic about more and better cornbread. Lately I've been illin hard about my cornbread, but it was all worth it to graduate into the Black Iron Brotherhood.

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.

GET BACK ON A NEW BIKE

----------------AS FIRST SEEN IN "ADVENTURES IN CORNBREAD"--------------

 I'm still not completely  over the scary cheese debacle, but the missing corn bread has left  a big void in my cornbread heavy dinner portfolio. Since I'm still a little embarrassed to face the Kentucky-cornbread recipe so soon after the stinky cheese incident, I thought " How bout Old School?"

  I've had an interesting nonself-rising recipe that makes two skillets worth, that looks very different.

  This recipe, shared with me by my friend Matthew at the Mt. Brook Village Piggly Wiggly, at first glance makes at least twice the amount of batter that my usual favorite  (Kentucky2.0). This is not nearly all that's not the same.

 Even cut in half this recipe calls for twice the buttermilk of the Kentucky2.0 and 3/4 of a cup more cornmeal. The 2 eggs is similar, but the amount of oil seems skimpy even before it's split (Plush Neon Monkey pointed out that some recipes add their oil hot, and I remembered such a verbal stipulation for this recipe.) So I guess I'll half the baking soda, and salt, and give it a whirl (with one kind of regular cornmeal, and corn oil).


Already with the next wrinkle? not quite enough buttermilk, grate, the onion that is.

Well it was more eventful than the pictures can reveal, no time to take em. I had my hands full stumbling through the ingredients. I heated my oil separate (in a pot) and pre-oiled my mini-loaf pans. I began to mix up the wet ingredients, eggs,onion,buttermilk, and still the oil was waiting on the stove.

I was just about to pour the corn meal when I realized it had no baking soda to react with so I quick put a teaspoon in a bowl and mixed it with the corn meal. I put the pans in to pre-heat. I poured the cornmeal- baking soda mix into the liquid stirring. I was comforted to see it begin to bubble, and thought about what all the different ingredients did. That was when I realized that there wasn't any salt in it, and grabbed a half teaspoon looking amount in my hand (hmm sounds like too much, looking at the recipe's 1/4 teaspoon requirement) and scattered and stirred it in. The pans were ready.

Good thing I set the timer conservative, @26 min these were about to turn the corner. They did have the large crumb associated with old school cornbread. The taste ,while a relief after the last batch-o cornbread-trauma, was a bit bland for all that buttermilk. Still I'll definitely be test-driving  that recipe at least one more time.

REUBEN STYLE SCARY CHEESE HEDGE FUND

Hey, you didn't smell that stuff. Well whadya expect? This batch of experimental cornbread was made with two kinds of English Blue Cheese, Stilton Blue, and Shropshire Blue. The Shropshire Blue looks amazing, with a bright cheddar-like orange color and bark bluish veins (that didn't photograph well).

 Looks can be deceiving. The Shropshire Blue "Cheddar", when taste tested (a small piece about the size of a pea) had an excellent initial taste, that seemed to grow stronger and stronger for about a minute. Fortunately it peaked and mellowed off. Even without a beverage it was ok, but I think I'd have a cracker with it next time. I bet it would be quite the desirable wine accessory. I smelled the Stilton Blue before I had completely unwrapped it. I decided to wait and see how it was in the cornbread, and began a Reuben-style hedge.

 Ow, I was way too heavily invested in this outcome. With so much focused on this batch, I got so tense I couldn't eat more than a few bites of dinner before my throat closed up and I couldn't eat any more.

 The Stilton was strong enough I can only say, "I'm glad I don't have to touch that stinky stuff anymore." Though the Shropshire Blue was better, there is still the obvious question, "Why do this to cornbread that was really much better without the addition of these expensive and ultimately very unpleasant ingredients?"

Yup, this may be the extent of my scary cheese cornbread adventures, an expensive and sobering lesson. How can stinky cornbread be? Hopefully, only by accident.

RUSSIAN STYLE CORNBREAD

Well I gots ta call it something, and in searching for red cabbage facts I discovered that russians eat seven times as much cabbage per person as we do. So here's an excelent way to get yer dose-o-cabbage. My favorite cabbage lore is the Roman myth that red cabbages sprang from the tears of Lycurgus king of the Edonians.

 we'll call it Russian cause it sounds cool but history seems to reveal that cabbage came from everywhere. It also has red onions (everywhere) and black beans (a variety of kidney bean, central and south america.) Whatever you call it, this purplish batter yields a bluish cornbread that looks like a mutant blue berry muffin. Taste wise however this is more of a corned-beef  accessory than a replacement scone.

 I wanted it to be the elusive "Vegetarian Pork-chop," but while interesting and tasty this one fell short of the Cornbread-Grail. Still, there will be a recipe card and some mix notes for this odd but yummy cornbread as soon as I can get them organized.

REMEMBER GRUYERE NOW

 I guess it had to happen eventually, there is actually something that doesn't show marked improvement from the addition of Gruyere. Not to belittle the Gruyere, a true prince among cheeses, but oddly enough it didn't seem to add muchness to the cornbread.

The cornbread in question was somewhat beset by spurious variations, but nothing tragic. The complications of this last batch weren't as severe as the Swiss-style batch, none the less the grated fresh corn bit me on the ankle again.

 The power of the bacon mmm. I still was tempted by the call of the bacon fat (uh,yum?) While it did seem to add something, the louder sizzle at the beginning was really more noticeable than any bacony goodness imparted to the cornbread this time. To be truthful, it seemed to muddy the impact of the cheeses and adobo.

  Once again the sweetness and bulk of the creamed corn seem like they would have been superior to the fresh grated corn. The other big surprise this time was how little impact the teaspoon of adobo sauce added to some of the mini-loaves had (this time with no chipotle slices.) All in all though this was another sauerkraut and cheese enhanced success, as they released well and there were no survivor pones from this batch.

    I still look forward to adding the last of the Gruyere shreds onto our next pizza, but the next Gruyere I get will probably be for the cheese straws (where it rules).   

SWISS STYLE CORNBREAD

Yah,you-betcha! As if Swatches, Victorinox and Ricola weren't enough. Courtesy of Chateau Gruyere and Clausen's Sauerkraut a new star shines on the crown of The Anaglyphic Pone King tonight. Cornbread has now officially been Swiss-stylized.

I was a little bummed out at having no baby pictures for this batch, cause it really did have some photogenic ingredients. Fresh ears of white corn, a pair of almost purple red onions, and the slab of cheese nearly the color of the Chateau Gruyere. Add to that the bacon, buttermilk, sauerkraut, eggs, creamed-corn,and cornmeal and you've got quite a crowd going on the stove.

 Yeah, that's how there came to be no baby pix. I was a little scatterbrained, and had to back up and go down the  list and see what was missing more than once. First, the fresh corn grated off the cob didn't look like the 15oz of cream style corn I usually use. To keep from coming up short in the mini-loaf pans, I added half a can of creamed-white-corn and things looked better.

From experience I expected the bacon to make a flavorful but heavy corn bread. With that in mind, I made only one pan with bacon and bacon drippings. The other used only corn oil. Granted the sauerkraut could hold it's own with bacon, but the chances are the Gruyere would be pushed into the background. Keeping the oil straight was a little picky but not hard.

 In the pans the batter still didn't seem quite right to me. I ran down the list in my head, and got to sauerkraut before I noticed I hadn't opened it yet. I put 3/4cup or so onto a plate. I squeezed it into a narrow row, and cut it short with a knife. Then after squeezing the juice out and fluffing it back up, I added the kraut to the mini-loaf pans at the same the half-a-pound of crumbled crispy bacon and 4oz of grated Gruyere were getting added.



Gruyere is a harder cheese and doesn't bake the same as cheddar or Swiss. The pieces seem to hold together even in baking and give a "noisey" surface. Well there's no recipe card yet, but this story needed to get told. I reckon I can get back to the card, and maybe even an ingredient picture. No hurry. Like I told my wife, "It's hardly delicious at all."













'

OIL RIGHTY THEN

  Well whaddaya know? If ya don't scorch the regular canola oil, it doesn't make accusatory aromas. After writing the last post we did eat all of the slightly less than dreamlike last batch. My quality control consultant (wife) said she thought it was good. Well it was good, but I would have preferred great.

  The next batch is out of the oven, and the subtle flavor of toasted cheese was mmmuch better than a hint of scorched oil. The faint odor coming from the pre-heated mini-loaf pans was faint and slightly sweet. Ok it was pleasant, not corn oil pleasant but very nice. The oven is cooling, and the kitchen window is open to let out some of the heat. This time I find the aroma tantalizing.

  My apologies to the canola. It really is good enough for cornbread (in a pinch).

BETTER OIL MEANS BETTER CORNBREAD

 Duh! I suppose I shoulda took the hint from the heart smarter yogurt/olive oil version I referred to briefly in the Bacon Sauerkraut article. Changing so many things at a whack muddied the water. I knew it was sitting in the ditch when I woke up, but the whole neighborhood was new to me.

 Ok so it works good in sketti, I still know nothing about olive oils. I've had a chance to try several other cooking oils. The best was the refined canola I got to re-season a black iron skillet. Articles I read recommended the lowest hydrogen content available, and commented that this also related to smoke point. 

 The grocery store had a number of oil choices. You could tell who had the high smoke point cause they bragged about it. You could also tell they were proud of em price wise too, as they started at three times the price of regular veg-oil and went right outta sight.

 I settled on the filtered canola (450f smoke point) for my frying pan. At just under 13 bucks, it was a few cents cheaper than three times what twice as much as regular vegetable oil cost. It worked great on the frying pan, and even burning off it didn't smoke as bad as I was led to believe it would. The avocado oil was more expensive still and you got even less. I've fried with it before (550f smoke point if I remember correctly) it did taste great and didn't smoke up the apartment.

 I only used a little of the refined canola on the pan and saved the rest. I tried regular canola, (two different kinds) peanut oil, regular vegetable oil, and corn oil. Jury's still out on the peanut oil, but both the regular canola and the regular vegetable scorched pretty easy. While I was stirring in the cornmeal and preheating the pans, the oil got hot enough to fume in an unappetizing manner. If I'd been cooking eggs, I'd have stopped right then and wiped the oil out and tried again (now I know). But no! I went forward thinking, "I've seen bacon fat that looked hotter make good cornbread"(maybe).

 I've had better luck with corn oil. It doesn't seem as heat sensitave. It's delicate aroma is easy to smell before it goes sad. I could probably do better with the other oils if I was more cautious. Corn oil has made the most batches of excellent cornbread while filling the house with a wake you up in the night craving cornbread smell. On the occasions when I was out of corn oil, the high dollar canola produced a superior cornbread as well. So surprise really good oil does make really good cornbread, and though more delicate corn oil runs a close second. Hey, oils well that ends well.

REUBEN STYLE CORNBREAD?

 Ok, so I've been holding out on ya. I was just being careful. I hesitated to trot out a new recipe just because it worked excellent once. It was however, good enough that I felt  I should get some sort of award! This led to the founding of "The Order Of The Anaglyphic Pone King." We also dedicated a section @ The Flatware County General Store to cornbread related items. Admittedly  it's only two mugs now, but we're working on some other stuff.

 The first run of the Reuben Style recipe yielded great cornbread, but was short on notes and pictures. This time was better, with careful notes and even a baby picture. Considering the moisture content of the sauerkraut, I used only half of the 15 oz can of cream style corn. At the time my only available onion was already sliced up (making grating not an option). This was ok since grating onion is very juicy. The sauerkraut (even squeezed), and the cream style corn already had me a little concerned.

  Even with a cup of sauerkraut, the two tablespoons of onion minced (instead of about a hand-full grated and squeezed), and the  half a can of cream style corn, left my batter a little short. The consistency  was normal enough, but I ran out of batter when my next to last mini-loaf had only half enough. A little quick spoon shoveling settled this discrepancy. The next rub came when I got to the end of the corned beef two loaves short of 16. This time I liked the distribution of ingredients well enough to see what a couple of vegetarian mini-loaves were like (excellent, by the way).

 At 28 minutes they had begun to pull-away. The browning, apparent at edges, didn't seem like it had gone near as far as it could. I stayed and watched through the oven window to make sure they didn't get too dark and let them cook.

 



                                                                                     At 31 minutes the edges looked like they might go from brown to black soon, so I opened the oven to check, Woo-Hoo. Considering how big they got in process they didn't seem very tall.

 After cooling near the window for 5 minutes they all released perfectly. The crust was beautiful and the first one was gone before I had a chance to really appreciate just how well I liked it. The crumb to crust ratio was spot on. With a bowl of bean and bacon soup, the next three disappeared in short order. After they cooled (while the soup warmed) I layered the rest up in a cloth lined bowl. They were a hit with everyone who tried them. Fortunately two pieces lasted till dinner time the next day. They went great with butter beans and a tomato, okra, corn, dish, mmm.