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."













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