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Cook the Book: Craig Claiborne's Sunflower, Mississippi, Spoonbread

Posted by Adam Kuban, April 9, 2008 at 1:45 PM

Continuing this week's Cook the Book series, today's highlighted recipe from Crescent Dragonwagon's Cornbread Gospels is for Craig Claiborne's Sunflower, Mississippi, Spoonbread. A book dedicated to cornbread would be nothing without a section on spoonbreads, and, of course, Dragonwagon delivers.

Basically a mush of either white or yellow cornmeal lightened with eggs and then baked, spoonbread, Dragonwagon says, is "the apotheosis of cornbread." The spoon in the dish's name is sometimes said to come courtesy of the fact that you spoon it from the baking vessel onto the plate, but Dragonwagon found citations that state the name may have come from the word suppawn, a Native American word for "porridge." Either way, it's seriously good stuff.

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Craig Claiborne's Sunflower, Mississippi, Spoonbread

- serves 4 as an entrée, 6 as a side -
Craig Claiborne was the pioneering food editor of the New York Times food section, having started in 1957. He transformed the food coverage in the paper from one devoted largely to recipes and entertaining tips for an upscale, largely female audience to one focused on dining out and to the cultural aspects of food. Claiborne was originally from Sunflower, Mississippi, where his mother and the family's servants cooked up this basic soufflé-style cornbread. Adapted from The Cornbread Gospels by Crescent Dragonwagon.

Ingredients

Vegetable oil cooking spray
3 cups milk
1 1/2 cups sifted stone-ground yellow cornmeal
3 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs, separated
2 teaspoons baking powder

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350°F, and spray a deep 1 1/2- to 2-quart baking dish with oil.

2. Bring the milk to a boil in a medium saucepan, preferably nonstick. Gradually pour in the cornmeal with one hand, whisking with the other, creating a very thick mixture. Reduce heat; add the butter and salt. Continue cooking over low heat, stirring almost constantly, for 10 minutes.

3. Remove the cooked mush from the stove; transfer it to a medium-size heat-proof bowl. Let the mush cool to lukewarm, about 20 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, place the egg yolks in a small bowl and the whites in a large, high-sided, nonplastic bowl. When the mush is lukewarm, beat yolks vigorously with a fork, then whip baking powder into them and quickly mix yolks into the mush, making sure yolk mixture is thoroughly incorporated.

5. Beat egg whites until stiff and glossy. Gently fold them into mush; transfer batter to prepared baking dish.

6. Bake until a knife inserted into center comes out barely clean, about 40 minutes. The spoonbread will have risen slightly, and its top will be irregular, with small deeply golden-brown patches. Serve immediately.

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Tags: baking, cornbread, Crescent Dragonwagon, The Cornbread Gospels