The Cornbread Gospels (61 page)

Vegan ingredients, substitutions for:
Almost all but the spoonbread cornbreads can be made vegan. See the entries in this glossary under
Buttermilk, soy; Soy milk;
and
Eggscellence
(which any vegan baker will use much more frequently than just here). For butter, simply substitute vegetable oil or, if you prefer, vegan margarine; cheese may either be omitted or be replaced by your favorite soy- or rice-based quasi-cheese.

Yeast, types of:
Yeast, a single-cell fungus, is a culinary change agent. It changes grape juice into wine, wine into vinegar, milk into cheese. And it also makes breads (other than
quick breads
) rise. Yeasts work their magic by multiplying and being fruitful. They need food (sugar and starch), warmth, and moisture to breed. The conversion of their food into carbon dioxide, and eventually alcohol, is called fermentation. It’s the small bubbles of carbon dioxide created as the yeasts reproduce, trapped in the
gluten
structure, that makes breads rise. Here are the types of yeast available:

Baker’s yeast, dry:
Small beige granules, dry yeast comes in ¼-ounce packets or loose, in larger amounts, in a jar (if you buy it in a jar, refrigerate the jar after opening it, and write the date of opening on the label in permanent marker; use the yeast within 6 months of opening it).
Regular dry yeast
, which is what the recipes in this book were tested with, takes the conventional amount of time to raise bread (individual recipes will give you an idea of how long this is).
Rapid
or
quick-rising yeast
takes a little
more than half of the time of regular dry yeast to make bread rise.

Both types are common and can be found in any supermarket.

Baker’s yeast, fresh or compressed:
Because it’s perishable, fresh yeast is harder to find, but it is quite delightfully lively. It comes in small square foil-wrapped cakes, and you’ll sometimes find it in the refrigerator case of larger supermarkets and natural foods markets, as well as at some baking supply stores. The squares of fresh yeast are grayish, and you crumble them into the warm liquid in the recipe, at the same point at which you’d pour or stir in the dry yeast. One cake of fresh yeast equals one packet of dry yeast. Check its expiration date, and use fresh yeast within 5 days of bringing it home.

Nutritional yeast:
Vying with “prune” as the least tasty-sounding name for a really good food, nutritional yeast is a variety of the nutrient-rich yeast used to ferment beer. This variety is specifically grown for its excellent savory flavor (somewhat like Parmesan cheese) as well as its super-high B-vitamin complex content, rather than for leavening. (Brewer’s yeast, for beer making, is nutritious but decidedly untasty; it is quite bitter.) Bread will not rise if you substitute nutritional yeast for baker’s yeast, so don’t. However, corn-lovers should have some on hand, because there is nothing, and I mean
nothing
, better on hot buttered popcorn than a major sprinkle of nutritional yeast. Some enlightened independent movie theaters actually keep a jar at the concession stand for popcorn patrons to sprinkle to their heart’s content. Sometimes sold as “good-tasting nutritional yeast,” it’s available in bulk and sometimes in bags at your local natural foods market.

Yeast, methodology for, in bread-baking:
Most homemade yeast breads are made by one of two methods, straight dough or sponge.

In the straight dough method, all or most of the ingredients are combined at one time to make a dough that rises once, twice, or three times, according to the recipe, and is then baked (every so often a straight dough recipe will hold back an ingredient like raisins or nuts to be kneaded in before the last rise).

In the sponge method,
some
of the flour, liquid, and yeast are combined and allowed to set and rise before being stirred down, at which point the remaining ingredients are stirred in to make a dough. This is allowed to rise as per the individual recipe, and then is baked. Some sponges are put together only an hour or two before they get made into dough; other sponges are allowed to ferment overnight, which gives them a tangier and, in the view of some, more flavorful (because of the yeast’s longer fermentation) and better textured bread.

Zea mays:
Corn’s scientific name.

1 stick butter = 8 tbs = 4 oz = ½ cup

1 cup all-purpose presifted flour or dried bread crumbs = 5 oz

1 cup granulated sugar = 8 oz

1 cup (packed) brown sugar = 6 oz

1 cup confectioners’ sugar = 4½ oz

1 cup honey or syrup = 12 oz

1 cup grated cheese = 4 oz

1 cup dried beans = 6 oz

1 large egg = about 2 oz or about 3 tbs

1 egg yolk = about 1 tbs

1 egg white = about 2 tbs

Please note that all conversions are approximate but close enough to be useful when converting from one system to another.

Note: Reduce the temperature by 20°C (68°F) for fan-assisted ovens.

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A

Ableman, Michael,
128

Abundant Kwanzaa Karamu, An (menu),
33

Accompaniments for cornbread,
287
–
326

baked beans, New England,
310
–
11

baked beans borracho, Brattleboro,
311
–
13

beans, Dragon-in-the-new-South style,
305
–
6

beans, old South style,
303
–
4

Bosporus breezes salad,
299
–
301

cabbage, skillet-fried,
297

caldo verde,
318
–
21

chicken “Saturday sancocho,” Leyla’s,
322
–
23

chili,
314

frijoles, basic (with variations),
306
–
9

green chile soup-stew, Santa Fe–style quick,
321

greens, new South style,
293
–
94

greens, old South style,
290
–
91

lentil soup with garlic and greens,
315
–
16

October orchard idyll,
298
–
99

pomegranate-hazelnut salad,
302
–
3

sancocho, Dragon–style,
323
–
25

sarson ka saag, North Indian–style, Mr. Panseer’s,
294
–
95

vegetable mafé,
317
–
18

African American cornbreads,
34

“all that jazz” soul food vegan,
29

creamed corn, two grandmas’,
28
–
29

herbed, Jessica Harris’s,
31

African American Kwanzaa celebrations,
32
–
33

African–style:

mealie (white cornmeal mush),
113

mealiebrod (South African steamed fresh cornbread),
112
–
14

vegetable mafé,
317
–
18

Alabama cornbread, Nora’s Memaw’s,
22

Allerton, Ellen P.,
143

“All that jazz” soul food vegan cornbread,
29

Almond:

drop scones, sweet maple-glazed,
154
–
55

herb biscuits, savory,
152
–
53

Anadama bread:

Diane’s Gap Mountain,
165
–
66

origin of name,
167

Anderson, Pam,
14

Aphrodite butter,
139

Appalachian cornbread, Ronni’s,
21

Appetizers:

corn thinbread with olives, walnuts, feta, and sun-dried tomatoes,
106
–
9

Indonesian–style corn and eggplant fritters,
241
–
43

Newport County–style thin and lacy jonnycakes,
224
–
25

soft corn crepes, Wanda’s,
234

Apple(s):

ginger corn cottage cakes,
220

golden-brown betty,
336
–
38

Granny Smith,
280

macaw muffins (for parrots),
115
–
116

macaw muffins (for people),
114
–
15

October orchard idyll,
298
–
99

quasi-colonial cornbread with,
45

sauté, warm maple,
206
–
8

of the sun pancakes, golden,
215
–
16

Apple cider syrup,
44
,
346

vinaigrette,
299

Arepas,
98

accompaniments for,
101
–
2

Leyla’s,
99
–
100

Arkansas Symphony Guild,
25

Arkansas Times
,
11

Art of Eating, The
(Fisher),
9

Ash cakes,
253

Atlanta–style flat-top corn muffins,
126
–
27

Aztec two-steps, sweet-hot,
143
–
44

B

Babycakes:

crumble-bumble lemon blueberry,
136
–
37

see also
Little cornbreads; Muffins

Bacon:

cornbread salad, Patsy’s,
272
–
73

drippings,
35

eggs Eureka,
264
–
65

savory cornbread dressing with,
278

Baird, Mary,
57

Baked beans:

borracho, Brattleboro,
311
–
13

New England,
310
–
11

Baking powder,
35
,
159
,
160
,
346