Photo of Luesta Duers the gracious matriarch on my mother’s side and my maternal grandmother. Migrated to New York from Windsor, North Carolina.
Most children associate Christmas with toys. I did too, but I also associated Christmas with the food I ate at my grandmother’s homes. After opening presents at our home in Croton, we packed into the car for our first stop at Grand Ma Duer’s home at 63 Hunter Street in Ossining right down the street from Sing Sing Prison. Corn bread made in little corn shaped baking molds is my immediate food association with Grandma Duers. As a child, I just thought that corned shape cornbread was something magical! I’ve been hooked on corn bread ever since and fashion myself as a kind of consignor of fine corn bread having eaten it in many parts of the United States, Mexico, Colombia, Panama, Guatemala, and Costa Rica. I’m northern born but reared in part by southern grandmothers who migrated to New York from North Carolina and Southern Virginia. In the North, cooks continued the southern tradition of regularly baking corn bread, but for some unknown reason it took on a distinctively sweeter taste. Southerners dismissed the sweeter northern interpretation of corn bread as unfit for consumption. However, over time, the corn bread of newcomers from the South became more northern in style, just like the migrants themselves. Both my grandmothers retained the tradition of making un-sweet corn bread but I like the sweeter northern variety. The next time you have corn bread in a place like Sylvia Restaurant in Harlem or even a Whole Foods bakery notice that it’s northern and sweet like cake. Please comment on your cornbread experiences and recipes.
Southern Country Cornbread
2 cups of buttermilk (or 2 cups of vanilla soymilk)
½ teaspoon of baking soda dissolved in a tablespoon of hot water
2 large eggs
¾ cup corn, canola or vegetable oil
Mix eggs and milk together
Sift in 2 cups of corn meal with a teaspoon of salt and 2 teaspoons of baking powder or use self-rising cornmeal (I add just a little high source of fiber, just a little!)
Mix ingredients and if you’re northerner like me add a ¼ cup of sugar
Spray hot biscuit pan (or cast Iron skillet like I like to use) with nonstick cooking spray
Preheat oven at 425 then turn down to 375 and bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown
Brush with melted butter when done and enjoy!
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