Sopping Molasses Gravy

All the essentials for a great breakfast minus the corn bread for sopping. Corn bread recipe below

During the antebellum period, in the sugar cane producing regions of Cuba and Brazil, all classes of people gorged on hard treacle candies. Sugar masters made treacle from the drippings accumulated from the vats used in sugar refining. It looked and tasted like molasses and sold very well when you added chopped coconuts, nuts, and fruit. In the United States, poor white and black southerners ate molasses in one form or the other with almost every meal. But most often it was eaten at the breakfast table with cornbread and fatback bacon. When poor white and black southerners ate a solid food and a liquid additive together, the solid was often used to soak up the liquid. The solid food, in this case cornbread, is known as the “sop.” The liquid was a greasy gravy consistency that usually contained molasses; the process is referred to as “sopping.” If you want to give sopping a try, here’s a good corn bread recipe. Try sopping molasses and the liquid made from some good turkey or vegan bacon, it’s a lot better for your arteries than pork bacon in the long run.

Sweet corn bread recipe

Ingredients
3/4 self-rising cornmeal
1 cup Spelt flour (it’s better tasting and healthier than white or wheat flour)
1/2 cup cane sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup vanilla soymilk, (a fortified soy milk is a very good tasting healthy choice, I suggest the Vitasoy brand for new comers)
1 egg or egg substitute (beaten)
2 tbsp canola oil
2 tbsp butter (Try I Can’t Believe It’s not Butter available at most supermarkets and Costco)

Method
Preheat oven to 400; Combine dry ingredients. Add milk, egg and oil. Mix well. Spray a large cast iron skillet like the one in the photo or a 9 inch pie pan with Pam. Bake until tooth pick inserted in center comes out clean (about 25 minutes). Melt butter and brush over the top of the bread when it comes fresh out the oven; serves 8.