Aroma 8
Moistness 7
Texture 5 (Big surprise, bran was not objectionable)
Flavor 5 (bland)
Color 3
Would be very good on top of chili or with shredded cheese mixed in it or chili peppers mixed in.
Damning with faint praise....better than cornbread served in some mid-Western restaurants.
It would not be a hardship to eat this when you are hungry.
If the best you can say about it is that it would not be a hardship to eat it if you're hungry, that is faint praise. Many schools of thought on cornbread here in the Deep South, where it is a staple. Some like it sweet, some not, the debate rages on.
ReplyDeleteMy wife cooks a great non-sweet cornbread but puts just a teaspoon of sugar into her batter. It helps it brown, and you can't taste the sugar.. I may have to try that with my biscuits, because they never brown properly.
I don't know what you are using for liquid but the carmelizing reaction requires both sugar and a soluble protein (usually milk or eggs).
DeleteThe effort to make cornbread was aimed at the niche that MREs hold, but on a very low budget and with found materials. MREs basically keep you alive, your body weight up and they keep your mind and body functioning. Any culinary benefits beyond that are a bonus.
The cornbread is not indestructible, like hardtack or MREs. But one of the premises of The Golden Horde is that both the "Horde" and the besieged must forge the sinews of war from the materials that are found at hand.
Agree, Pawpaw.
ReplyDeleteMy mom thought it was blasphemy to put sugar in your cornbread batter...and it was always cooked in a cast-iron skillet in the oven.
My personal preference is toward a sweeter cornbread, and though I typically use a Pyrex baking dish, I think mine is better than Mom's - though I would never have told her that!
One local restaurant has, hands-down, the very best cornmeal muffins I've ever tasted...I've tried to replicate them, but have failed at every turn. May have to just admit defeat and ask the cook for their recipe...