Grits to Glory - Polenta Corn Bread

I have an extreme love/hate relationship with corn bread.  It can take a bowl of chili to intoxicating highs, when executed properly, or devastating lows when not.  Sadly, all of the cornbread I have consumed in restaurants has fallen short of my expectations.  Way short.  Like "careening down a depression spiral" short.  What is the obsession with sweet corn bread?  Why would anyone want Maple or Honey Butter to smear on something that is already so sweet it makes your teeth hurt? I just don't understand this "Cornbread" that is really more of a light and fluffy corn muffin.  Don't get me wrong, I LIKE corn muffins... for breakfast, not with my chili.

So how do I like my cornbread?  Well, it should have a dense, but tender crumb.  Crusty on the outside, moist on the inside.  Savory deliciousness should be the prevalent flavor, not sweet and cloying.  Inclusions of Cheddar, Onion, or Bacon are welcomed, but not a necessity. 

As a result of the above criterion for palatable cornbread, I have concluded that I like buttermilk based cornbreads that are baked in a cast iron skillet that has been liberally smothered with copious amounts of butter, which has been browned in the oven prior to dispensing the cornbread batter therein.  In order to facilitate a more dense crumb, only a SMALL amount of flour is necessary.  Just enough to keep the corn bread from crumbling in your hand.  To achieve a moist interior, I take a tip from the Italians.  I find that the addition of a polenta-ish mixture made with chicken stock fits the bill quite nicely.  True, it's more of a cornmeal mush than polenta, since I don't cook it nearly long enough, but polenta sounds classy, so I am sticking with it.  LOL

Luckily, I have Buttermilk left over from making Cultured Butter a couple days ago.  Woo Hoo!
But enough chewin' the fat.  Here is how I make my cornbread.

Polenta Cornbread

3 TB unsalted Butter, cut into pieces
118ml (4oz) (1/2 cup) Chicken Stock
280g (9.8oz) (1-3/4 cups) Medium-Grind Stone-Ground Yellow Cornmeal, divided (I use Bob’s Red Mill)
64g (2.25 oz) (1/2 cup) AP Flour  (just a little bit)
2 TB granulated Sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Kosher Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
pinch of Cayenne
236ml (8oz) (1 cup) Buttermilk
5 TB Sour Cream
2 large Eggs, lightly beaten
optional - 85g (3 oz) (3/4 cup) Cheddar cheese

Heat the oven to 425°F and throw a 10-12 inch cast iron skillet in there.
In a small saucepan, bring chicken stock to a boil.

Divide up your corn meal by placing 80g (2.8 oz) (1/2 cup) in a small bowl, and the remaining 200g (7 oz) (1 1/4 cups) in a large bowl.

Add the Flour, Sugar, Baking Powder, Salt, Baking Soda and Cayenne, then whisk to combine and set aside.

When the chicken stock comes to a boil, pour it over the cornmeal in the small bowl, whisking constantly, until it forms a polenta-ish mass (or puls, or mush, as the case may be).

Add the Buttermilk, Sour Cream, and Eggs to the cornmeal mush and whisk after each one is added.

Now is also the time to add any Cheese if you like. (always add to the wet ingredients, whether cheddar, green onions, bacon, diced jalapeno or all of them at once)

When the oven and pan are fully heated (about 15 minutes) remove the skillet from the oven and add the butter then throw it back in the oven (not literally, cause that would be messy) and let the butter melt and brown slightly.

While the butter is melting, add the Buttermilk/Polenta mixture to the dry ingredients in the large bowl, and stir, just until blended. (don't over mix, it doesn't need to be completely smooth)

Remove the cast iron skillet from the oven and tilt the pan to swirl the butter around to coat the pan evenly, then pour the butter into the batter and stir to combine about 6-8 strokes should be good.

Pour the batter into the hot skillet. (The sizzling is music to the ear)

Place back in the oven for about 18-20 minutes, or until the cornbread pulls away from the side of the skillet.

Remove the skillet from the oven and immediately turn the bread out onto a rack and allow to cool for 5 minutes before cutting into wedges.

Serve hot, with a big bowl of chili. (though not necessarily as adorn with condiments as this bowl is).

mmmmmm  Crunchy exterior, dense, moist and totally tender interior... THIS is the stuff dreams are made of.

Mangia!!
~~

Chili con Corn Biscuits

I have been pretty lucky in life. Grew up in Oregon on a Goat dairy, have traveled to London, have friends who would give me the shirt off their back, I'm owned by a dog, a cat and 5 fish that adore me, (well I can't really tell with the fish, who really knows what a fish is thinking) and about 1 1/2 years ago I found BakeSpace, which is my constant source of culinary inspiration. Yes, very lucky... Even more so, recently, since one of my friends on BakeSpace, Spryte, posted the most awesome chili recipe ever... It's located here at Spytes Place.

I made this chili a couple days ago, and it was delicious, as always.... But since I am a single guy, I have to freeze part of it... As luck would have it, I had friends coming over this evening and I decided it was time to try something that had been batted around the BakeSpace forums a week before. Mini Chili pies. So I got out my Corn biscuit recipe and attempted to make pie crusts in muffin tins... Par baked them then added some chili and finished them off in the oven... It didn't work. I ended up with partially cooked biscuit goo underneath the Chili...

I was mulling over possible resolutions to my soggy biscuit issues, when an email came in notifying me that someone had left a comment on a Chipotle Baked Beans recipe I had posted awhile ago, to let me know that they had liked the dish. Then, while reading the comment, I noticed the photo I had taken... for the solution to my dilemma was before my eyes. I had forgotten about the little cast iron pots that I had buried somewhere behind my microwave on top of the refrigerator!!! Yet more inspiration from BakeSpace.

So after an unsuccessful attempt at mini chili pies, I resolved myself to....

Chili Pot Pies with Corn biscuit crust.

First I modified the Chili, cause I like a little Sour Cream and shredded Cheddar on my chili, thus I had to mix it in ahead of time. So I warmed up 5 cups of Chili to which I added:
1/2 cup of sour cream
1/2 cup of cheddar cheese

Then simply stirred occasionally over low heat until heated through and the cheddar melted.
Then filled my little cast iron pots 3/4 of the way (they hold about 1 cup)

Then I made my Corn Biscuits....

1 cup AP flour
1/4 cup Corn Flour or more AP flour
3/4 cup Medium Grind Cornmeal
2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Kosher Salt
1/8 tsp Black Pepper
1 1/4 tsp ground Sage
7 TB Browned Butter or Bacon Drippings
2/3 cup Buttermilk (Room Temperature)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Combine Flours, Corn Meal, Baking Powder, Baking Soda, Salt, Pepper, and Sage in medium bowl.

Brown the butter and stir 6 TB into the room temperature Buttermilk.
Using a fork, mix the ingredients together until a soft dough forms.

Turn out onto a lightly floured board and roll out to 1/2-inch thickness.
Cut into rounds large enough to fit down into the mini iron pots. (I was lucky, these have lids, so I had a pattern)

Line a baking sheet with tin foil to make potential cleanup easier.
Place in the oven for 17 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from oven and brush with remaining TB of browned butter.
Place cast iron pot in a bowl and serve

Thanks again Spryte, that Chili is Phenomenal!!!!!

Mangia!!
~~

Fear is the Mind Killer, Bacon is the Diet Killer

I must apologize for the two month hiatus from updating my blog. Between work and the holidays, things have been a little crazy. But it is a new year and a new month and it's time to make some changes now that a little balance has returned to my life.

So to kick things off with a bang or rather a "banger" of sorts… I present the ULTIMATE diet killer… The Bacon Wrapped Corn Dog.

Yes, that’s right folks!! For bacon is the incarnation of all that is good in the world. Yes, it is bad for you, but it is also delicious. This siren of the porcine persuasion... Singing… Calling… Luring all those on dietary restrictions, for one reason or another, to hurl ourselves upon the rocks of dietary ruin with reckless abandon. But also, just like king Midas of ancient Greek mythology… all bacon touches turns into gold… well, at least flavor-wise.

Warning: You will need to gather a few things, of which I found myself sorely lacking. Since I was out of skewers (which I thought I had) I used fondue forks instead…
I also found, at the last minute, that a Fry Daddy is not quite deep enough for doing this… so I was forced to abandon the actual stick upon frying.

Ingredient-wise you will need…….

1 lb of bacon (thin sliced; not thick or center cut as it wont be long enough)
12 to 14 Beef hot dogs (I used Hebrew National – Yes, quite sacrilegious, I know)
Tooth picks
14 skewers or fondue forks
Corn batter (recipe follows)

Wrap 1 piece of bacon, around each hot dog, in an overlapping spiral.
Secure each end with a toothpick (Just in case)

Fry hot dogs in a sauté pan until bacon is crisp.
Remove and drain on paper towels.
Reserve the bacon drippings for your batter.

Now the Batter:
1 cup Bread Flour
2/3 cup Medium Grind Cornmeal
1/4 cup Granulated Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
1/2 tsp Chipotle or Ancho Chili Powder
2 TB Bacon Drippings from the sauté pan
1 Egg, beaten
1 1/4 cups Buttermilk

Whisk the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, chili powder and salt in a medium bowl.
Make a well in the center, and add the egg and buttermilk, whisking until smoothly blended.
Stir in melted bacon drippings

Pour some of the batter into a tall glass, about 2/3 – 3/4 full.
Pat Bacon wrapped hot dogs to remove as much oil from them as possible, or the batter will not stick.
Insert skewer or fondue fork into the end of each dog.
Dip the hot dogs in the batter, shaking off the excess.

Insert into deep fryer, preferably vertically, but this may not be possible, as I found my fry daddy was not quite deep enough, and had to pull out the fondue fork in order to fry them.

(Sorry I didn’t take a picture, but I was dealing with hot oil, and it is dangerous, so I was concentrating.)

Fry each one in the hot oil until they are Golden Brown.
Drain on paper towels .

Serve with either German Brown Mustard or Maple Syrup...

Mangia!!
~~