Custardy Cornbread with Honey Butter

Custardy Cornbread with Honey Butter

I awoke to another zillion emails, but one really caught my eye. It was for New Year’s Day Cornbread from Steve Sando of Rancho Gordo, a specialty food company known for their glorious Heirloom Beans.

Sando wrote, “This recipe comes from my pal Taylor Boetticher of the Fatted Calf Charcuterie. If you’re in the Bay Area, try making your Black Eyed Peas with their bacon or other pork treats. The recipe is true Texas cornbread and it’s perfect with your pot of good fortune. A huge thanks to Taylor’s mother, Star Boetticher, for sharing the recipe and keeping good conditions alive.”

I headed off to the kitchen to preheat the oven. Baking with available ingredients, it turns out that I had to replace the whole milk with 1% milk, and swapped low fat plain Kefir for buttermilk …hoping it would work. And it did! This Cornbread is perfect even with my substitutions, no need to look for any other cornbread recipe, ever.

The cornbread was served with room-temperature salted butter that was blended with honey…and a pot of coffee. ‘Twas a delightful December breakfast. The custard layer is simply genius. For good fortune, I will make it again on New Year’s Day to be served with Black Eyed Peas and Collard Greens (recipe now posted here).

Black Eyed Peas are eaten for luck, Collard Greens are symbolic of dollar bills, and Cornbread is symbolic of gold. And we will add a Glazed Spiral Cut Ham to the menu because pigs have long been a symbol of wealth and gluttony. Sounds delicious and lucky, can’t beat that. Here’s to a Prosperous New Year!

Boetticher Family Cornbread Recipe

2 tablespoons butter
1 ⅓ cups yellow cornmeal
⅓ cup flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups milk
1 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place the butter in a 9-or 10-inch cast iron skillet and place in oven for 5 min. Meanwhile in a large bowl mix cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Stir in ONE cup of the milk and the buttermilk. Add the eggs and blend thoroughly. Pour the batter into the hot skillet and carefully pour the remaining one cup of milk into the batter. Don’t worry that it looks too runny. Do not stir! The milk will sink and form a custard-like layer. Place in preheated oven and bake 30-35 minutes. Serve while hot.

Thank you for the excellent recipe and Happy Holidays to Steve Sando and the Boetticher Family!