The Cornbread Gospels

THE CORNBREAD GOSPELS

CRESCENT DRAGONWAGON

Illustrations by Andrea Wisnewski

WORKMAN PUBLISHING • NEW YORK

To Kay Kelley Arnold, friend and mentor, honest as cornbread, and in memory of Judge Richard Arnold, who loved her well, truly, and proudly for all the years they shared the bread of life.

First: very cornbread-specific thanks go to Zoë Caywood, Darra Goldstein, most especially the ultra-generous Ronni Lundy (queen of Southern cornbread and my friend of a decade plus), Carmen Sanchez, Suzanne Wickham-Beaird, the late Sylvia Teague, John Edgerton, Brinna Sands, Pam Anderson, Patsy Bruce, Lisa Cone (and her late mother, Mary), Jessica Harris, Chef Tommy Ryan of Durgin-Park, Patsy Watkins, Marilyn Kennedy, Maria Petra Vasquez, Marilyn Tausend, Layla Torres and John Sutton, Diane Kellner of Gap Mountain Breads, Diane Kolchilas, Aglaia Kremezi, Raghavan Iyer, Carol Field, Leslie Shaw, Sri Owen, Patsy Barker. On behalf of this book’s readers as well as myself, I especially thank those of you who gave me recipes that had never before left your families.

Valuable data and historical insight was provided by David Dudek, research librarian of the Miller Library at Washington College; Mary V. Thompson of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association; food historian Sandra Oliver; and Amy Steigman of the Tortilla Industry Association. Betty Fussell plowed the cornfield. Thank you to farmer-photographer-author Michael Ableman for your soulful respect and knowledge of Hopi agricultural practices; and to columnist Bob Lancaster, who added much to my understanding of cornbread in a single throwaway line twenty years ago. Though not cited directly here, authors Jack Weatherford (
Indian Givers
) and Gary Paul Nabhan (
Coming Home to Eat
) gave me insights I could not have gleaned elsewhere. The Greek Food and Wine Institute (especially
Lisa Cutick), and Spiros Abatzopoulos, Commercial Attaché of the Greek Consulate in New York, really went above the call of duty in helping me track down Greek cornbread. Laurie Danforth—I will never forget the great Tamale Boogie.

And Mishala Jones … for testing and moose-sighting and driving wretched Blazer (R.I.P.) across country and so much else we both carry in our hearts … thank you thank you thank you, and please keep Vermont on the list.

The distinctions between personal and professional blur when I think of the kindness, perspicaciousness, and hard work of my agent, the hard-headed, tender-hearted Edite Kroll. Thank you, Edite, for so many reasons. And without the divine Ms. Suzanne Rafer, this croissant might well have been altogether too flaky. Jen Griffin: thank you and we miss you. Kylie Foxx, brave girl, you stepped boldly into the breech with determination and thoughtfulness: thank you. This book would be much less without the illustrations of Andrea Wisnewski, who I knew would be perfectly perfect for this project from the very first samples sent by primo designer Barbara Balch. Janet McDonald: I never thought I would ever have occasion to say, “Wow, this copyediting is not only meticulous, it’s thoughtful and interesting.” But yours was, and I’m saying it to you. Thanks! All of you have been tremendously patient with me. Lastly, in an era of dinosaur-size impersonal publishers, I am truly grateful that Peter Workman publishes not just books, but authors; he returns phone calls; and recognized something in me way back that, despite everything, has kept him publishing me for more than thirty-five years.

For products, materials, and ingredients, I am grateful to Lodge Manufacturing, 505 Chile Company, Scharffen Berger Chocolate, War Eagle Mill, King Arthur Flour, Melissa Guerra, Cuisinart, Cocina de Vega, and KitchenAid. Frasier Cooper-Ellis makes my life, cornbreads, and neighborhood sweet by tapping “the family trees.” And thanks for a miscellany of things that season this book go to Max Yoho; the CopperWynd Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona; Cina Nutumya; Jan Epton Seale; Claudia F. Manz; and Madge Griswold. South Pittsburg, Tennessee, and its fine folks—thank you for the warm and welcoming National Cornbread Festival; you helped put cornbread at the center of the universe (where it belongs) before I had even conceived of this book.

For me, between the starting and conclusion of writing this book, there was a major personal before-and-after. Deep, once-in-a-lifetime extraordinary thanks go to those who populated the before, both of this book and my life: the friends and neighbors of my former community, Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Especially grateful hugs not only to everyone I thanked at the beginning of
Passionate Vegetarian
, but to these dear friends who helped me launch boldly into my new life: Cheri White, Debbie Dye, Renae Sterling, K. J. Zumwalt, Charlisa Cato, the remarkable Galyen family, Michael and Jae Avenoso, John Willer and Mary Springer, the extraordinarily competent Patti, and, with belated and genuine thanks for dragon beautification, Stan and Jeff. Becky Sisco, you will probably be surprised to learn that an offhand comment of yours in a sense sparked this whole book. I thank you, too.

In my larger Arkansas life and being, from the bottom of my heart I thank the life-saving and funny W. F. Symes; the wise, wise Kay Kelley Arnold; and Wenonah Fay Holl, who has held me to a larger life in more ways than I’m sure she imagines. Corrinnia and Rick Briggs: your great gift and presence is beyond reckoning, still and to this day. In your individual and sui generis ways, Susan and Rick Smith, Jean Gordon, Brenda Moosey, Bill Worthen, Jim “You must write your memoirs, my dear” Rule, Anna Cox, Connie Fails, all receive my deep gratitude. Ken Frazier, any man who looks at a heap of steamed greens at breakfast and says, “Have I died and gone to heaven?” is much more than noteworthy in my book. Thank you. And yes, most certainly you, too, Steven Weintz: don’t try and weasel out of it.

For believing: thanks are due Shannon Chamberlin, Walter Smiley, the gentle and persistent visionary Pat Lile, Archie Schaeffer, Carolyn Walton, the very dear Mary Gay Shipley of That Bookstore, Anne and Ralph Broadwater, Brian Maynard, Donna Jackson, Larry Stone, Justin Newby, and Jerry Bedford.

Bianca Zafferano, Lei Ann Marshall-Cohen, and Karen Kahn gave me, as only they could, the images and stories of the boy who grew up to become my great sweetheart. Linda Mannheim, you were the conduit for the right wisdom at the right time. Elizabeth Karmel, Wayne Petersen … how “there” you managed to be astounds me to this day.

Vernon Gross, you helped me bridge before and after, in a manner peculiar, sweet, and (thankfully) ongoing. We’ll always have Memphis.

For extraordinary and kind forbearance and understanding, I must mention my brother, Stephen Zolotow, as well as Paul Silberberg, and Leah Scherer. Their help in this transitional phase was and remains enormous. Thank you. May I someday repay your patience and belief, with interest.

The afters, of my new life in southeastern Vermont, include Deborah and Michael Krasner, Michelle and Pete, Sandy and Bill Curry, Gary Clay, Elisa Leigh (who also stepped in as an eleventh-hour recipe tester when I broke my foot), Elizabeth Pittman, Andy and Kate, Lisa and Alan, Judith Reichsman and Stephanie Petkanas, Silvestre, Beth Ami Maglin, Averill and Bob. Peter Stamm, I am grateful to you not only on my behalf but that of Dot. Larry Burdick: thanks for offering an office away from home (all this, and chocolate, too). The folks at Walker’s and Harlow’s, Ray Massucco (bless you, Ray), the Rockingham Library staff (past and present) as well as that of the Putney Library, the Co-operators of Putney and Brattleboro—I cannot overstate your assistance. And oh, Gaelen and Richard … thank you for help, and joys both vernal and blizzardly. Carol G., you know I love you for yourself—really!—but oh, your darling Zoë: it’s my privilege to be her CresAunt.

There are also some who are neither before or after, but both, and from what I can tell, always and ever presently: George West, Starr Mitchell, Billy Haymes, Chou-Chou (Marcia) Yearsley, Charlotte Zolotow, Dorothy Arnof, Jane Maas, Jan Brown, Patti Summerville (again), Crow Johnson … the late Elsie and Louis Freund, Maurice Zolotow, and of course Ned. I hope, if I travel with you in mind and heart as you do with me, that your journey is as much sweeter and more interesting for you as you have made mine.