The Cornbread Gospels (57 page)

Vegetable oil cooking spray

1 batch any unsweetened cornbread, coarsely crumbled and slightly dry

2 very ripe bananas, peeled and coarsely mashed

1 recipe Bourbon Sauce (
recipe follows
)

1.
In a small bowl, combine the raisins and bourbon. Let soak for at least 1 hour.

2.
As the raisins soak, combine the evaporated milk, milk, mascarpone, yogurt, and cream in a large bowl. Whisk in the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, beating thoroughly.

3.
Spray a 9-by-14-inch baking pan, preferably one made of glass, with oil and sprinkle with an even layer of the dried-out cornbread crumbs. Next, scatter the soaked raisins on top (draining any accumulated bourbon into the milk-egg mixture). Now distribute bits of the mashed bananas over the crumbs. Finally, pour the egg-milk mixture over this and let it soak, covered, for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 350°F.

4.
Set the pan inside a larger high-sided pan, and place the pans in the oven. Pour enough hot water into the larger pan to reach a little more than halfway up the sides of the smaller pan. Bake until the custard is barely firm in the middle but is nicely golden and crusty on top, about 40 minutes.

5.
Carefully remove both pans from the oven and remove the pudding pan from the hot water bath. Cool the pudding slightly and serve it, in scoops, with the bourbon sauce over the top.

M
AKES A SCANT
2
CUPS

The original recipe used more butter and quite a bit more sugar. Lord knows, this version is rich enough. If any children are present and will be eating dessert, remove a little of the sauce and set it aside before adding the whiskey.

1 cup sugar

¼ cup (½ stick) butter

½ cup heavy (whipping) cream

1 egg, beaten well

¼ cup (2 ounces) bourbon whiskey (preferably Wild Turkey)

1.
Cream the sugar and butter together very well in a medium bowl. Then transfer to the top of a double boiler and cook slowly, whisking almost constantly, over simmering water, until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Add the cream and keep whisking for another couple of minutes, until all is very hot.

2.
Whisk a little of the sugar-cream mixture into the beaten egg, and then return it all to the double boiler, whisking like the devil as you do so (this prevents curdling). When it’s all whipped in and has cooked for a couple of minutes longer, the sauce will be a translucent ivory-gold color, slightly thickened. Remove from the heat, let cool slightly, and whisk in the bourbon. Serve the sauce, still warm, over the bread pudding.

S
ERVES
6
TO
8

Classic betty gets even better when all or part of the crumb topping comes from cornbread. A homey dessert for fall, it will perfume the entire house as it bakes.

Eat it hot with ice cream, for dessert; or cold, for breakfast, with plain yogurt. It can be made with pears instead of, or in addition to, apples; or, add a handful of fresh cranberries to the apple slices for bright bursts of flavor. Any leftovers can be reheated, but it’s also good cold.

If you are using a very sweet cornbread, cut the sweetening back by a tablespoon or two. If, on the other hand, your crumbs are less sweet, add an extra tablespoon or two of apple juice concentrate.

Vegetable oil cooking spray

1½ cups dry, stale cornbread crumbs, finely crumbled (if you don’t have enough, extend them with crumbs of other types of bread, or semi-crushed cornflakes)

½ cup brown sugar

¼ cup white sugar

1¼ teaspoons ground cinnamon, preferably Saigon or canela (see Pantry,
page 348
)

¼ teaspoon ground allspice

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

⅛ teaspoon ground cloves

A few gratings of nutmeg

7 to 8 (about 3 pounds) apples (Rome, Empire, Cortland, Greening, Braeburn, or Golden Delicious, or a combination), peeled, cored, and sliced in ⅓-inch-thick wedges

2 lemons, halved

⅓ cup frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed

½ cup (1 stick) butter, chilled

Accompaniments: ice cream, custard sauce, plain yogurt, or whipped cream

1.
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spray a shallow 8½-by-11-inch glass or enamel baking dish with oil. Set aside.

2.
Toss together the crumbs, sugars, and spices in a medium bowl. Set aside.

3.
Place the apple slices in a second medium bowl. Squeeze the lemons over the apples, with a strainer set over the bowl to catch the seeds. Toss the apples well to distribute the juice.

4.
Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the crumb mixture on the bottom of the prepared dish. Then scatter half the prepared apples over the crumb mixture. Pour the apple juice concentrate over the apples in the dish, then scatter on a layer of about half of the remaining crumb mixture. Dot about half the butter across this layer. Top with the remaining apple slices, followed by the remaining crumbs. Dot the remaining butter over the top.

5.
Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake until the apples are quite tender, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove the foil from the dish, crank the heat up to 400°F, and let the dish bake until the top crumbs are deeply golden and crisp, about 10 minutes more. Serve, warm but not hot, with a dollop of the creamy accompaniment of your choice.

M
AKES
1
LARGE
, 2
MEDIUM
,
OR
3
SMALL LOAVES

Everyone who bakes has a favorite pound cake. This is mine—and it knocked the one that
had
been my favorite clear out of the ballpark. I now consider this the ultimate pound cake: It is dense without being heavy, fine-grained but with the pleasant gritty crunch only cornmeal confers, straightforward but with a quite extraordinary depth of flavor. It’s too good to cover up with a lot of complex sauces and toppings: fresh raspberries and lemon sorbet at the very most. But just as is, with a good cup of coffee or hot, strong, unsweetened black tea—perfection. As one of my tasters, Christy Wickham, remarked as she went back for a third slice, “This could be dangerous.”

While the cake is by no stretch of the imagination low-fat, the fat content here has been reduced considerably from the classic pound cake.

Vegetable oil cooking spray

1 cup sifted unbleached white flour, plus extra for dusting the pan

¼ cup cornstarch

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1½ cups stone-ground yellow cornmeal, plus extra for dusting the pan

2 lemons, preferably organic

½ cup reduced-fat (not fat-free) sour cream

¾ cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

6 eggs, separated

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar (optional)

1¾ cups sugar

¾ cup (1½ sticks) butter, at room temperature

¾ cup packed light brown sugar

1.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray one large, two medium, or three small loaf pans with oil. Sprinkle the pan(s) very well with a combination of flour and cornmeal, shaking out the excess.

2.
Sift the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, and baking soda together into a large bowl. Stir in the cornmeal. Set aside.

3.
Grate the zest from the lemons, placing it in a small bowl. Then cut the lemons in half and squeeze their juice through a strainer (to catch the seeds) over the grated zest. Whisk in the sour cream, buttermilk, and vanilla. Set aside.

4.
Place the egg whites (see Beating Egg Whites,
pages 186
–
187
) in a clean, high-sided bowl, with the cream of tartar if you have it. Using an electric mixer with clean beaters set on a medium speed, begin to beat the egg whites. When the whites are in soft cloudlike peaks, turn the speed up to high and begin adding ½ cup of the sugar, 2 tablespoons or so at a time, beating until the whites form stiff peaks. Set aside, but don’t wash the beaters. Work as quickly as you can from here on out, so the whites will stay fluffy.

5.
Using the electric beaters set on medium, beat the butter in a medium bowl, until it is creamily fluffy. Gradually beat in the remaining 1¼ cups white sugar and all the brown sugar, a quarter cup or so at a time, slowly increasing the mixer speed to high. It should take 4 or 5 minutes, no more, for all the sugar to be added and the mixture to become lighter and fluffier.

6.
Beat the egg yolks into the butter and sugar mixture one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the lemon mixture, beating until it’s all well combined. Stop the mixer and add the flour mixture, mixing it in on low speed just until combined (longer beating will toughen the cake).

7.
Using a rubber spatula and working with about a third of the egg whites at a time, fold the whites gently into the batter.

8.
Immediately, transfer the batter to the prepared pan or pans. Bake the large pan for 60 to 70 minutes, the smalls for 45 to 55. Test the center of the cake(s) with a toothpick; pound cakes, being so dense, are notoriously finicky about being truly done all the way through. The toothpick should come out clean, no bits of batter stuck to it.

9.
Let the pound cake(s) cool in the pan(s), set on a rack, for about 10 minutes. Cut around the edges of each cake with a thin-bladed knife, and let stand for another 5 minutes. Turn each pan upside down, and reverse out the cake, giving the bottom of the pan a sharp rap. Quickly place the loaf or loaves right side up on the rack and let them complete cooling, at least 40 minutes more.