My Mother's Cornbread by Jaybird's Mama

 This recipe is from one of my dearest friend's mama from my well-worn copy of "The Friendship Collection" created for the members of University of Southern Mississippi-Gulf Coast Elderhostels.  It is what where I'm from we call "High-n-Dry" Cornbread.  It's BEEYOOTEEFUL and it's also fun to make!

"My Mother's Cornbread"

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and get everything ready because this all happens VERY quickly:

• 1 1/2 cups white cornmeal (i've used yellow in a pinch)
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons "shortening" (yes, lard or crisco)

Sift dry ingredients.  Lightly beat eggs, stir together with buttermilk and add to dry ingredients.  "Batter will be thin."

Heat shortening in an iron skillet until smoking hot.  You sort of have to stand sideways to wait until you see huhWHIsps of smoke come off the skillet and you know it's ready.  Pour hot shortening in to mixture (SSSSSSSSSS ! ! !), mix quickly and pour batter quickly back in to hot skillet (ahhhh).  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

There are beautiful notes on the bottom of the cards in this recipe collection and the one at the bottom of this card says:  "If God shuts one door, He opens another -- Irish proverb"

Happy New Year Hoppin' John

Wikipedia has much to say about the theories of serving Hoppin' John on New Year's Day and self-references to a verse from the Talmud about how eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Day (Rosh Hashana) is thought to bring prosperity.  No well-raised Southerner would dare to go to bed on New Year's Day if she hadn't had some Black Eyed Peas.

The laziest way to accomplish this is to open a can of peas, mix it with some Ro-Tel ("a mouth-watering combination of vine-ripened red tomatoes blended with select green chilies and a savory mixture of secret spices") and slurp that up with some Fritos Scoops! (and take some of that Ro-Tel and stir it in to some melted Velveeta for a heavenly treat).

I'm gonna give you a quick-n-dirty Hoppin' John.  It takes about an hour to make.  A more complicated version has you washing, de-stoning and blanching greens, deepening the stock with ham-hocks and soaking peas overnight. Jaybird's Mama has allowed me to provide you with her Mother's High-n-Dry Cornbread here. 

MY favorite is from Rolonda Watts, which I always double:

• 1 box Jiffy corn bread mix, 
• two eggs, 
• 1/4 cup of oil, 
• 16 oz sour cream, 
• 1 can sweetened creamed corn, 
• some chopped jalapeños and 
• hot sauce. 

Use a dark pan sprayed with Pam. 400 degree oven for 40 minutes. YUM !

Quick-n-Easy Hoppin' John

• Cut one pound of thick bacon in to two inch pieces and fry until crispy.
• Reserve half of the grease in a tall skillet and stir TWO CUPS of WHITE RICE in to the grease until coated.
• Stir TWO TABLESPOONS of CHICKEN BOUILLON in to the rice and pour FOUR CUPS of CHICKEN STOCK over that.  Bring to a rolling boil and reduce to simmer for 40 minutes.

[NOTE:  If they can stand it, you want to put 20 shakes of some hot sauce in that water but I'm married to a Yankee and that kind of thing doesn't go over well up here so I generally mix my own in once I've plated it.]

• Prepare TWO CUPS of chopped spinach, kale and/or collard greens from frozen packs.  A ham-hock in that water does a world of good.  So does some bacon.  Drain and press dry.
  
• In the reserve fat, fry up a very large diced onion until translucent.
• Drain TWO CANS of black eyed peas, pour in to the onions and stir, letting those flavours marry.  Before rice is done, stir in to this the greens and all the bacon.
  
• When rice is done, stir in ONE STICK OF BUTTER and let that melt.
• Add freshly ground black pepper to taste.
• When butter is melted, stir in TWO CANS of CAMPBELL'S CREAM OF CELERY SOUP.  (This is the secret to all of Mama's recipes.)
• Stir in ONE or TWO CANS of RO-TEL.  (It depends on how humid it is in the air, whether you will need one or two cans.  This recipe is not soup, it's sticky rice.)
• Stir in the greens/onion mixture.

ENJOY ! !