Cornmeal redux

Thought I'd revisit cornmeal for a posting or two.

Another cornmeal breakfast item I make fairly frequently is Johnnycakes. It's a nice change from wheat pancakes. FWIW, here's the recipe I've used for decades (which I'm sure is not authentic, but tastes good):

JOHNNYCAKE

1 Tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
1 Tbs butter
1 cup ground cornmeal
1 cup boiling water
1/4 cup milk
fat

Combine 1st 4 ingredients. Cover with boiling water, stir vigorously till well mixed.
Add milk, mix well.
Drop batter by tablespoons onto hot griddle well greased. Pat to 1/2 in. thickness with oiled spatula.
Cook over med. heat till browned on one side. Put little on top of each and flip over till other side is browned.
Serve hot w/butter and/or syrup.

Note: I usually use a cast-iron oiled Swedish pancake griddle. I also thin the batter with enough milk until it flows easily and fills the pancake griddle depressions.

[Robin Garr]

I mainly use cornmeal for two things, Larry: Cornbread and polenta. I like it, but I rarely incorporate it into other recipes. (Not counting masa for tamales here, or stoneground hominy for serious grits.)

But if you're open to a side discussion, I'll ask: Sugar in cornbread, or no? I'm okay with just a dash to bring up the corn flavor, but never enough to turn it into cake.

I'm a northerner, so I put sugar in my cornmeal, but my recipes don't use much. I think it rounds out the flavor.

Once, a southern friend and I compared our corn breads. Hers had no sugar; I thought it tasted a bit bitter. She loved mine (with a little sugar), but informed me she would honor her southern roots and never cook or eat my northern style cornbread.

FWIW, somewhere recently I saw a cornmeal cake with icing recipe. Now in that case, I imagine it would taste sweet like a cake.

[Jenise]

I don't like sweet food but I add small amounts of sugar to many things because, as Larry mentioned, it rounds out the flavor. In cornbread or something like these johnnycakes, I also prefer a small amount of sugar. Makes the corn element taste more corn-y. I put 1/4 tsp sugar in my tea too; doesn't taste sweet, but it cuts the edge on the tannins and the tea flavor matches the aroma better.

And, of course, corn itself has some sugars.

Segue: When I worked at state fairs with my uncle 25 yrs ago, we sold a roasted butter-and-cream corn on the cob that was the sweetest, best corn on the grounds. One person returned his ear and demanded a refund: "Corn is supposed to be yellow or white, but not both." Go figure.

Well, I'd certainly avoid corn that was green or blue. Seems like white and yellow are both acceptable colors for kernels.

(Yes, I know about corn smut but it doesn't work with the joke, now does it?)

I'm not a purveyor of smut, but I really would like to try huitlacoche sometime.

I've never cooked with it myself. A friend, SFJoe Dougherty, often did. It's impossible to get fresh in the Northeast so he used canned:
https://woodlandfoods.com/products/huit ... 14?cat=112
Or, when he could prevail on his friend Connie, flash frozen:
https://wineforest.com/pages/wine-fores ... wild-foods

If you convince Wine Forest that you're a chef or wholesaler let me know... I like their wild huckleberries (tasted at Joe's house) and I use their Juniper Rub (one of my favorites) and Wild Rice mix. I also have a bottle of the Elderberry Shrub but haven't really figured out what to do with it yet.

[Robin Garr]

I'm not a purveyor of smut, but I really would like to try huitlacoche sometime.

We have a local Mayan restaurant that uses huitlacoche often. I focused a review on it a few years back ... whoa, 13 years back, d'oh!

We like smut. It's good