A Southern Grace: corny bread for a corny gal

January 18, 2009

corny bread for a corny gal

Yum

There are oodles of blog events out there, but one of the very best that I've found is Taste & Create. Its premise is that each blogger is paired with another and asked to recreate a recipe from his or her blog. It’s a brilliant way to introduce a person to a new blog and a new recipe (or two)(or twelve).


For this go-round (XVI, for those of you keeping track), I was paired with Min of The Bad Girl’s Kitchen. Finding just one recipe to replicate was not an easy task--her blog is loaded with a variety of tasty dishes. It came down to deciding between the Blueberry Cornbread and the Grilled Rosemary Garlic Pork Tenderloin. Taking into consideration the sour milk, almost-expired cornmeal, and gorgeous frozen blackberries in my possession, I finally opted for the cornbread.

Mark Twain once said: "Perhaps no bread in the world is quite as good as Southern cornbread, and perhaps no bread in the world is quite so bad as the Northern imitation of it."

To that I say yowza.


I also should mention that I'm a corny person. I love puns and corny jokes--anything eliciting an eye-roll or groan is a winner in my book. Some food-related favorites:

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
A boiled egg in the morning is hard to beat.
The butcher backed up into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.
Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis.


Enough of the fluff--the cornbread was an excellent choice. The texture imparted by the cornmeal really stood out. I followed Min's recipe pretty closely, only substituting blackberries for blueberries. Also, I poured my batter into mini-muffin and mini-loaf trays.

Before you ask, no, I did not add cinnamon. :)


I highly recommend participating in Taste & Create, and checking out The Bad Girl’s Kitchen.

48 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow...those little sayings were really funny! My kids would get a real kick out of them :-)

The muffins look delicious and I will have to go check out the grilled pork tenderloin recipe too. We eat pork tenderloin about once a week and I am DESPERATE for variations in how I can prepare it!

Thank you ma'am!

Jessica@Foodmayhem said...

Oh my, blueberries and cornbread together? Nom Nom Nom

Min said...

Oh those look good! I'll have to make some more! Blueberries, blackberries, it's all good.

I'm glad you were my pardner, and thanks for the uh, "sourdough fever." I got it bad!

The Blonde Duck said...

I love that! I'm going to have to check that out.

vanillasugarblog said...

That does go really well together...I wonder how buttermilk in this would taste?

Laura said...

I love Taste & Create too... I really missed it these past 2 months but should be back in gear in Feb.

I love northern (aka, sweet) cornbread. So there Mark Twain. :)

I also got paired with Min and remember being tempted by these muffins. Looks like I may need to check them!

Lori said...

whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat! You did not add cinnamon? Who are you? Where's Grace?

Paula said...

"The Butcher ... meat grinder ... behind in his work!" Oh lordy, I'm still laughing at that. I'm going to have to say that to somebody else at least 10 times today! We love cornbread. I've never had it with berries in it. Love the mini muffin and loaf trays!

Melanie said...

You are so funny. Always smiling when I read your posts. And the cornbread (with berries) looks fantastic.

MaryBeth said...

I have never heard of putting blueberries in a corn muffin, bur then again why not right? They look really good.

Heather said...

what a cool blog event!! this sounds delicious - i'll bet that the blueberries add such a wonderfully tart flavor. lovely pictures, too :D

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

I try to never miss T & C. I always come across such tasty dishes like this one all over the blogosphere.

Jaime said...

berries in cornbread? hmmm. i might have to participate in T&C one day - love the concept

Anonymous said...

Very clever and interesting event too! I've only had plain cornbread. For some reason I never thought you could add things into it. Well that's because I'm either unimaginative or hmmm...unimaginative lol

Gigi said...

What a neat event! And the muffins sound pretty neat as well. :P

Peter M said...

Oh stop it...your muffins are making so corny!

Anonymous said...

Haha, I absolutely lurve the butcher joke that I repeated it to everyone I bump into today! :P

I wonder if corny jokes just make cornbreads so much better :)

pigpigscorner said...

Intesresting combination. Looks really fluffy and delicious!

Robin said...

Yup I am a corn bread lover too. And corny jokes too!

Pam said...

This sounds really great - I love corn bread. It sounds like a great event too.

Anonymous said...

And it's fabulous, love the last photo, it made me smile!

Deborah said...

What great sayings, and a great recipe!!

Anonymous said...

A great way to start my monday, looking at delicious muffins while reading really good corny jokes... I'd like my muffin heated with lotsa butter.

La Bella Cooks said...

You can't beat a delicious hot muffin right from the oven. These look amazing.

Sara said...

Blueberry cornbread muffins sound amazing. I prefer my cornbread on the sweeter side, so I'm sure I'd love these!

Marjie said...

We all love cornbread around here, and I for one would love it with blueberries in it - as would the rest of the tribe!

Anonymous said...

ITs like dinner and dessert in one beautiful bite!

Lore said...

Love the combo of cornbread and blueberries; sounds perfect for a "get on your feet" breakfast!

Anonymous said...

Those look delicious. I'm also all for making corn muffins instead of corn bread. I love having my own individual portion. I've never thought of pairing fruit with the cornmeal. I'll definitely have to give it a whirl.

Anonymous said...

Blackberries and cornbread sounds like a great match. One of those muffins and some butter. Delightful!

Katie said...

Corn bread and anything sounds good to me! And with the fruit even better.

Vera said...

These look so yummy, Grace! Blackberries must be wonderful in the cornbread!

veggie belly said...

This looks yummy! Must have been fun to make :) Taste & Create sounds like a great blog event!

Bunny said...

I have yet to make anything with cornmeal except cornbread, why I don't know cause these look great!

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home said...

This looks great! I love the Twain quote too. His quotes are always the best!

Y said...

*groan* Yes you are corny. But wonderfully so :)

Blueberries and corn? Fantastic!

Rosie said...

Oh my goodness what a delight cornbread and blueberries -you got to love them :)

Rosie x

Maria said...

I love the berries in this recipe! Great addition!!

Dewi said...

Oh my, corn bread with blueberries. This sounds so delicious.
Cheers,
Elra

Sandie said...

Cute post. Your puns were a little corny ;-) but I loved them! Nice introduction to Taste & Create...

Anonymous said...

*jumping up and down so you can see me in the back* YUM! Totally. I've been eyeballing some muffin recipes w/corn & they're not anywhere near as corny as those one liners. Just kidding. I'm still snorting over the fruit flies one...I can never remember jokes. It's pathetic.

Lisa said...

Great looking muffins as usual, Grace. And the jokes....well....they made me laugh! Pass the corn muffins.

Anonymous said...

Nice choice.... Need to make some time for baking this week, it seems.

Emily said...

WOW, those were some pretty corny jokes but I liked them a whole lot. I wonder if you have any more of them up your sleeves?

Blackberry cornbread sounds perfect to a midwestern gal like myself.

LyB said...

I've never had fruity cornbread. I think I'm missing out. :)

Penny said...

From one Southern gal to another-Hush puppy! Love your blog and you humor.

Marie Reed said...

What a great idea to pair people up like that!

Jeanne said...

Oh, I wish we'd known each other in the days of the End of Month Egg on Toast Extravaganza!! Bantam of the Opera. Get ova-excited. etc etc ad nauseam - the puns just kept on coming!

These muffins look incredibly good and you've justu reminded me that I STILL need to sign up for Taste & Create...