The Cornbread Gospels by Dragonwagon Crescent

Author:Dragonwagon, Crescent [Dragonwagon, Crescent]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Workman Publishing Company
Published: 2007-11-22T00:00:00+00:00

·M·E·N·U·

GUILFORD GARDEN SPOON SWOON

Sautéed Broccoli Rabe with Garlic and Olive Oil

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Fresh Corn Spoonbread

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Butternut Squash Chunks with Maple Syrup and a Squidge of Butter

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Tomatoes Stuffed with Spinach and Parmesan

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Ben & Jerry’s Coffee Heath Bar Crunch Ice Cream

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Brownies

IN PRAISE OF PORRIDGE

As we think about corn and the way it has taken root the world over, we must pay our dues to another widespread way—beside cornbread—the primal ingredients of cornmeal, water, salt come together the world over. When not being cooked by dry heat (that is, being baked, whether on a griddle or in an oven), these same three ingredients are usually becoming porridge.

Depending on who’s doing the eating, the porridges—the thicker ones similar in texture to spoonbreads—are known by different names. Native Americans called them sagamite, samp, nassasump, and suppawn. (Thinner versions were sofkee, known in the Southwest as atole or pinole.) These were among the main corn dishes that the eastern colonists found Indians cooking and eating when they arrived. The colonists quickly imitated these thicker porridges, which became “mush” or, if sweetened, “hasty pudding” or “Indian pudding.”

Next corn began its triumphal journey around the world, often in the form of this porridge. The North Italian’s polenta; the Romanian’s mamaliga; the East African’s ugali; the South African’s mealie, nshima, or sadza; the West African’s fufu (which was usually composed of yam, manioc, and/or plantain, mixed with corn) or putu—all are the same, cornmeal cooked in water until as thick, in most cases, as mashed potatoes.

Everywhere corn mush took root, it served as a filling backdrop for whatever one might ladle upon it. This was often stews (across cultures, these stews usually contained greens and/or beans) and sauces (often either spicy-hot or tomato-based). The recipes in Great Go-Withs, pages 297–326, pay homage to these universal pairings. Top your spoonbread—porridge’s close cousin—with a mess of greens or a heap of beans, and dig in.

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