Thanksgiving Dinner - Spoon Bread

As I said in an earlier post, I like to make some recipes that harken back to our American roots.  Once of those recipes is Christiana Campbell's Tavern Spoon Bread.  The recipe is from "The Williamsburg Cookbook" which is a compilation of the recipes from the Colonial Williamsburg restaurants.  The recipes in the book make me think of Colonial Americans and the sacrifices made by our forefathers. 

This recipe is a corn bread that is made in a baking dish and served hot.  It is light and fluffy from the eggs in it.  It is not a dense bread like a corn muffin.  The spoon bread is a must have at the Christiana Campbell's Tavern, which is said to have served George Washington.  If it is good enough for George it is good enough for me.  Try this recipe and enjoy it as you celebrate Thanksgiving.

The paragraph before the recipe states, "It is said that this recipe 'just happened' when a mixture used to make a corn bread enriched by milk and eggs was left forgotten in a hot oven.  Virginians have ever since made spoon bread on of their favorite foods.  It is excellent served with herring roe, bacon or fried apples."

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups water
2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups cornmeal
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp sugar
2 TBS butter
5 eggs
1 TBS baking powder

How to do it:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease a shallow baking dish.

Combine the water and milk in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer.

Add the cornmeal, salt, sugar and butter. 

Stir over a medium heat until thickened, about 5 minutes.

Remove from heat.

Beat the eggs in a separate bowl with the baking powder, until light and fluffy.  Add them to the cornmeal mixture.  Mix well.

Pour into the prepared dish and bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes.

Serve hot.

Tips:

Be sure to temper the eggs in with the cornmeal mixture.  Slowly add about 1/3 of the cornmeal mixture to the eggs, mixing as you do so.  Once it is all incorporated and warmed, combine with the remaining mixture.  Adding the cold eggs to the hot mixture will result in scrambled eggs.