Thanksgiving

Cornbread Disco

A video recipe for cornbread

Cornbread Disco by Jason Schreiber. Music by Jess Damuck.

MAPLE ORANGE CORNBREAD

MAKES 10 TO 12 SERVINGS  

Each November, an email exchange between my mother and me resurfaces. The conversation goes back more than ten years, which is a testament to both our forgetfulness and the resilience of modern technology. The subject: cornbread, and how. Each year the recipe is tweaked and changed, adapted and scaled. No more. I have put it down in ink now, for my mom and yours

FOR THE CORNBREAD
Pan Goo (below), for greasing the pan
2 cups (284 g) all-purpose flour
1 cup (115 g) stone-ground cornmeal
1-1/2 tsp (4.5 g) coarse salt
1 tsp (3 g) baking powder
1/2 tsp (3 g) baking soda
2 tsp (4 g) finely grated orange zest (from 1 orange) 3/4 c (159 g) granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1/4 cup (84 g) pure maple syrup, preferably dark and robust
1/2 cup (1 stick, 113 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup (250 mL) buttermilk, room temperature

FOR THE GLAZE
1/4 cup (62 mL) freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tbsp (42 g) pure maple syrup, preferably dark and robust
1 tbsp (14g) unsalted butter
coarse salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) with a rack in the center position. Brush a 9 x 2-inch square cake pan with Pan Goo.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, salt, baking powder, and baking soda, and set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, use your fingers to rub
the orange zest into the sugar, releasing all the fragrant oils. Whisk the eggs into the sugar one at a time until well combined. Slowly whisk in
the maple syrup, followed by the melted butter. Finally, whisk in the buttermilk. The mixture should be very smooth.

4. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the wet ingredients. Use a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon to gently stir the dry ingredients into the wet as you would pancake batter. Be careful not to overmix or the cake will become tough; leave some lumps of love. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.

5. Bake until the top springs back when gently pressed and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs, 35 to 40 minutes. 

6. Make the glaze while the cake is in the oven: In a small saucepan, combine the orange juice, maple syrup, butter, and salt. Set over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture boils. Continue boiling without stirring for 2 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat.

7. Transfer the cake pan to a wire rack. Brush the top of the cornbread with the maple orange glaze as soon as it comes out of the oven, then let it cool completely in the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.

STORAGE
Cornbread is really best eaten the day it’s made but will keep reasonably well at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

PAN GOO
1/4 cup (62 mL) neutral oil, such as safflower
1/3 cup (47 g) all-purpose flour.

In a small container with a lid, whisk the oil and flour together until combined. Brush onto baking pans in place of parchment paper or cooking spray. Keep it in the fridge for a couple of weeks. A month seems like maybe too long

From FRUIT CAKE: Recipes for the Curious Baker (William Morrow, 2020).

New Work: Fix Your Thanksgiving Fails - Videos for Bon Appetit

Bon Appetit Thanksgiving Video Series I teamed up with Mouthfeel Productions to create a series of Thanksgiving web videos for Bon Appetit featuring food editor Dawn Perry. Each video provides a simple trick to prevent the most common mishaps of the biggest meal of the year. Watch them after the jump, and stay tuned for more tips as the holidays approach!

http://youtu.be/KA2xffx-uMo

http://youtu.be/rL1z02c6PGI

http://youtu.be/DDZwQVDOMts

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