Spoonbread
Popular in Virginia, the Carolinas and elsewhere in North America, spoonbread has a long history thought to date back to the Sewee tribe of the South Carolina Lowcountry. Somewhat closer to soufflé than cornbread, its tender texture comes from eggs and the creamed corn. It’s slightly sweet from the kernels, a bit of sugar and vanilla extract, but gently tangy from sour cream, relying upon simple ingredients that come together into something great. This version uses fresh or frozen crawfish, but don’t worry if crawfish isn’t available to you: Spoonbread is still wonderful without it.
- Total:
- Serves: 12 persons
Ingredients
- ¾cup unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing the pan and serving
- 1 ¼cups all-purpose flour
- ¾cup stone-ground cornmeal
- ¼cup granulated sugar
- 2teaspoons coarse kosher salt
- 1teaspoon baking powder
- ½teaspoon black pepper
- 1(15-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained (or use 1 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels from 2 large ears of corn)
- 1(14.75-ounce) can creamed corn
- 1 ½cups sour cream
- 2large eggs, beaten
- 1teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1pound shelled frozen crawfish, defrosted and patted dry, or 1 pound shelled fresh crawfish (or skip crawfish altogether)
- A handful of chopped chives (optional)
Instructions
Step 1
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.Step 2
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, baking powder and pepper.Step 3
To another medium bowl, add the melted butter, corn kernels, creamed corn, sour cream, eggs and vanilla, and stir to combine.Step 4
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just combined, making sure not to overmix.Step 5
Fold in crawfish and chives, if using. Transfer the batter to the prepared baking dish and spread it evenly to the edges of the pan.Step 6
Bake until set and lightly browned, about 40 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the middle to test. If it comes out clean, pull it out of the oven. If not, bake the spoonbread for another 5 to 10 minutes. Garnish with extra chives, if desired, and serve the spoonbread hot, with butter.