Growing up, Beans and Cornbread was a staple meal in our house. It sounds simple and boring, but it was actually one of my favorites. Mom would cook up a vat (I exaggerate) of Great Northern beans and throw in a chunk of leftover ham for flavor. But the real star of the meal was the from-scratch cornbread. To be honest, it’s what kept us from rebelling about the beans.
We ALWAYS slathered it with butter, and poured our homemade maple syrup on top.
The cornbread recipe I’m sharing today is a little different than the one we had growing up. My mom used regular cornmeal in her recipe. Over the years I discovered that I liked the flavor and texture of coarse-ground cornmeal better. One time, I even ground dried corn into flour. The flavor of that cornbread was fantastic.
But not everyone has access to a grain mill. Another way to get great flavor is to use masa harina instead of regular cornmeal. I’m not sure how to describe it, other than to say that the flavor is more intense. More corn-y? But in a very good way.
Another reason I love masa harina is that it’s prepared traditionally. Dried corn is soaked/cooked in an alkaline solution, which is usually lime water (not from lime juice), also called calcium hydroxide. This process is known as nixtamalization. It makes the corn more digestible, and allows you to absorb the niacin, AKA vitamin B3. In fact, if you eat a diet high in corn that isn’t properly prepared, it can lead to malnutrition!
But let’s get on with the cornbread…
The rest of the recipe is very similar to traditional Yankee (or Northern) cornbread. Whisk together the masa harina, all-purpose flour, salt, and baking powder.
In a measuring cup, mix the milk, maple syrup, and egg together with a fork.
Pour in some melted butter. Make sure to leave about 2 tablespoons in the pan!
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.
Whisk just until everything in moistened and there aren’t any dry patches of flour.
Scrape the batter into the buttered baking dish and spread it out with a spatula.
Bake in a hot oven until the edges are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Now, this picture isn’t completely honest. This is NOT how I recommend eating your cornbread, but it looks pretty for pictures. The proper way to eat it is to split it in half first. That way you can get a higher butter to cornbread ratio. I always err on the side of maximum butter consumption.
This is the perfect accompaniment to a pot of chili, bean soup, chicken wild rice, or just about any soup! When I made this recipe my husband said, “Cornbread is really good. It goes with a lot of stuff.” I think that was a hint that I could make it more often…
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