Say what??? Yes, you heard it, I’m not stuttering, that’s what this is. This isn’t a light fluffy traditional cornbread. This cornbread is dense heavy and savory. It’s a Northern Pennsylvania specialty that I learned about in college on a road trip visiting a few friends at one of the many fine (but really cold) colleges in that area. I first had this, where most people have great food, in old school diner in the college town I was in. It was like 3 AM, and eveyone was, well…well hydrated shall we say…and had this in front of them chowing down. This recipe will make you and 8×8 pan.
- 1c. flour
- 1/4 c. fine ground corn meal
- 2 oz. country ham (or prosciutto is you can find ham), small diced
- 1 tsp. chopped sage
- 1 tsp. chopped thyme
- 3 tbsp. butter
- 1/2 c. cheddar cheese
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1c. milk
- 1/4 c. chopped onion
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1/2 ts salt
- 1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1/2 c. fresh corn kernels
- Grease up your 8×8 cake pan with some spray or butter and set is aside fora little it. Turn on your oven and preheat it to 400.
- Take one tablespoon of the butter and melt over low heat on a saute pan. Add your onions and cook them down slow, until they’re nice and caramelized.
- Add your ham, garlic, and herbs. Slowly render out the fat from the ham. After about 5 minutes, add thes rest of the butter and cut the heat. You want the rest of the butter to just melt.
Butter meltin’s and onion cookin’s - Time for the wet ingredients. Take your milk and egg and lightly beat them together.
- Now for the dry ingredients. Take the flour, baking powder, cornmeal, brown sugar and salt, and whisk them together, just to get them combined.
- Add your dry ingredients in to you wet ingredeitns slowly, mixing them with a whisk until there are no lumps left
- Fold in your ham, onion, and butter mixture, with a spatula or a wooden spoon. Then fold in the corn and cheese.
- Throw this into the oven for about 20 minutes. To test if it’s done, do the toothpick test. (Pop the tooth pick all the way down to the bottom, if it comes out dry it’s good).
- Let this cool for about 20-30 minutes before you try to cut it. It’s going to be very fragile before that.
I like serving this either toasted in the oven or griddled with some butter, with maple syrup and more butter on top, just like a pancake. I’ve seen people do whipped cream and cream cheese on this as well. How do you like it? Let me know in the comments.
Happy Eating,
-The Doctor