hot! water! cornbread!
I love it so much
Reader! I’m sick! I hate being sick! It’s the worst! I turn into an actual giant baby. I cry, and I pout, and I roll around in my bed and honestly cry some more. I don’t experience the human condition known as allergies (brag), and I honestly don’t get sick very much (brag again), which is actually a huge surprise for someone like me. So, when I don’t feel well, I really don’t know how to handle it.
Considering that I’m sick, you might have thought this was going to be a newsletter about soup. But I’ve already done that. And you can bet your sweet ass I’ve made that soup once this week already. It’s the easiest soup in the world to make. I’ve also ordered several kinds of soup—pho, chicken noodle, avgolemono. Damn, I really love soup. I’m sure I’ll have another soup recipe sometime soon, but this week is not that week. Anyway!
This week is about hot water cornbread.
In addition to being sad when I’m sick, I’m also very nostalgic and honestly extremely hungry. I’ve never been the kind of person who “loses my appetite” when I’m sick or anxious or tired or overwhelmed. I’ve literally never been someone who’s been “so busy they forgot to eat.” If anything, I’ve been so busy or so sick I’ve needed to eat two lunches just to keep going. Anyway, that’s where this week’s recipe comes in.
Hot water cornbread is something I used to eat all the time when I was growing up. I’ve got family in Alabama, baby! And I’ve been craving it for, well, forever. It’s not really cornbread, in my opinion. It’s not fluffy and light. It’s dense and crunchy. It takes like fifteen minutes to make, start to finish, and it’s got like four ingredients total. Perfect for when you’re sick and want a lot of something to eat while you rewatch Step Mom for the hundredth time just to feel something!
Growing up, I’d eat it with black-eyed peas and collard greens and white rice and fried chicken. I also think it’s great with bacon and eggs for breakfast, and it comes together a lot faster than biscuits! It’s also great with soup! Or gumbo, jambalaya, stews, chowders—anywhere you might find a roll or a biscuit or a piece of toast, you can sub in hot water cornbread (to me, personally!). It’s kind of like a hushpuppy in many ways, but better. (To me, personally!)
I think my new favorite way to eat it is with a swipe of some sour cherry preserves, but tbh, any jelly or jam would be amazing. I’ve also been smearing it with butter and then drizzling it with honey because I’m not an idiot! I also may or may not have doused it in a lot of chili crisp, which was a brilliant idea if I do say so myself.
In summation, I think you should make hot water cornbread as soon as humanly possible. Serve it as a pre-dinner snack with a bunch of spreads and sauces. Serve it alongside dinner to dunk and dip. Eat it for breakfast with your eggs, or eat it as breakfast itself with jam and coffee. Whatever you do, just eat it!
hot water cornbread: ingredients
Some people add sugar to their mixes. Some people add flour. I don’t do either! I have, however, added some fresh corn to the mix. Just crazy enough to work? I think so. This recipe makes 12 pieces of hot water cornbread. That’s “four servings.” Or, if you’re me… one serving over several hours. Don’t be like me. You should share.
2 cups yellow corn meal: Not instant corn meal, not cornbread mix. Just good old-fashioned yellow corn meal.
1 tablespoon kosher salt: It’s a lot of salt! But it’s not that much.
14 or so cranks of crushed black pepper: This is optional! (Personally, I like it, especially with jam! My buried hot take is that I think everyone will be salt and peppering their fruit this spring and summer!) Maybe one day I’ll measure out my black pepper, but for now, we’re working in increments of seven!
1/2 cup defrosted yellow corn: Frozen vegetables for the win! Year-round freshness! I don’t see any reason to shuck and trim a fresh cob for this. Frozen is perfect. Also, this is certainly not included in any hot water cornbread I’ve ever come across in the wild, but I really, really love it. If you’re a hot water cornbread purist, don’t hate me! Just try it! I think it brings something nice to the whole endeavor.
1 1/2 cups boiling water: Usually, I wouldn’t include water in a recipe list, but it’s, like, the reason it’s called hot water cornbread, after all. The water’s got to be hot! I boil my water in the microwave in a pyrex measuring cup that’s microwave safe. Have an electric kettle? Me too! I still do it this way because I am very lazy. You can boil your water in whatever way makes you feel best!
1 cup neutral oil: This is for shallow frying! Depending on what pan you're frying in, you might need more or less than a full cup. You need the oil to be about 1/4 inch deep in your pan. I used avocado oil because it’s what I had. Vegetable oil, canola oil—all will work fine. If you were making these for breakfast and had some leftover bacon grease, that would be amazing! You should definitely do that!
hot water cornbread: method
Start by setting a wire rack over a baking sheet. This is where you’ll drop your cooked rounds off to cool and let some of the oil drip off. That’s right, baby. We’re frying!
In a medium-sized bowl, mix your defrosted corn, corn meal, salt, and pepper (if using!). Once that’s combined, add your boiling water, a half cup at a time, and stir. Every time I make this recipe, I’ve used a different amount of water! The most recent time (yesterday), I used about a cup and a quarter. What you’re looking for is a uniform dough that’s the texture of playdoh. It shouldn’t be sandy, and it shouldn’t be soupy. If you can form it into a ball without it falling apart or crumbling, you’re there! If you think you’ve added too much liquid, that’s fine! Just add a bit more corn meal.
Once your dough is in a good place, form it into 12 balls slightly larger than golf ball-sized, and prepare to fry. I personally like to shape mine into disks right before I drop them in the oil, but you can do that now if that makes you feel better! The discs should be a little more than a quarter of an inch thick.
Now, set a skillet (I use a 10-inch cast iron) with your oil of choice over medium-high heat. The ideal temperature here is 350° F. If you’re not sure if you’re there, drop a bit of the dough into the center. If it starts bubbling rapidly right away, you’re ready to go!
Next, working in batches of four, form your balls into just over 1/4-inch thick disks and drop them into the oil, making sure to drop them away from you so that you don’t splatter hot oil in your direction. There’s a video in this carousel if you need a visual!
Fry them for two minutes per side, and again, flip them away from you when you flip them! I use a fish spatula to flip, but use whatever device keeps your hands away from the oil! Once they’re done (four minutes total), set them on the wire rack to cool. If you find your second batch is browning faster than your first, don’t panic! Just adjust your temp.
Once they’re all done, if I were you, I’d sprinkle them with a lot of flaky salt, but that’s extra credit.
Now, enjoy! Hot water cornbread! Let me know how it goes!
Ok, love you bye,
Garrett