This dish is fluffy, soft, and only lightly sweet, like a cross between cornbread and a soufflé. A perfect BBQ, holiday, ANY DAY side dish!
Ingredients
¼cupunsalted butter, plus 1 teaspoon for greasing the baking dish
3½cupswhole milk,divided
1cupfinely-ground yellow cornmeal
3tablespoonsgranulated sugar
1 teaspoonMorton kosher salt
4largeeggs, separated
1teaspoonfinely ground black pepper
freshly cracked black pepper, butter, and honey,for serving
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 2½-quart baking dish with 1 teaspoon of the butter; set aside.
In a large saucepan over medium heat, warm 2½ cups of the milk until small bubbles form around the perimeter of the saucepan.
While milk is warming, in a small bowl, stir together cornmeal, sugar, salt, and remaining 1 cup milk.
Slowly whisk the cornmeal mixture into the warmed milk. With the saucepan still over medium heat, continue to cook, stirring gently with a spatula, until the mixture is thickened and starts to boil. Immediately reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 4-6 minutes, stirring gently and continuously with a spatula while scraping the bottom of the saucepan. Take care to not let it burn. It's ready for the next step once the cornmeal mixture stays pulled away from the sides when you scrape around the perimeter of the saucepan with the spatula.
Remove saucepan from the heat and stir in the butter. Set aside.
In a small bowl, with an electric mixer, beat egg yolks on medium-high speed for 30-40 seconds, until well combined and a bit lighter in color.
Stir about ¼ cup of the hot cornmeal mixture into the beaten egg yolks to temper the eggs (this stops them from becoming cooked). Do this one more time with another ¼ cup of the hot cornmeal mixture. Then add all of the egg yolk/cornmeal mixture back to the saucepan of hot cornmeal mixture, along with the black pepper, and stir well to evenly combine.
In a small bowl, with an electric mixer, beat egg whites until they are white and stiff peaks form. Gently fold one fourth of the whipped egg whites into the cornmeal mixture. Repeat with 3 more one-fourth amounts of whipped egg whites.
Make sure spoon bread batter is evenly combined, then transfer to prepared baking dish in an even layer. Bake, uncovered, for about 45 minutes, or until puffed and lightly golden brown. Remove from oven, let rest 5 minutes to settle, then sprinkle with a little freshly cracked black pepper. Serve with butter and honey.
Love this recipe? Please leave a Stars Rating and a Comment below! Thank you so much! - Brenda
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by Spoonacular. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee accuracy. If your health depends on nutrition information, please calculate again with your own favorite calculator.