Spoonbread in September

I had a blast cooking with about 150 people from across the country this morning! 😱 My first time leading a virtual cooking class! “In the Kitchen with The Amateur Apron” was a session for the National 4-H Volunteer Conference! 4-H has played a major role in my life, and my husband’s life, and when I was approached by a blog reader to do this segment I knew I wanted to do it! Thanks to Darrell for being my “sous chef” / assistant / camera guy / picture-taking blogger husband. It has been so sweet to watch photos roll in from participants and just to actually cook alongside so many awesome 4-H people all across the country! We baked spoonbread, which is a dish native to my hometown!

A Regional Dish

Spoonbread is regional dish that is traditionally served at Historic Boone Tavern in my hometown of Berea, Kentucky. I’m not sure what makes up the “region” where you can find this dish but I have seen it on restaurant menus as far north as Columbus, Ohio and as far south as Savannah, Georgia. It is a souffle-like cornbread dish and many consider it to be a side. It is served as a side in the dining room at Boone Tavern. However, I’ve also seen it on menus as an appetizer or dessert.

It is traditionally served with butter and/or honey. I like it with both. Other recipes have topped it with fruit like blackberries or blueberries as more of a dessert, or peppers for something more savory. In this morning’s virtual cooking class, a number of participants said they thought bacon would be a good topping for it!

I still don’t own a Spoonbread Baker from Tater Knob Pottery but one day I will! I used a small casserole dish for today’s cooking purposes.

A Word to the Gluten Free

Cornmeal is said to be naturally gluten free however it is often packaged on equipment that also packages flour or other gluten products so it is often hard to find cornmeal that is packaged in a way that makes it clear that it is gluten free. I generally stick to finding some that makes no mention of a shared facility with wheat products and that doesn’t include anything gluten related in the ingredients. However, as always, I am including my disclaimer on this post… which basically says, everyone is responsible for doing their own homework and you know what is best for you.

This recipe has been adapted from the official recipe used by the Spoonbread Festival in Berea, Kentucky.

Ingredients

3 Cups Whole Milk
3 Large Eggs
1 Cup Plain Yellow Cornmeal
4 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, plus some for buttering dish
1.5 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Salt

Suggested Tools

Whisk
Oven-Safe Casserole Dish
Thermometer
Medium-to-Large size Nonstick Pot
Hand Mixer

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter your casserole dish and set aside.

2. In a medium-to-large nonstick pot, heat milk to scalding over medium-high heat. Stay close by and check the temperature often using a candy or meat thermometer. Reduce heat to medium.

3. Slowly add cornmeal to pot, whisking vigorously. Allow “mush” to boil, continually stirring to eliminate any lumps.

4. Remove from heat and stir in butter until melted.

5. Allow the mush to cool while you beat the eggs with salt and baking powder, bringing to a froth.

6. Add the eggs to the mush and mix with hand mixer for about 4 minutes.

7. Pour into buttered-baker. Bake for 30-45 minutes or until slightly browned and golden.

Traditionally served hot with butter and/or honey.

Milk is considered scalding at 181 degrees.

Spoonbread and Family

Spoonbread has a special place in the hearts of my family! Not necessarily the food itself, but moreso the sense of pride from coming together to work on a project. For about 15 years, my family helped coordinate a festival dedicated to the dish. My father has since retired and while we are no longer part of the festival (it also had to be cancelled this year due to COVID), it was a big part of our lives from July - September each year although Dad’s work began in more like March (or I guess the week after it ended each year lol).

Each of us had a unique role in the planning and execution of the festival. Dad obviously as the only full-time staff person for the organization that hosted the event. Mom as one of the founding organizers when it began in the 90s and then as dad’s right hand in organizing booths and mapping out the layout. For us kids, our duties changed over the years, as we were pretty young when my dad first got started with the organization. My sister and I have done a lot of different things from manning Kiddie Land inflatables and the information booth to checking in vendors and just being an extra set of hands. Over time though, we also found our niches. Leanna loved to photograph the many events of the festival, climbing up the ladder on firetrucks to get the most amazing shots at the hot air balloon glow to capturing the excitement on the faces of so many families in the community who would come out for a weekend of affordable family fun. I developed the social media platforms for the festival in college as part of a service-oriented social media class (I majored in PR) and later redesigned the website. Managing that turned into my focus each year. My brother and brother-in-law were the muscle and the guys with trucks and who could be trusted on the gators and golf carts to help vendors set up, get elderly to their vehicles, transport tents and chairs and everything imaginable. My husband jumped right into the action, as my boyfriend and the next year as my fiance, helping my sister oversee teen volunteers. He also enjoyed doing things like judging the eating contest haha.

We’d spend every weekend for a couple months driving to Berea to help with the preparations. Assembling mailings, organizing goody bags for registered events, folding and sorting so many t-shirts for the t-shirt sales booth to the tractor show and motorcycle show. We would take family trips to the store to buy cart after cart full of soda for the drink booth. The festival weekend always meant super early mornings, late nights, tired feet, sunburnt faces. There were so many amazing people who volunteered year after year. I started to type them out and realized I would inevitably forget several so I won’t list them. But hundreds of volunteers helping put on such a fun time for the community. It was really special.

I’d actually never tried baking spoonbread until this year. I guess where it’s not longer a big part of our year it just seemed like a fun idea. The festival was traditionally held on the third full weekend of September and it was the only time I ever ate spoonbread each year. Knowing it wouldn’t be part of this September made me want to give it a try. I’m so glad I was able to share it with people across the country today! My different worlds colliding, haha… 4-H, blogging, spoonbread. It was a really neat experience!

What I’m Wearing

Disclaimer: I am not a dietitian or medical professional and while I share what ingredients work for me or what I choose to eat (at my own risk) while dining out, I advise you do your homework when choosing ingredients and places to eat. I highly encourage everyone to do their own research when it comes to the products they cook with or restaurant’s procedures. I do not have celiac disease but rather a gluten-intolerance and I’m not an expert on gluten or other food intolerances, autoimmune diseases, or food allergies. I simply share the ingredients I have found work for me, the places where I’ve dined and my personal experiences.