Who don't love some beans and cornbread. I love em. I had no idea what I was going to eat for my dinner tonight, so when I saw a bag of mixed beans in the pantry today, I knew dinner would be beans and cornbread. (I am excluding cornbread from my bread fast.) So I have been cooking the beans for the past few hours trying to get them softened. I think they probably need another hour to be perfect, but I exhausted my patience awhile ago and ate a bowl with a chunk of cornbread.
At one time, I was a great fan of Eddie Murphy (recall the Mr. T and GI Joe bits), and when I hear the word “cornbread,” I am always reminded of the scene in “Life” featuring Eddie and Martin Lawrence in the mess hall of the prison. A huge man asks Martin if he's gon' eat his cornbread. I have not watched this movie for years, but I still consider it to be Eddie Murphy's masterpiece.
A guy also told me that I nicknamed him “Cornbread” in high school, but I have no recollection of that. Then there's that Louis Jordan song “Beans and Cornbread.” Everyone knows the chorus of that tune, “beans and cornbread had a fight,” though some might have thought the lyrics were “beans and coffee,” which is not unreasonable.
My bag of mixed beans contained pintos and what appeared to be navy beans. Usually I soak my beans overnight, but I did not consider cooking them today until I arrived home. So I just boiled them for about an hour and then lowered the heat and covered them for a couple hours more. As I said, I already ate a bowl before they completely finished because they smelled good. The beans' texture should be smooth, but my early sample was not smooth yet. I also added some Sandwich Sprinkle (a nice seasoning blend, though a tad salty), a bit more water, and half of an onion which I chopped largely. Good beans. Musical fruit. Everyone knows that tune, also.
Cornbread was simply cornmeal mix, eggs, a little honey, baking powder and soda, and maybe two tablespoons of butter, part of which I used to grease the pan. I melted the butter and mixed it in, then spread it into my dish. I will have to get the wife's opinion, but I think it tastes good, with a very subtle sweetness from the honey. It might be slightly dry, but that's fine because I want it to withstand the fury of hot beans and juices.
4 comments:
This looks delicious!!! I could taste it as I read, I swear! We always called cornbread Johnny Cake... I have heard that once or twice otherwise and I don't know if the real Johnny Cake is different than cornbread or what... but, my Grandma Phoebe would make it with bean soup and it was phenomenal... I feel like I forgot about it... thanks for reminding me! :)
I did a quick google for Johnny Cakes, and it seems like some of the pics were little flat skillet- fried crispy edged delights, and some pics were cornbread like I think of it.
I thought the beans were excellent. I need a bit more practice with cornbread, but one or two more tries and I should have it.
Glad I could remind you of good things.
My Mother would put a little oil in the pan she was going to make the cornbread in, stick it in the oven until it got hot and then put the cornbread batter in the pan. Made for a nice crispy crust.
Sheri, that sounds like a good method. I have a little-used cast-iron skillet that would be perfect. Next time I will try it.
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