Spoon Bread

Today's recipe is a southern dish known as Spoon Bread. I had never had Spoon Bread until I went to Williamsburg, Virginia, on my honeymoon. It's a very southern dish, and even though I spent many of my formative years in the south, we lived in Florida which is too far south to be south. Make any sense?

While on our honeymoon we ate at Christiana Campbell's, one of the historical Williamsburg venues. Servers dress in period costume and the menu is inspired by traditional colonial foods. When our server brought our meal, he told us, "This is Spoon Bread and it looooves butter," in his sweet southern drawl. We learned it's a soft custardy corn bread and it does indeed love butter. We also loved it. I purchased a Colonial Williamsburg cookbook while we were there, and have enjoyed this lovely dish for the past 24 years. It's a very homey dish, and both simple and very inexpensive to make. If you like cornbread, I guarantee you'll love it.

Christiana Campbell’s Tavern Spoon Bread

1 1⁄ 2 c. boiling water
2 c. milk
1 1/2 t. sugar
1 1⁄ 4 t. salt
2 T. butter
1 1⁄ 2 c. cornmeal
5 eggs
1 T. baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease a large shallow dish.
Combine milk and water and heat to simmer.
Add the cornmeal, salt, sugar and butter and stir over medium heat until mixture thickens (the recipe says five minutes but it never takes that long for me).
Remove from the heat.
Beat the eggs with the baking powder until they are very light and fluffy, then add them to the cornmeal mixture. Mix well.
Pour into prepared dish.
Bake for 45 minutes. Serve hot -- and with butter.

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Source: The Williamsburg Cookbook

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