Saturdate with Southern Plate: mexican cornbread

Yesterday, I mentioned that my parents and I ate a meal of mostly vegetables. It was wonderful, but I haAaAated that meal when I was a kid. Every summer, somebody in the church would give my parents a bunch of squash, okra, and such, and my parents would make an entire meal of vegetables. As a picky eater (at the time), I gagged at least thirty times during that meal.

However, when I showed up to GA, my parents had a bunch of vegetables, and I actually ASKED to have a meal of all vegetables. As we were planning the meal, I offered to make "Mexican Cornbread" from Southern Plate. My parents were skeptical because they have had some superior mexican cornbread, and my mom was suspicious when the recipe called for sugar in the cornbread (she says if you use sugar in your cornbread you're not from the south), but they agreed to let me try this recipe on them. This recipe is only in the cookbook, and not on Southern Plate's website.

The recipe called for an iron skillet, but I decided to just try it in a glass casserole dish. I closely monitored my cornbread, making sure that it had just the right color of brown on top. When I was satisfied with its "browness," I pulled my beautiful cornbread out of the oven.

As I stared at my perfectly brown cornbread, I imagined my parent's praises as they ate the cornbread.

"This mexican cornbread is fantastically moist!"

"This mexican cornbread is perfectly brown!"

"The jalapeno distribution is perfect in this mexican cornbread."

I was soon startled from my daydream as soon as I tried to flip the cornbread out of the pan. I didn't loosen it at all...AT ALL, and when I flipped the pan to get the cornbread out the insides came out but not the crust.

My mom came over and worked with a rubber spatula to loosen the crust, and then she placed it on top of the pile of loose cornbread. I just stood there pouting at yet another of my cooking escapades ending in disaster.



When suppertime came, I placed my ugly pile of cornbread on the table, and soon my parents praises began.

"This cornbread is pretty good if you just use your fingers to pick up each bite."

"This tastes really good even though it looks bad."

Although my mexican cornbread was ugly, it tasted good, and that's what matters most, but if you try this recipe just make sure you loosen the sides before you flip it.