Description
This southern spoonbread has southern roots and is indeed a delicacy to eat. It’s super easy to make and it’s super light and fluffy with a delicious flavor. Serve this as a side for holidays and you’ll get rave reviews!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 4 large eggs, separated
- 1 cup cornmeal, (I used white, but yellow is fine too)
- 3 cups whole or two percent milk, divided
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Pinch of granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter plus more for greasing baking dish
- Butter for serving
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease a 3-inch deep, 1 1/2 quart baking or soufflé dish.
- Add the egg whites to a bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form and set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the cornmeal and 1 cup of the milk. Set aside.
- Add the remaining 2 cups of milk to a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat, just until it’s scalding hot, but not boiling.
- Turn the heat to medium-low. Add the cornmeal-milk mixture to the saucepan and whisk constantly until the mixture becomes thick, about 10 minutes, and immediately remove from the heat.
- Add the salt, sugar, and butter, and whisk until combined. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, whisking thoroughly after each addition.
- Gently fold in the egg whites with a spatula. Don’t mix, simply fold them in very gently, going down under the batter and up the sides of the pan and over each time, until you see faint streaks of the egg white remaining.
- Transfer the batter to the buttered baking dish and level it out with an offset spatula or back of a spoon. Bake until the spoonbread is golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour.
- Serve with butter, optional. This spoonbread is so good, I usually eat it with nothing.
Notes
- This spoonbread can be wrapped and reheated the following day. It won’t be as fresh as the day it was made, but it will still be quite delicious.
- I have not tried freezing this spoonbread but I don’t suggest doing so. I believe it would deflate more and not retain its fluffy texture once frozen.
- If using self-rising cornmeal, I suggest cutting the salt in half.