Its been a long time since I was in the Army, in fact I went in just 50
years ago. They used to have cornbread often in the mess hall. It was
unlike any I have had in restaurants or that my wife makes or that comes
out of a box. It was not sweet and had a significant corn taste and was a
tad on the dry side. Most of our cooks seemed to be from the South (US)
and maybe that had something to do with it. If anyone has a recipe or a
source or an idea I would appreciate it.

Thanks in advance.

--
JakeInHartsel

"Glenn Jacobs" > wrote in message
. ..
> Its been a long time since I was in the Army, in fact I went in just 50
> years ago. They used to have cornbread often in the mess hall. It was
> unlike any I have had in restaurants or that my wife makes or that comes
> out of a box. It was not sweet and had a significant corn taste and was a
> tad on the dry side. Most of our cooks seemed to be from the South (US)
> and maybe that had something to do with it. If anyone has a recipe or a
> source or an idea I would appreciate it.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> --
> JakeInHartsel

Look here it is the Navy recipe - I suspect all the military used the same
recipes.

http://nll3.navsup.navy.mil/docs/recipe/D01400.pdf

This will give you an idea - you'll need adobe acrobat.

Dimitri

Don't know but is this similar to what you talking about?

There is a "poverty" version of cornbread my family ate -- when, toward
the end of the month, we only had staples left in the cupboard.

Some cornmeal
Salt to taste
A lot of boiling water (not just hot, boiling)

Mix cornmeal and salt in a heat-proof bowl (we used a big crock bowl).
Stirring constantly, add boiling water and mix vigorously until cornmeal
is "cooked" and all of the water is absorbed. [Don't concern yourself
with measurements, the cornmeal will absorb "all" of the hot water if it
is hot enough -- best to add too much water rather than too little, just
continue to stir.] The batter will be dense, not runny.

Wet hands in cold water and form pones (or you can use the large
mixing spoon to form a pone) and place in hot oil (in the '50s we
sometimes used a mixture of Crisco shortening and bacon drippings but when
we cook it nowadays we use vegetable oil).

Fry on medium to high heat until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and
enjoy. Especially good with collard, mustard, and turnip greens; soups,
stews, and most beans.

Just leave the sugar out of a recipe (or cut the amount used). The real
secret is in the corn-meal. Government issue is superior to any that you
can buy in a supermarket. See if you can find someone eligible for
"commodities" if they are still distributed. Find a good mill that is
grinding !

On 9-Mar-2004, Gerlonda Battles > wrote:

> Don't know but is this similar to what you talking about?
>
> There is a "poverty" version of cornbread my family ate -- when, toward
> the end of the month, we only had staples left in the cupboard.
>
> Some cornmeal
> Salt to taste
> A lot of boiling water (not just hot, boiling)
>
> Mix cornmeal and salt in a heat-proof bowl (we used a big crock bowl).
> Stirring constantly, add boiling water and mix vigorously until cornmeal
> is "cooked" and all of the water is absorbed. [Don't concern yourself
> with measurements, the cornmeal will absorb "all" of the hot water if it
> is hot enough -- best to add too much water rather than too little, just
> continue to stir.] The batter will be dense, not runny.
>
> Wet hands in cold water and form pones (or you can use the large
> mixing spoon to form a pone) and place in hot oil (in the '50s we
> sometimes used a mixture of Crisco shortening and bacon drippings but when
> we cook it nowadays we use vegetable oil).
>
> Fry on medium to high heat until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and
> enjoy. Especially good with collard, mustard, and turnip greens; soups,
> stews, and most beans.

This is not cornbread; it is a southern staple, or was 50 years ago -
cornmeal mush. When my dad was laid off for several months, we ate mush at
least one meal a day, sometimes more, for weeks. It was good fried in
government commodity butter and topped with syrup. Or commodity cheese on
top made it tolerable at lunch. I could not stand to look at the stuff for
years because we had burned out on it; now, I will eat Polenta, it's foriegn
cousin<wink>.

Thank you for your service.

Curiously, southern cornbread usually has more sugar than northern
cornbread.

--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Louis Cohen
Living la vida loca at N37° 43' 7.9" W122° 8' 42.8"


"Glenn Jacobs" > wrote in message
. ..
> Its been a long time since I was in the Army, in fact I went in just 50
> years ago. They used to have cornbread often in the mess hall. It was
> unlike any I have had in restaurants or that my wife makes or that comes
> out of a box. It was not sweet and had a significant corn taste and was a
> tad on the dry side. Most of our cooks seemed to be from the South (US)
> and maybe that had something to do with it. If anyone has a recipe or a
> source or an idea I would appreciate it.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> --
> JakeInHartsel

On Wed, 10 Mar 2004 01:53:56 GMT, "LAllin" >
wrote:

> we ate mush at
> least one meal a day, sometimes more, for weeks. It was good fried in
> government commodity butter and topped with syrup.

Oh, my god... THAT is the best way to eat mush.!!!

The other good way to eat cornmeal is is when it's made by
an Italian (or an Italian at heart) who calls it polenta.


Practice safe eating - always use condiments

"Gerlonda Battles" > wrote in message
...
>
> Don't know but is this similar to what you talking about?
>
> There is a "poverty" version of cornbread my family ate -- when, toward
> the end of the month, we only had staples left in the cupboard.
>
> Some cornmeal
> Salt to taste
> A lot of boiling water (not just hot, boiling)
>
> Mix cornmeal and salt in a heat-proof bowl (we used a big crock bowl).
> Stirring constantly, add boiling water and mix vigorously until cornmeal
> is "cooked" and all of the water is absorbed. [Don't concern yourself
> with measurements, the cornmeal will absorb "all" of the hot water if it
> is hot enough -- best to add too much water rather than too little, just
> continue to stir.] The batter will be dense, not runny.
>
> Wet hands in cold water and form pones (or you can use the large
> mixing spoon to form a pone) and place in hot oil (in the '50s we
> sometimes used a mixture of Crisco shortening and bacon drippings but when
> we cook it nowadays we use vegetable oil).
>
> Fry on medium to high heat until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and
> enjoy. Especially good with collard, mustard, and turnip greens; soups,
> stews, and most beans.

I hadn't thought of this in a long time! It is, if I remember right, also
called Scalded Cornbread. Good stuff, especially when fried in lard or bacon
grease.

Charlie

"Dimitri" > wrote in message
. com...
>
> "Glenn Jacobs" > wrote in message
> . ..
> > Its been a long time since I was in the Army, in fact I went in just 50
> > years ago. They used to have cornbread often in the mess hall. It was
> > unlike any I have had in restaurants or that my wife makes or that comes
> > out of a box. It was not sweet and had a significant corn taste and was
a
> > tad on the dry side. Most of our cooks seemed to be from the South (US)
> > and maybe that had something to do with it. If anyone has a recipe or a
> > source or an idea I would appreciate it.
> >
> > Thanks in advance.
> >
> > --
> > JakeInHartsel
>
> Look here it is the Navy recipe - I suspect all the military used the same
> recipes.
>
> http://nll3.navsup.navy.mil/docs/recipe/D01400.pdf
>
> This will give you an idea - you'll need adobe acrobat.
>
> Dimitri

This one is a little more current than the poster asked for. I have the
recipe from the Navy 1944 cookbook if the poster can wait until tomorrow so
I can type it up. The 1944 version is considerably simpler.

Charlie

Louis Cohen wrote:
> Thank you for your service.
>
> Curiously, southern cornbread usually has more sugar than northern
> cornbread.

Depends on what part of the South. I only allow 1 Tbs. of sugar in mine and
then only under duress. And I require yellow cornmeal, not white. Bolivar
and I often have discussions about this; he's in Virginia, I'm in Tennessee.
YELLOW dammit, and lay off the sugar! (laugh)

Jill

>
> "Glenn Jacobs" > wrote in message
> . ..
>> Its been a long time since I was in the Army, in fact I went in just
>> 50 years ago. They used to have cornbread often in the mess hall.
>> It was unlike any I have had in restaurants or that my wife makes or
>> that comes out of a box. It was not sweet and had a significant
>> corn taste and was a tad on the dry side. Most of our cooks seemed
>> to be from the South (US) and maybe that had something to do with
>> it. If anyone has a recipe or a source or an idea I would
>> appreciate it.
>>
>> Thanks in advance.
>>
>> --
>> JakeInHartsel

In article >,
Gerlonda Battles > wrote:

> Don't know but is this similar to what you talking about?
>
> There is a "poverty" version of cornbread my family ate -- when, toward
> the end of the month, we only had staples left in the cupboard.
>
> Some cornmeal
> Salt to taste
> A lot of boiling water (not just hot, boiling)
>

Hot water cornbread, corn pones, cornmeal mush, fried polenta--call it
whatever you wish. This is wonderful stuff. Slice the pones in half
and cover them with a strict beef hash (maybe mushrooms but no
potatoes) and lots of gravy--you're talking pure heaven for moi.

That's pretty interesting and very plausible. Thanks

--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Louis Cohen
Living la vida loca at N37° 43' 7.9" W122° 8' 42.8"


"Royal" > wrote in message
...
> On Tue, 9 Mar 2004 18:48:16 -0800, "Louis Cohen"
> > wrote:
>
> >Thank you for your service.
> >
> >Curiously, southern cornbread usually has more sugar than northern
> >cornbread.
>
> Only in restaurants. According to my mother, sugar in cornbread is a
> holdover from World War II. She says she never heard of sugar in
> cornbread before that. With flour rationed and not readily available,
> Southern farmers ground their corn extra fine and made their cakes and
> sweets from that. Children growing up with this substitution
> associated cornmeal with sugar and off they went. No one in my
> family, or any family I know, puts sugar, any sugar, in cornbread at
> home. I grew up in the south, and I never tasted sugar in cornbread
> even in restaurants or at school until I went into the Navy. My
> mother occasionally made a corn cake as a dessert but only if she
> could get very finely ground corn flour.

"Gerlonda Battles" > wrote in message
...
>
> Scalded Cornbread is good. Our regional (northern Louisiana) name was Hot
> Water Cornbread (can you get more basic than that?

It's basic alright! I'm going to have to whip some up now that I have the
thought of it in my mind.

Charlie

"alzelt" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> Charles Gifford wrote:
>
> >
> > This one is a little more current than the poster asked for. I have the
> > recipe from the Navy 1944 cookbook if the poster can wait until tomorrow
so
> > I can type it up. The 1944 version is considerably simpler.
> >
> > Charlie
> >
> >
> So was life!!
> --
> Alan

I imagine it was in many ways. I was too young not note much about it
though.

Charlie, kind of simple himself

"Charles Gifford" > wrote in message
hlink.net...
>
>
> This one is a little more current than the poster asked for. I have the
> recipe from the Navy 1944 cookbook if the poster can wait until tomorrow
so
> I can type it up. The 1944 version is considerably simpler.
>
> Charlie

Well heck. I can't find the one from 1944. I had it in my hand day before
yesterday. Anyway I offer instead, one from the Navy Cook Book of 1940. It
is a little different from the one in the 1944 revision I think. I doubt
that it is the same as the Army recipe of the same era. I think that there
was no unified service recipes until 1959 but I'm not positive about that.
Also, as I have mentioned elsewhere, I don't do numbers very well so I leave
proportioning to others. If I can find where I set my other Navy cook books
or the copy I was looking at a couple of days ago, I'll post it eventually.

Charlie

U.S. NAVY CORNBREAD 1940


Source: "The Cook Book of the United States Navy" 1940

Serves 100

2 pounds sugar
1.5 pounds vegetable shortening
12 eggs
2.75 quarts milk (evaporated milk 2 parts water to 1 part milk)
1 ounce salt
5 pounds flour
2 pounds corn meal
5 ounces baking powder

Sift the flour; add the cornmeal, salt and baking powder and mix well. Rub
the sugar and shortening together until creamed. Beat up the eggs until
light; add to the sugar and shortening. Then add the milk, mix thoroughly.
Add the flour mixture and mix lightly. Turn mix lightly. Turn in greased
pans and bake about 40 minutes in a moderate oven.

Sam 1121 wrote:
>
> Just leave the sugar out of a recipe (or cut the amount used). The real
> secret is in the corn-meal. Government issue is superior to any that you
> can buy in a supermarket. See if you can find someone eligible for
> "commodities" if they are still distributed. Find a good mill that is
> grinding !

Came home last year after some traveling and found the corn in my
garden didn't do well with my flaky while-we're-away watering system.
I let the ears dry on the stalks, pulled 'em off at the end of the
season, rubbed the kernels off the cobb and stored 'em in a plastic
container 'till I decided how to use 'em.

I recently used some to make nixtamal (haven't used it yet so I don't
know how that turned out) and ground some dry through my Corona plate
mill to a cornmeal consistency. I made cornbread with it yesterday
and it turned out pretty tasty...had a nice fresh corn taste that
we don't get with storebought cornmeal.

Rich

Jill....Thank you for posting the link! I have used the grits from this
source. If the amount of sugar is cut down and good yellow meal is
used,as you have said,then it should be possible to make great
cornbread. A black iron skillet with some bacon grease well heated
before the batter goes in would also help! SAM

On Thu, 11 Mar 2004 09:43:45 GMT, Charles Gifford wrote:

>
> "Gerlonda Battles" > wrote in message
> ...
>>
>> Scalded Cornbread is good. Our regional (northern Louisiana) name was Hot
>> Water Cornbread (can you get more basic than that?
>
> It's basic alright! I'm going to have to whip some up now that I have the
> thought of it in my mind.
>
> Charlie

Interesting, I just realized this is very similar to Venezuelian food.
They take the fried mass and cut it open and put almost any kind of meat in
it. It is called an Arapa, I believe that is spelled right.

Thanks,

--
JakeInHartsel

On Wed, 10 Mar 2004 02:42:42 -0600, jmcquown wrote:

> Sam 1121 wrote:
>> Just leave the sugar out of a recipe (or cut the amount used). The
>> real secret is in the corn-meal. Government issue is superior to any
>> that you can buy in a supermarket. See if you can find someone
>> eligible for "commodities" if they are still distributed. Find a good
>> mill that is grinding !
>
> http://fallsmill.com/ Wonderful stone ground grits, the old fashioned way
> In lovely Belvidere, TN. They sell in bulk, so you'd better really like
> cornmeal or grits!
>
> Jill

thanks Jill, I love good grits (hard to find). Although Belvidere is a
long way from me, I have kids, grand kids and a great grand kid in
Huntsville that is not too far from Belvidere, so i will visit there
probably next summer.

--
JakeInHartsel

On Wed, 10 Mar 2004 07:23:36 GMT, "Charles Gifford"
> wrote:

>> Fry on medium to high heat until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and
>> enjoy. Especially good with collard, mustard, and turnip greens; soups,
>> stews, and most beans.
>
>I hadn't thought of this in a long time! It is, if I remember right, also
>called Scalded Cornbread. Good stuff, especially when fried in lard or bacon
>grease.

in Napoli, Italy, they call it "scagliuozzi" and have a triangular
shape...

best,

Jiminy

Glenn Jacobs wrote:
> On Wed, 10 Mar 2004 02:42:42 -0600, jmcquown wrote:
>
>> Sam 1121 wrote:
>>> Just leave the sugar out of a recipe (or cut the amount used). The
>>> real secret is in the corn-meal. Government issue is superior to any
>>> that you can buy in a supermarket. See if you can find someone
>>> eligible for "commodities" if they are still distributed. Find a
>>> good mill that is grinding !
>>
>> http://fallsmill.com/ Wonderful stone ground grits, the old
>> fashioned way In lovely Belvidere, TN. They sell in bulk, so
>> you'd better really like cornmeal or grits!
>>
>> Jill
>
> thanks Jill, I love good grits (hard to find). Although Belvidere is
> a
> long way from me, I have kids, grand kids and a great grand kid in
> Huntsville that is not too far from Belvidere, so i will visit there
> probably next summer.

Glenn, as you may have noticed on the site, they have a log cabin B&B. But
they book up waaaaay in advance so if your family members are considering
staying there, plan well ahead. It's only a 2 hour drive from where I am
but every time I've wanted to book it they've been full-up (as they say down
here). ;-)

Jill

Louis Cohen wrote:
> Thank you for your service.
>
> Curiously, southern cornbread usually has more sugar than northern
> cornbread.
>
Heh... that's not my experience. When I went to Boston a few years back my
friend Paula and I stopped to grab a beer in a local pub. For some odd
reason the proprieter decided to bake and hand out free cornbread to the
patrons. Paula, born and raised in Tennessee, said, "Jill, you're not going
to like it." The first thing I noticed was, it wasn't nicely golden brown.
But I don't pass up free food and it was a long flight, so I took a bite.
"YOWSA! What's with all the sugar?" She laughed and said that's how they
make it "up here". I'll be damned... how about just give me a bag of sugar?
Waiter! I need another beer!

Jill

>
> "Glenn Jacobs" > wrote in message
> . ..
>> Its been a long time since I was in the Army, in fact I went in just
>> 50 years ago. They used to have cornbread often in the mess hall.
>> It was unlike any I have had in restaurants or that my wife makes or
>> that comes out of a box. It was not sweet and had a significant
>> corn taste and was a tad on the dry side. Most of our cooks seemed
>> to be from the South (US) and maybe that had something to do with
>> it. If anyone has a recipe or a source or an idea I would
>> appreciate it.
>>
>> Thanks in advance.
>>
>> --
>> JakeInHartsel

Glenn Jacobs wrote:
> Its been a long time since I was in the Army, in fact I went in just 50
> years ago. They used to have cornbread often in the mess hall. It was
> unlike any I have had in restaurants or that my wife makes or that comes
> out of a box. It was not sweet and had a significant corn taste and was a
> tad on the dry side. Most of our cooks seemed to be from the South (US)
> and maybe that had something to do with it. If anyone has a recipe or a
> source or an idea I would appreciate it.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>

My wife makes cornbread like that. I'll get the proportions tonite. I
know it's basically white cornmeal, buttermilk, egg, and baking soda. No
flour and no sugar. Melt some Crisco (shortening) in an iron skillet in
the oven while it preheats (400 degrees?). Pour a little of the hot Crisco
into the batter and stir it in, pour the batter into the skillet, bake
about 20 minutes.

It's good for sopping up runny pinto beans or blackeyed peas, but other
than that it's way too dry and I much prefer my cornbread that has yellow
cornmeal and flour in it (like Yankee cornbread) but no sugar. Wife like
to crumble up her leftover cornbread into a glass and pour milk over it.

-Bob