Blue Corn Blues

Here in New England we have three great money-saving institutions: Filene's Basement, Building 19 and the Ocean State Job Lot.

We're only a few miles away from a Job Lot, and we do a lot of shopping there. The selection is random but the prices can't be beat if you are a Shopper with a capital S.

We particularly like the foods section. Dark chcocolate, super cheap! Unsalted cashews galore! The finest jams and jellies, odd shaped pasta from the old country, and lately, a whole range of "Health Food" flours and cereals.

I make true Southern cornbread, none of this Yankee stuff loaded with sugar. Cornbread from the South is (or was) made without flour, with stone ground cornmeal, baking soda, powder, buttermilk, eggs and shortening (your choice). I always bought stone ground flour from the gift shop of the old inn (Wayside Tavern) in Sudbury, a good Yankee institution.

Now, we like blue corn chips and blue corn tortillas, so why not blue corn cornbread? I bought stone ground organic blue corn meal at the job lot. It took a lot of imagination to think oneself into blue corn bread, but last night the occasion arose. The problem was, another Yankee dilmena--it's getting hard to find buttermilk in the grocery stores. Ye gods, they have coffee, chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, soy, chocolate soy, rice, vanilla rice, everykind of milk with and without fat, so what's with the buttermilk? Obviously NOT a Yankee thing. Didn't your mama teach you to drink buttermilk?

About a year ago I discovered dry buttermilk (just add water) and bought some of that. It was O.K., but not like the real McCoy. Used it up, bought another brand which was lurking in the cabinet. Yikes! The dry buttermilk was REALLY dry, as it dessicated, rock hard, bone dry.
I tried to grind it up, but the particle size was still huge.

I used my good old girl Southern recipe, and mixed it up. Big problemo, the batter was way too liquid. In went some more blue corn meal.

I baked it in the cast iron skillet in a hot hot oven as per the recipe. Smelled O.K., looked O.K. (except for the bizarro color) tasted O.K.--could have used more fat and salt but no big deal.

Next time I'll use real buttermilk, if I have to drive to Atlanta to find some. We finished the soup from the turkey and ate some more blue corn bread for lunch today. Put enough butter on it, and it tastes very fine.

Life is strange.

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