Candy Cactus Cornbread
Something has gone badly wrong with corn in Tyria. Or, at least, something has gone wrong with the Tyrian understanding of what corn is.
The problem is that corn doesn't actually exist in Tyria. It's strictly a Terran thing. But there have been enough travellers between the two worlds over the years that Tyrians gradually became aware of the concept. Unfortunately, the first time anyone ever actually managed to bring any corn back from Terra they showed up not with sweetcorn, but with candy corn. And that became the default meaning of "corn" as far as any Tyrian was concerned.
No one was quite sure what to do with the sugary, chewey candies. Most chefs attempted to use it in various desserts. Hence, you will sometimes see glazes made of melted down candy corn. Or even candy corn cakes, cookies, barks, or ice creams.
This cornbread recipe is something of an outlier. It appears that some poor chef, having heard of cornbread, decided to attempt to make it with Tyrian "corn". As you can imagine, it... did not go well.
I have done my best to reverse engineer the sticky mess back to what it should have been had Tyrians had access to real corn and some understanding of what the final result was meant to be. It's still a bit different than your typical Terran cornbread, which I would normally expect to contain either milk or buttermilk and some sort of fat as well. This is a relatively dry, eggy cornbread with neither oil/butter nor milk/buttermilk included. It is, however, excellent dipped in soup or chili!
1 If you'd like something a little more like a traditional Terran cornbread, try omitting all but one of the eggs and adding ~1 c. of buttermilk in their place. Both versions work just fine. The buttermilk one should come out a bit moister and have a slightly better rise. The extra eggy one will be a bit drier, a little denser, and much more yellow. Take your pick as to which you prefer! Back
The problem is that corn doesn't actually exist in Tyria. It's strictly a Terran thing. But there have been enough travellers between the two worlds over the years that Tyrians gradually became aware of the concept. Unfortunately, the first time anyone ever actually managed to bring any corn back from Terra they showed up not with sweetcorn, but with candy corn. And that became the default meaning of "corn" as far as any Tyrian was concerned.
No one was quite sure what to do with the sugary, chewey candies. Most chefs attempted to use it in various desserts. Hence, you will sometimes see glazes made of melted down candy corn. Or even candy corn cakes, cookies, barks, or ice creams.
This cornbread recipe is something of an outlier. It appears that some poor chef, having heard of cornbread, decided to attempt to make it with Tyrian "corn". As you can imagine, it... did not go well.
I have done my best to reverse engineer the sticky mess back to what it should have been had Tyrians had access to real corn and some understanding of what the final result was meant to be. It's still a bit different than your typical Terran cornbread, which I would normally expect to contain either milk or buttermilk and some sort of fat as well. This is a relatively dry, eggy cornbread with neither oil/butter nor milk/buttermilk included. It is, however, excellent dipped in soup or chili!
(Not) Candy Cactus Cornbread
Ingredients
- 1 c. flour
- 1 c. cornmeal
- 2 Tbsp. sugar
- 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
- 1 Tbsp. baking powder
- 5 large eggs1
- 1 c. corn kernels
- 1 c. chopped cooked nopales (nopalitos)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 220°C (425°F).
- Combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, and salt.
- Sift in the baking powder and mix well.
- Add the eggs, corn, and cactus and stir to combine.
- Put 1-2 Tbsp. of butter, lard, or oil into a 30cm (12") cast iron frying pan and place in the oven until hot (but not smoking).
- Remove pan from oven and pour in the batter.
- Smooth top, return to oven, and bake at 220°C (425°F) until cooked through (10-15 minutes).
- Cut into wedges and serve.
1 If you'd like something a little more like a traditional Terran cornbread, try omitting all but one of the eggs and adding ~1 c. of buttermilk in their place. Both versions work just fine. The buttermilk one should come out a bit moister and have a slightly better rise. The extra eggy one will be a bit drier, a little denser, and much more yellow. Take your pick as to which you prefer! Back
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