Bobbie's Best Cornbread & Grandma Dykes' Hoecake Recipes #bloglikecrazy

original cornbread recipe from one of my
favorite cooks: my mother-in-law
Bobbie Latham. You can see my
adapted version of this recipe below!

I am still buzzing from #ncte14 but am committed to following through on my November blogging challenge! More on NCTE later.

Today's #bloglikecrazy prompt from Javacia Bowser is to write about a favorite meal or dish.

A couple of things come to mind:

1. lobster dish from Dish of Salt restaurant in NYC. This restaurant is no longer open, but for several years in a row on our trip to The City, we would dine there. The restaurant served Cantonese dishes, and there was always live music – usually a pianist playing Broadway show tunes. Amazing ambiance. I was completely enchanted – and that was before we got to the food!

The dish we loved best of all was called Crown Lobster. One time when we asked our server what was in it, he said the sauce had a mayonnaise base. Basically it was bite sized pieces of lobster tossed in this incredible sauce over rice. DELICIOUS. Maybe more so now, because the restaurant is gone and never again will we enjoy that particular meal! Maybe this recipe is close? I will have to try it!

Speaking of lobster, a few years back on a trip to Maine, we made it our mission to enjoy lobster prepared in as many ways as possible. We ended up having some fourteen lobster dishes! But we drew the line at lobster ICE CREAM. I kind of regret it now, but at the time I wrinkled my nose and order the fresh berry tart instead. I mean, ice cream? Really?

The ONLY brand of corn meal to use
for hoecakes!

As for home-cooked dishes, two women come to mind: my Grandma Dykes and my mother-in-law Bobbie. I miss them both so much!! Interestingly neither knew how to cook when they got married, but they soon learned! Each loved to prepare cornbread to go with a vegetable dinner, usually made with homegrown veggies.

Grandma Dykes's cornbread was actually a hoe-cake made of water-milled fine-ground white corn meal. Add salt and water to make a batter. Pour into a puddle of heated oil into an iron skillet on the stovetop. Fried bread. Crispy on the edges/outside, gooey in the middle. So, so good! The kids get pretty excited when I make it.

Bobbie's cornbread is made in the oven. Heat some butter in an iron skillet at 450 degrees. When it begins to brown, pour in the batter. Batter is made of buttermilk corn meal mix (I use Aunt Jemima's), buttermilk, egg, blurb of oil. Brown in oven approximately 20 minutes, then flip and cook another few minutes. Buttery and moist and delicious! I use it every year at Thanksgiving to make dressing.

Just a few days now... excited to get in my kitchen!