SPOONBREAD IS, WITHOUT QUESTION, THE LIGHTEST, richest, and most elegant of all Southern cornmeal
dishes, a custardlike, versatile miracle that approaches the texture of a soufflé and is as appropriate at breakfast with fried country ham and red-eye gravy as on the grandest dinner table or buffet. Of course, Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Kentucky all lay claim to the dish, but since history records an Indian porridge introduced to the first Virginia settlers called suppone, which appears to be the ancestral source of spoonbread, perhaps that state deserves the most credit. (In any case, the dish was not refined with butter, milk, and eggs till well into the
nineteenth century.) Depending on the region, spoonbread can be enhanced with everything from cheese to bacon or ham to dainty vegetables, but in its most pristine form, there can be no doubt that it’s one of the country’s (indeed the world’s) most distinctive and delicious culinary creations. And, yes, the dish is so soft that it can be and often is eaten with a spoon.

Makes 6 to 8 servings

INGREDIENTS

• 3 cups milk
• 11⁄2 cups white cornmeal
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, softened and cut into pieces
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 5 large eggs, separated

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 2-quart casserole dish and set aside.
2. In a large saucepan, bring the milk to a boil.
3. Gradually add the cornmeal to the boiling milk, stirring rapidly with a spoon as you pour it in.
4. Reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens, about 10 minutes.
5. Remove the saucepan from the heat and add the softened butter and baking powder. Stir until the butter has melted, and set the mixture aside to cool.
6. In a small mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks with a fork until they become light.
7. Stir the beaten egg yolks into the cooled cornmeal mixture.
8. In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form.
9. Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the cornmeal mixture until all traces of white have disappeared.
10. Scrape the mixture into the prepared casserole dish.
11. Bake the casserole in the preheated oven for about 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
12. Serve the cornmeal casserole hot.