table talk / By Joseph Byrd

A History of American Cuisine, Part I

— Solon Robinson, Midwestern pioneer and author, 1866

Thin, dense and flat, corncakes were the perfect way to transport healthy food for long distances over periods of time with minimal weight. Together with jerked venison and pemmican, “pone” became a staple of the pioneers. Along the way, some brilliant woman made a critical improvement, the addition of egg, and that is its tradition.

Cornbread was the natural fodder for a nation of constantly shifting demographics, of poor whites and blacks seeking a better life. Disdaining charity and handouts, the seekers made do with what they had. In this ongoing American quest for independence, cornbread played its role — the most democratic of foods.

In his book Serious Pig, John Thorne describes grinding his own meal from kernels: “They looked like tiny glass beads, and they ground up something like that, too. To turn them into meal was an arm-wrenching experience. The mill was bolted down to the kitchen counter, which, underneath its linoleum veneer, was an inch-thick piece of plywood. Even so, I was sure that I was going to rip a chunk right out of it before I was done. Enough cornmeal for one small cornbread was a half hour’s grinding.” Ever wonder what basic food preparation was like when you did it all yourself, from scratch?

Thorne continues: “But it was lovely, fragrant stuff, and the resulting cornbread was delicious, possessing tiny flavor notes that are long gone by the time cornmeal arrives from the mill.”

The modern take on cornbread is about additions and improvements, and I’m as guilty as anyone — I’ve made it with layers of cheddar cheese or chili in the middle, or shredded pepper jack on top, with jalapenos, with garlic, with honey, and with corn freshly sheared from the cob. Ideally, however, cornbread should taste like corn, and nothing else.

Three of my most trusted sources claim that white cornmeal has more flavor. But where can you buy it? I searched Eureka Natural Foods, the Co-op and Wildberries. In fact, where I found it was Safeway in Arcata, in two-pound boxes used mostly for tortilla making by the Latino community.

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