Mom's Cornpone

Deep Run Roots

Cornpone is a very different type of cornbread than most people are used to these days. It's dense, not fluffy, and definitely not sweet. If you've never tried it, it's worth a shot!

I was able to find this recipe in the Google boss preview for Deep Run Roots here: https://books.google.com/books?id=jRTyCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT45&lpg=PT45&dq=moms+cornpone+Vivian+Howard&source=bl&ots=XA9rmzDAGU&sig=ACfU3U0ykPeS2Ec1Pr0Sd1hGlbpA6g6Wfg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiD9NTfooPnAhWipFkKHfhjDWYQ6AEwBHoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=moms%20cornpone%20Vivian%20Howard&f=false

Captions

[00:04]: hi and welcome to cooking the books with
[00:06]: Heather on this episode we're going to
[00:09]: be making mom's corn pone from the deep
[00:13]: run roots cookbook by Vivian Howard
[00:15]: she said her mother made this but she
[00:18]: didn't call it corn pone she called it
[00:19]: cornbread I think but it is it has no
[00:22]: dairy and no eggs it is denser than what
[00:25]: we normally see as cornbread it
[00:29]: shouldn't be sweet it's a very different
[00:33]: beast than the usual cornbread but it is
[00:37]: pretty common in Eastern North Carolina
[00:39]: so that's what we're gonna be making
[00:42]: today now I already have my 10-inch
[00:46]: cast-iron pan in the oven and the oven
[00:49]: is on at 475 and it's just finished
[00:52]: preheating this is gonna be a really
[00:54]: quick recipe it takes a while to bake
[00:56]: but putting it together is super simple
[00:58]: so we have cornmeal here just plain
[01:03]: cornmeal no no leaveners at all it's
[01:09]: it's just cornmeal and we're gonna sift
[01:11]: it
[01:11]: I don't usually sit because I usually I
[01:17]: just use a whisk but she says I'm gonna
[01:22]: end up not sifting it my if my sister
[01:25]: breaks oh it's there we go mm-hmm yeah
[01:31]: this is how rarely I use my sister
[01:33]: family I break it so we're gonna add to
[01:39]: our cornmeal some salt and some sugar
[01:44]: and get that all sifted together
[01:47]: sifting very well so we had some
[01:51]: technical difficulties with our sifter
[01:53]: and mines assistant came in to help it
[01:55]: eventually worked for most of it I just
[01:57]: put the rest of it in there and I'm
[01:59]: gonna mix it around with
[02:01]: risk to make sure there are no lumps
[02:02]: we'll still have a few larger pieces we
[02:06]: made a little bit of a mess larger
[02:08]: pieces of corn but that's alright
[02:11]: and now all we have to do is add the
[02:14]: water and stir it in so I'm going to do
[02:18]: that
[02:30]: and in the end we should have a thick
[02:34]: batter which some spew what we have so
[02:39]: I'm preparing my space because we're
[02:42]: going to take the cast iron skillet out
[02:44]: of the oven we're going to melt bacon
[02:47]: grease in it
[02:49]: and then we're going to spoon this in it
[02:51]: and get it in the oven so I've got a
[02:54]: place to put it so it won't move around
[02:57]: mostly I mean the stone can handle
[02:59]: really hot a really hot pan but I don't
[03:03]: want it moving because it's really hot
[03:04]: so we've got that I'm gonna get my pan
[03:07]: out and get my bacon grease my pan just
[03:11]: came out of the oven I'm going to get my
[03:14]: bacon grease in it and it should melt
[03:16]: with the leftover heat and then as soon
[03:18]: as it melts we spread the corn pone make
[03:23]: sure the cornbread mixture in it but you
[03:28]: really don't want to you really don't
[03:30]: want to burn that that grease and and
[03:36]: you know so don't want to waste your
[03:39]: your pork grease all right so now we
[03:43]: sort of spread this mixture around in
[03:49]: the pan
[03:52]: my other spoon we're also supposed to
[03:59]: put some of this grease from the edges
[04:03]: that are that's bubbling up on top so
[04:09]: get my spoon back dry we're gonna make
[04:16]: this one actual cake
[04:23]: it's basically already starting to cook
[04:27]: because the pan is so hot and the grease
[04:30]: is so hot she says the point here is
[04:44]: that when we put it by the time we put
[04:46]: it back in the oven baking grease should
[04:48]: have covered have touched every every
[04:51]: part of this so
[05:01]: and the edges are already starting to
[05:04]: brown a little bit alright okay now we
[05:09]: put this in the oven for I think 15
[05:11]: minutes yeah 15 minutes and then the
[05:16]: hard part comes we're gonna have to turn
[05:18]: this over hopefully without writing it
[05:22]: alright so we're back to about 15
[05:24]: minutes it's been in the oven for 15
[05:27]: minutes and now we have to flip it using
[05:31]: a spatula I've got two just in case this
[05:33]: is really hot and I don't want to
[05:35]: accidentally like touch it with my other
[05:36]: hand because I don't like to burn myself
[05:39]: so let's see how well um well it uh it's
[05:44]: coming apart which from what I've seen
[05:48]: might be you know a usual thing that
[05:52]: this does so
[05:53]: [Music]
[05:55]: yep that did not go well
[06:08]: [Music]
[06:13]: so now we try to piece it back together
[06:20]: seems like it broke where my dollops
[06:24]: kind of were so
[06:32]: anyway
[06:40]: know how this is supposed to go together
[06:44]: okay
[06:47]: well that went swimmingly I kind of
[06:53]: pieced it together as well as I could
[06:54]: and I'm gonna put it back in the oven
[06:56]: for 10 minutes
[06:59]: [Music]
[07:10]: on this episode of cooking books with
[07:13]: Heather we made mom's corn pone which is
[07:16]: really a very dense sort of cornbread I
[07:21]: have to say this was not our favorite we
[07:26]: have had corn pone before I have never
[07:28]: made it before myself but we've had it
[07:30]: there is a very popular barbecue
[07:33]: restaurant that serves it it's called
[07:36]: the skylight Inn Sam Jones BBQ actually
[07:41]: also has its another it's the same guy
[07:43]: different restaurant and I like his my
[07:49]: husband does not like it my kids don't
[07:51]: like it so we weren't really stoked
[07:56]: about this one we weren't anticipating
[07:59]: this one very much but we made it it was
[08:04]: a little it was easy but hard because
[08:08]: there's a step where you have to flip it
[08:09]: over and I completely failed at flipping
[08:14]: it over so if you've tried it and you
[08:20]: didn't fail it flipping it over I'd love
[08:22]: to know what your secret was so because
[08:26]: because yeah that was kind of difficult
[08:30]: I don't mostly I've seen this made just
[08:33]: in a sheet and not being flipped over so
[08:36]: it probably would be okay if you cooked
[08:38]: it a little bit longer and didn't flip
[08:40]: it over anyway I probably won't be
[08:43]: trying that because like I said it was
[08:45]: not our favorite but if it's something
[08:48]: that you enjoy this is probably one of
[08:52]: the better recipes for it I mean it's
[08:55]: been an hour
[08:57]: right again this was from deep brown
[08:60]: roots to be in Howard's cookbook and if
[09:03]: you enjoyed watching me fail at making
[09:05]: mom's corn pone please hit the like
[09:08]: button subscribe and you can come back
[09:11]: next week to watch me make something
[09:13]: else and hopefully I won't too
[09:16]: [Music]