TWD: Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins

I’m not sure why my childhood and adolescence were completely void of cornbread.



Was it that we westerners fed the corn to the cows and sheep, saving none for human consumption?

Was it meat-and-potatoes all the way in the small, farm towns of my childhood?




Maybe German folks don’t “do” cornbread. Maybe Lutherans and Catholics don’t either? I dunno.




What about the American Indians and Latinos I grew up with? Were my friend’s families secretly eating cornbread without my knowing?

I pondered these questions as I ate my chili and cornbread muffin, this week’s Tuesday’s with Dorie pick, (actually, they were Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins). Many thanks to Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake for choosing.


Too bad we didn’t have Paula Deen on Food TV whipping up good ole' Southern home cooking back then. Maybe then I'd have known about and maybe even tried them.

Suffice it to say I didn’t know what to expect this week. I’ve never made cornbread. I was a little perplexed by the stiff, dry batter. Was I supposed to mush it down, or leave it like this?


I ended up mushing it down a bit and it seemed to turn out OK. I opted for the standard cornbread rather than the savory version which included red bell peppers, cilantro, and black pepper.

The verdict? I thought they tasted good. However, they were very crumbly and literally fell apart in my hands as I ate them. That's kind of a deal-breaker for me. I like food that stays together. I doubt I'll make these again.

But as always, it was a learning experience.


By the way, I asked my mom if we ever ate cornbread when I was young. She said she made cornbread occasionally, but when pressed, she couldn’t remember what she made it with. Or where we lived at the time. I think she’s making it up, LOL.