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A man from up north once sat at my mother’s table on an October morning and asked her for a knife to cut the cornbread. My father laughed so hard he had to leave the room. The cornbread in question was spoon bread, and you cannot cut spoon bread any more than you can cut a pudding. It comes out of the oven puffed high and brown, with a crisp top that cracks when the spoon goes in, and underneath it is soft, hot and custardy, somewhere between cornbread and a souffle. My mother put the dish in the middle of the table with a big serving spoon standing in it, and everybody scooped and dropped a pat of butter into the hollow.
It is one of the oldest dishes in Southern cooking and one of the plainest: milk, cornmeal, butter, eggs, a little salt and sugar, a spoon of baking powder. What makes it spoon bread and not cornbread is the order. The cornmeal is cooked in hot milk on the stove first, stirred until it is as thick as mush, so the grains are already soft and swollen before the oven ever sees them. Then the eggs go in, one at a time, and they get beaten hard. That beating is the whole lift of the dish. My mother said it plainly: lazy eggs, flat spoon bread.
Why this spoon bread works
- The cornmeal is cooked before it is baked. Simmering it in hot milk softens every grain, so the inside bakes up creamy instead of gritty.
- The mush cools before the eggs go in. Ten minutes off the heat keeps the eggs from scrambling in the pot.
- Eggs beaten in hard, one at a time. Each egg whips air into the thick mush, and that air is what makes the dish rise in the oven.
- Baking powder last. It gives the eggs a little help and keeps the middle light.
- Pulled while the middle barely wobbles. Spoon bread is meant to be soft inside. Baked until firm, it turns into ordinary cornbread.
Ingredients
Fills one buttered 2 quart baking dish, enough for 6 as a breakfast or a side. The measurements are in US cups with grams in brackets.
- 3 cups whole milk (720ml)
- 1 cup yellow or white cornmeal (150g), fine or medium grind
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter (42g), plus more for the dish
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (12g)
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
Use plain cornmeal, not a self-rising cornmeal mix, which already holds salt and leavening. Whole milk gives the softest middle.
How to make spoon bread
- Heat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Butter a 2 quart baking dish generously, bottom and sides.
- Pour the 3 cups milk into a heavy saucepan and set it over medium heat until it steams and small bubbles form around the edge. Do not let it boil over.
- Whisk in the 1 cup cornmeal slowly, in a thin stream, whisking all the time so it does not lump.
- Switch to a wooden spoon and keep stirring for 3 to 5 minutes, until the mixture is thick as mush and pulls away from the sides of the pan.
- Take the pan off the heat. Stir in the 3 tablespoons butter, the 1 teaspoon salt and the 1 tablespoon sugar until the butter melts. Let it cool for 10 minutes, stirring once or twice.
- Beat in the 3 eggs one at a time, beating hard after each one until it disappears and the mixture looks lighter and glossier. This is the step that makes it rise.
- Stir in the 1 teaspoon baking powder last, then scrape the batter into the buttered dish and smooth the top.
- Bake at 375°F for 35 to 40 minutes, until it is puffed, golden brown on top and the middle barely wobbles when you nudge the dish.
- Take it straight to the table and serve it with a big spoon and plenty of butter. It will settle a little as it cools, which is normal.
Tips that make the difference
- Whisk the cornmeal in slowly. Dumped in all at once, it clumps into hard little balls that never soften.
- Do not skip the 10 minute rest. Hot mush will cook the eggs before they can whip any air in.
- Beat the eggs in with real effort, or use a hand mixer on medium for about 30 seconds after each egg.
- Serve it the minute it comes out. Spoon bread is at its highest and lightest in the first five minutes.
- A glass or ceramic dish shows you the color of the sides, so you can see when it is done.
Variations
- Cheese spoon bread. Stir 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar (115g) into the mush with the butter.
- Corn spoon bread. Fold 1 cup corn kernels (150g), fresh or thawed frozen, in with the baking powder.
- Buttermilk spoon bread. Replace 1 cup of the milk with buttermilk and add 1/4 teaspoon baking soda with the baking powder. The flavor is tangier, the old way.
- Separated eggs. For an even taller dish, beat the yolks into the mush and whip the whites to soft peaks, then fold them in last.
Storage and make-ahead
Spoon bread is best the moment it leaves the oven. Leftovers keep, covered, in the refrigerator for 3 days.
Cold spoon bread firms up enough to slice. Cut it into thick pieces and fry them in butter in a skillet until crisp on both sides. In our house that was the second breakfast, and some people liked it better than the first.
You can make the cornmeal mush up to 2 hours ahead, keep it covered at room temperature, then beat in the eggs and bake when you are ready.
Frequently asked questions
Why did my spoon bread come out flat?
Usually the eggs were not beaten in hard enough, or the mush was still too hot and cooked them. Let the mush cool for 10 minutes and beat each egg until it fully disappears. Old baking powder can also leave it flat.
Is spoon bread the same as corn pudding?
They are cousins. Corn pudding is built on corn kernels in a custard. Spoon bread is built on cornmeal cooked in milk, so it is closer to a soft cornbread or a cornmeal souffle.
Can I use self-rising cornmeal?
You can, but leave out the salt and the baking powder, since the mix already carries both. Plain cornmeal gives you more control over the rise.
What do you serve with spoon bread?
At breakfast, butter and a drizzle of honey or sorghum. At supper, it goes next to fried chicken, pot roast, greens or anything with gravy, in place of rolls or cornbread.
Cook the meal, cool it, beat the eggs like you mean it, and bring the dish to the table hot. Then hand everybody a spoon, and keep the knives in the drawer.
Southern Spoon Bread (The Cornbread You Eat with a Spoon)
Old-fashioned Southern spoon bread: cornmeal cooked in hot milk until thick, eggs beaten in hard, baked at 375 degrees until it puffs like a souffle. Crisp on top, soft as pudding inside. Cups and grams, oven time and the one step that matters.
Ingredients
- 3 cups whole milk
- 1 cup yellow or white cornmeal (150g), fine or medium grind
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter (42g), plus more for the dish
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Butter a 2 quart baking dish generously, bottom and sides.
- Pour the 3 cups milk into a heavy saucepan and set it over medium heat until it steams and small bubbles form around the edge. Do not let it boil over.
- Whisk in the 1 cup cornmeal slowly, in a thin stream, whisking all the time so it does not lump.
- Switch to a wooden spoon and keep stirring for 3 to 5 minutes, until the mixture is thick as mush and pulls away from the sides of the pan.
- Take the pan off the heat. Stir in the 3 tablespoons butter, the 1 teaspoon salt and the 1 tablespoon sugar until the butter melts. Let it cool for 10 minutes, stirring once or twice.
- Beat in the 3 eggs one at a time, beating hard after each one until it disappears and the mixture looks lighter and glossier. This is the step that makes it rise.
- Stir in the 1 teaspoon baking powder last, then scrape the batter into the buttered dish and smooth the top.
- Bake at 375°F for 35 to 40 minutes, until it is puffed, golden brown on top and the middle barely wobbles when you nudge the dish.
- Take it straight to the table and serve it with a big spoon and plenty of butter. It will settle a little as it cools, which is normal.
