How We Do Snow.... Beans & Cornbread!

[DougGuy]

How do we do snow here in NC? Look out the window, see snow, put on a big pot of Cajun 10 Bean Soup and a skillet of true unsweetened Southern Cornbread..

The beans are a packaged mix from Ragin' Cajun Fixin's and the spice package they supply with it is a nice touch even though I add some spices of my own..











Put 4 quarts of water in a dutch oven, bring beans to a boil and turn off heat, let sit covered for 1hr.

While beans are soaking, coarsely chop 1/4 lb of Savoie's Pickled Pork, slice off two 1/2" thick slices of the Pork Jowl bacon, dice up one complete Spring Onion, crush and chop 4 cloves of garlic, any dried or fresh hot peppers you happen to like to use.

Bring beans to a second boil, add the pork, onions, garlic, 3 bay leaves, 1tsp each of thyme, cumin seeds, basil, oregano, hot peppers, and the seasoning packet that came with the bean mix. Boil briskly for 3hrs until beans are tender and pork is falling apart. Add water as necessary to keep beans off bottom of pot, stir often.

Make the cornbread when the beans are nearly done..

Here is Chef Sean Brock's famous "Make Cornbread Not War" recipe for a true no flour no sugar Southern cornbread that is out of this world delicious! The photos were of this recipe that I made today, followed the recipe to the letter and it works great, as the photos show. The results are a nice crunchy bread with a crispy crust and a light crumb that almost reminds me of a down south style fish fry where they bread the fish in nothing but cornmeal. It is nothing like Northern cornbread that is cake like and sweet, and although I like both styles, the unsweetened stuff works better with beans than the sweetened variety..

Chef Sean Brock's recipe:
http://www.foodrepublic.com/recipes/make-cornbread-not-war-sean-brocks-cast-iron-cornbread-recipe/?fb_comment_id=fbc_721613834616249_810344045743227 _810344045743227#fbcf8a0f5a42

Another good and truly Southern recipe, no flour and no sugar, which is quite informative as to what makes good cornbread tick without flour or sugar:

http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/11/h...cornbread.html

My first execution of Chef Sean Brock's recipe turned out really good, just like his photos:



Turned out onto a plate and slid back into the hot skillet top side down as he recommends:
(Look at that really crispy crust!!)



Sliced, buttered and served hot from the skillet, we will definitely be making this recipe again!



I used some thick sliced hickory smoked Carolina Pride bacon for this cornbread recipe, it's not one of my favorites for a breakfast meat but for making cornbread, it worked great and 1/3 of this 12oz pkg yielded exactly 5tbsp of fat which is what the recipe called for.



The next batch of this great cornbread will be made with some of Alan Benton's bacon, lots of respected chef's are saying Benton's is the BEST BACON in the country, so I ordered some. They will send you two 1lb packages in usps flat rate for around $25 which is ehh pricey for bacon but if it REALLY IS everything that some noted chefs are saying it is, the cost will easily be forgotten...

[Boaz]

Doug ! Great post but the pic's are not coming up for me ............you might check ?



Came back to edit .........................about half the pictures .

[DougGuy]

Yeah I was editing photos.. Should be all good now!

[Boaz]

Lookin good ! they are all in there !

[Boaz]

D-a-n-g ! Can't go wrong with beans and cornbread ! Looks great !

I have never seen pickled pork in a chunk/slab? What part does it play ?

[DougGuy]

It's just super tender pork, if used in the traditional manner making red beans & rice, it adds a certain taste to those but I didn't use enough of it to add the pickled taste to these beans. I was looking for a pickled pork recipe in an earlier thread I could use to pickle venison so I could get it really tender, gonna try the one gwpercle posted and see if I can get some venison to do like the pickled pork. I have a hard time with lean meats since going through tonsil cancer treatments, they are hard to swallow but pork and most other soft fatty meats go right down.

[Boaz]

Just a shot in the dark but why couldn't you pickle venison like pig feet ? Just never thought about pickling it .

[DougGuy]

The next batch of this great cornbread will be made with some of Alan Benton's bacon, lots of respected chef's are saying Benton's is the BEST BACON in the country, so I ordered some. They will send you two 1lb packages in usps flat rate for around $25 which is ehh pricey for bacon but if it REALLY IS everything that some noted chefs are saying it is, the cost will easily be forgotten...

Ordered some of this bacon strictly on the word of some very influential chefs, to see how much difference it makes in the cornbread and I am here to report that they are correct in saying it is the best bacon in the country, I have never had better bacon, it's intensely smoky with a lot of character and it imparts a deliciously tangy, smoky overtone to the aroma this wonderful cornbread makes, but the taste? Oh yeah.. Store bacon ain't got a chance..

I served this up to some friends with another pot of beans and they tore it up. The thing that finally assured me that this bacon is not just hype, and that it really does *make* this cornbread what it is, when the pan had cooled and was still half full of warm cornbread, I went and stuck my nose right down into the pan, and the smell is just unreal, you smell corn, and you smell bacon with that smoky overtone, and you smell cast iron, that dank almost burned flour kinda smell when the pan is seasoned just right after years of service, and those aromas just mix together to set this cornbread apart from any that I have had or made for that matter..

[rondog]

Oh man, I loves me some pintos 'n pig! Make it differently every time, just throw in whatever's available like onion, green pepper, garlic, habaneros, coarse pepper, lil' salt, various spices, etc., and all the pork I can get ahold of. My intent is to get the highest protein I can. I use an electric turkey roaster and start with about 3lbs. of beans and go from there. I like to make a big batch so I can freeze some small containers of it and have some to enjoy for months.

[Virginian]

Gotta love beans and cornbread. They call the ho cakes here in the south.