Being from Los Angeles, cornbread wasn’t ever high on my list of favorite foods because frankly, I hadn’t really had many opportunities to enjoy it. I went to college in Arkansas and later moved to Houston, Texas post college and while in the south had quite a few chances to enjoy my share of cornbread. Sadly, they all seemed dry to me and not worth the calories until, the Houston Rodeo. Chili & cornbread: Hit. The. SPOT. I wasn’t sure if it was the phenomenal chili or the best cornbread I’d ever tasted or maybe both. What I did know was that I now had a mission to accomplish. Recreate the goodness.
My mom had a solid chili recipe that I knew I could dress up so I decided to tackle the cornbread. Like any good search, I started with Google and read recipe after recipe, surveyed reviews, looked at pictures and finally settled on a highly rated recipe that described the end result as moist. I figured that was as good a place as any to start and over the next year, I continued to play with the recipe until I found “the goodness”.
If you’re looking for a dense, salty-sweet cornbread that pairs well with, well, everything, look no further than the recipe below. Don’t thank me, thank the Houston Rodeo.
INGREDIENTS
2/3 cups salted butter (plus a little extra for topping)
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 2/3 cups whole milk
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup medium grain cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
Approx. 4 tablespoons honey
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 400F.
Cream room temperature butter and sugar together.
Add in eggs and milk, combine.
Sift in flour and baking powder, mix together.
Add cornmeal and salt to batter, mix just until combined.
Grease 9 x 13” glass baking pan and pour in batter.
Cut slivers of butter and place about 12 small pieces (each piece about 1/4 tablespoon or less) across the top of the batter. Drizzle with honey. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.