Product Description

Jeremy Jackson has four goals:

Cornbread is the American bread. The by-the-people-for-the-people bread. So it should be put forth to the people with humor. And a whole lot of butter.

The Cornbread Book does just that with recipes for cornbreads, fritters, hush puppies, and biscuits. Cornbreads of the sweet persuasion appear, too, from biscotti to pound cake. And there are yeast breads such as Anadama Batter Bread and Cornmeal Pizza Dough. Don't forget timeless favorites like spoonbread, buttermilk cornbread, and popovers. Not to mention Gospel Buns, Sweet Potato Cupcakes, and Honey Snail (which doesn't come within ten miles of an actual snail).

Cornbread doesn't even have to be made with cornmeal. Hominy-Leek Monkey Bread has riced hominy. And Jeremy is as proud as a peacock to have come up with three yeast breads made with flour he milled from popped popcorn (Popcorn White Loaf, Popcorn Pita Bread, and Popcorn Focaccia). In the unlikely event you have any leftover cornbread, Jeremy has recipes for cornbread salad, croutons, and dressing.

And if you ever meet Jeremy, he might just sing you "The Cornbread Song" . . .

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #345407 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-01
• Released on: 2003-03-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 144 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780060096793
• Condition: USED - VERY GOOD
• Notes:
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
The author of the novel Life at These Speeds turns his attention-gleefully and surprisingly-to cornbread in a quirky cookbook that boasts delicious recipes and a nice bite of cornbread history. After an introduction in which he proclaims that cornbread should be the country's official bread (new U.S. citizens should get a piece of it after the swearing-in) and unofficial bread, too (it ought to be on all fast-food menus), Jackson offers a brief account of the foodstuff's place in America's past. Interesting tidbits abound: archeo-botanists think it was popcorn that clued people into corn's edibility some 7,000 years ago; corn is both grain and a vegetable; and in 1917, a cookbook suggested that bleary-eyed early risers make "1917 War Coffee," in which molasses-coated toasted corn was supposed to stand in for ground coffee. Jackson's recipes include both basic (Sweet Cornbread is cakey and rich) and highly inventive (Popcorn Focaccia is excellent, and involves Jackson's own method of milling flour from popcorn) breads. Other treats include Caramel Corncake, classic Griddlecakes, Crinkle-Top Sugar Cookies and Honey Snail, a sweet yeast bread Jackson says can be eaten so many ways that it's "pure breakfast anarchy." Humble cornbread has found an impassioned champion and a creative baker in Jackson.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"A quirky cookbook that boasts delicious recipes and a nice bite of cornbread history." (Publishers Weekly )

About the Author
Though I was born in Ohio, I grew up with my family on a farm in the Ozark borderlands of Missouri.We raised cattle and hay and had a garden the size of Texas.At various times we had horses, cattle, a pig, sheep, chickens, ducks, and a pony.We ate a lot of these animals, but not the pony.We also had wild blackberries and persimmons and walnuts on our farm.And a pear tree.And we caught fish in our ponds.We ate some of them, too.

For some crazy reason, I headed off to Vassar College, thinking that I would become a writer.Unfortunately, I did.It was all downhill from there, though the sex was good.From Vassar I went straight into the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where I wrote brilliant stories about bunnies, marbles, and a talking mailbox named Ruth.Then I spent a year writing a novel and a screenplay.Then I went and taught English back at Vassar for two years.Being a professor was a mind-numbing experience, though the sex was good.I quit that job and started being a writer full time, which was very much like being a writer part time except that it took a lot more time and I felt much more guilty when I didn’t write anything.I moved from Poughkeepsie back to Iowa, which is kind of like moving from the outer circles of hell to the Garden of Eden.I bought a house here.It's a nice Craftsman-style bungalow.Plus there's a sauna.

In addition to The Cornbread Book, I'm the author of Life at These Speeds, a literary novel.There isn't any cornbread in the novel.Right now I'm writing a second novel.And my next cookbook, Desserts That Have Killed Better Men Than Me, is already on the way.There isn't any cornbread in it, either, mostly just butter and heavy cream.

Customer Reviews

Great recipes, hilarious anecdotes
This is the kind of cookbook that is as entertaining as it is useful. I've already used three of the recipes (my kids are big fans of cornbread in all its various forms), and all were winners. Gem & Pearl muffins are a decadent breakfast treat, and the two types of cornbread we made were a big hit: suffice to say that there were no leftovers. Next time we'll have to make double batches. Jackson is very funny and charming, and his deep appreciation for his subject comes through on every page. I think we'll be breaking this book out on a regular basis!

Read it and eat!
I confess to not having tried a single recipe yet, but this book gets five stars from me just for the read. Jeremy Jackson is the next Edouard de Pomiane - very, very funny, surprising, smart, literate, and enthusiastic. Even if you hate cornbread (one word, note), you must have it. Buy it, read it, laugh out loud, and preheat your oven to 350F, because you, like me, will be dying to pup a butter-slathered hunk of cornbread down the hatch before you get half-way through.

Swoon-worthy!
What a fresh voice to discover in the cookbook aisle--I was so charmed that I paid full-price! (And the recipes are fabulous, too.)

As someone who once longed for an MFA of her own but is now in culinary school studying pastry arts, I couldn't possibly be more appreciative of Mr. Jackson's talents--unless he were to provide color commentary all day long while I baked. I will without doubt be purchasing his other efforts, both literary & culinary.