Nancy's Cornbread by Jan Scarbrough

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8142351789316345301.post-88681859398244423692008-04-06T18:35:00.003-04:002008-04-06T18:40:07.900-04:00Nancy's Cornbread by Jan Scarbrough<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_IWzx0zqP-mI/R_lQ8_8aeMI/AAAAAAAAAAM/-l3EvPawK2Q/s1600-h/Pic_Jan_1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_IWzx0zqP-mI/R_lQ8_8aeMI/AAAAAAAAAAM/-l3EvPawK2Q/s320/Pic_Jan_1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5186265454781036738" border="0" /></a>My mother and I didn’t get along for much of my early life. It was more than a mother/daughter thing. An only child, I saw my mother as overly critical. She tried to improve me. She didn’t accept me for myself.<o:p></o:p> <u1:p></u1:p>“You must fire your parents as parents,” the family therapist told my group in the early eighties. <o:p></o:p> <u1:p></u1:p>I was thirty-one-years-old and absorbing the new way of being that group therapy opened for me. I didn’t know how to “fire my parents,” but being a writer, I eventually wrote them a letter.<o:p></o:p> <u1:p></u1:p>My dad took it hard. My mother didn’t. Gradually, I came to understand my mother’s motivation. She wanted me to be the best I could be, and pushing me was her way to do it. I heard her “encouragement” as “nagging.” She was a product of The Depression and WWII. She wasn’t versed on the pop psychology of the day.<o:p></o:p> <u1:p></u1:p>Through group therapy I gained insight into my motivation. As a child, I had learned subconsciously that my purpose was to “make my mother happy.” I gave it up. I grew up. As a result, she quit her “frantic mothering.” She learned I was able to guide my own life.<o:p></o:p> <u1:p></u1:p>When she died, my mother and I were friends. When I think of her now, the old acrimony and teenage conflict is a blur. I think about how she showed her love to me and my children—always “doing,” seldom with a hug or a kiss.<o:p></o:p> <u1:p></u1:p><st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on"><st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Nancy</st1:place></st1:city></st1:city></st1:place>’s cornbread recipe is a memory from my childhood and early adult years—country cooked meals, family and fellowship. I hope you enjoy the symbol of my mother’s love for her family.<o:p></o:p> From my mother’s handwritten recipe—<o:p></o:p> <table class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr style=""> <td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 221.4pt;" valign="top" width="295"> #1 Self-rising corn meal<o:p></o:p> </td> <td style="border-style: solid solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-width: 1pt 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 221.4pt;" valign="top" width="295"> #2 Non-self-rising corn meal<o:p></o:p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 221.4pt;" valign="top" width="295"> 1 egg<o:p></o:p> </td> <td style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 221.4pt;" valign="top" width="295"> 1 egg<o:p></o:p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 221.4pt;" valign="top" width="295"> 1 cup buttermilk<o:p></o:p> </td> <td style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 221.4pt;" valign="top" width="295"> 1 cup buttermilk <o:p></o:p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 221.4pt;" valign="top" width="295"> Self-rising corn meal<o:p></o:p> </td> <td style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 221.4pt;" valign="top" width="295"> ¾ t. salt<o:p></o:p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 221.4pt;" valign="top" width="295"> <u1:p></u1:p><o:p> </o:p> </td> <td style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 221.4pt;" valign="top" width="295"> ¼ t. baking soda<o:p></o:p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 221.4pt;" valign="top" width="295"> <u1:p></u1:p><o:p> </o:p> </td> <td style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 221.4pt;" valign="top" width="295"> Corn meal<o:p></o:p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> It’s important to have a hot pan and hot grease. My mother used an iron skillet or iron cornbread pans shaped like corn.<o:p></o:p> Combine the ingredients and then add the corn meal last. It’s important that the batter not be thicker than thick cake dough. <o:p></o:p> “Bread isn’t good if too much meal is used.”<o:p></o:p> <u1:p></u1:p>Cook at 450° or hot oven until brown.Jan ScarbroughRomance Novelisthttp://www.janscarbrough.com Karina Kylenoreply@blogger.com