What’s Southern Spoonbread? It’s the lighter eggier version of the more solid and reliable cornbread. It’s almost a vegetable, but one your kids will like as much as I did on a visit to Kentucky where I first tasted it.

It’s quick and easy so let’s get started.

For the Prep

You will start by heating the oven and putting a ten-inch greased cast iron skillet inside. Cooking the spoonbread in a cast iron skillet will give you a nice crust on the bottom, but a small two-quart souffle dish will work fine. If you use a souffle dish you won’t need to preheat it and the finished dish will be more delicate than the cast iron version. Your choice.

Stir the Pot

Put two cups of whole milk in any kind of pot and bring it up to a high simmer just short of boiling. Now gradually add the cornmeal and stir until it thickens (this happens fast) and remove from the heat. It will need a couple of minutes to soften and absorb the milk. Now separate the eggs. Once the cornmeal and milk mixture has cooled a little stir in the baking powder, salt, melted butter and beaten egg yolks. And this is the point where you will add in a little honey or cane syrup for a sweeter bite, or chives for savory. Again, your choice.

Now set the pot aside and beat the egg whites to soft peaks. You want one of those little peaks where the egg white flops over in an S curve. That’s when you can fold them in, pour into the skillet, and put in the oven.

Watch it!

It usually takes thirty minutes but when it’s puffed and tan on top it’s done. And you can play with the timing. If you prefer a softer spoonbread, take it out of the heat a few minutes early. And voila! your spoonbread is done and ready to enjoy with a little more butter or even a cruet of beurre noisette (aka, brown butter).