The Cornbread Gospels

While I am strongly in the do not add sugar camp on cornbread this book is a delight as it shares Southern and Northern and International cornbread's. While some of the Southern and Northern recipes become repetitive the rest of the book was informative and fun. I love the section on using leftover cornbread and deserts!

I'm not much of a cookbook kind of guy. I tend to read recipes, and once the basic ingredients and methods are clear in my mind I put the basics (dough, prepped food, utensils, etc. together, and let it cook. Since a lot of my food is done by a slow-cook method I can take it easy and not get anxious about exact timing, etc.I grew up in Georgia, where biscuits and cornbread (including muffins, corn sticks, pan-fried breads and so forth) were a daily part of my diet. But I took these things for granted, and simply enjoyed them. It wasn't until I was "on my own," married with children, that I developed an interest in baking the same sort of corn and flour-based goods that I grew up eating. Alas, by that time most of my older cooks, along with their secret techniques and special little add-ins that made their cornbread and biscuits so delicious, was lost. So now I'm on a quest to find and master the basics, and then go from there.After reviewing many of the cornbread cookbooks available, I decided to start with "The Cornbread Gospels" because it seems well written, not too technical, and not too sentimental either. It gives a lot of information that I can use as my skills increase, and that's the best way for me to develop proficiency in a technique.I received the book quickly and immediately began to plan my first attempts to enter the world of cornbread. I may amend this review once I've done a few recipes and gotten a feel for how practical and well-written the book is, but for now, "The Cornbread Gospels" is my new go-to reference book.I like that it covers so many variations on the basic recipe for cornbread, which means I'll be referring to the book for a long time. And yet it's not so heavy or intimidating that I feel afraid to get the pages smudged with stray batter, or to underline or highlight important ideas, or make notes on a page.So, although I'm not a cook who follows recipes "religiously," I do look forward to "The Cornbread Gospels" to be my guide to a new world of warm, crunchy, buttery goodies that will make many meals all the more savory or delightful. This is early November, which gives me plenty of time to develop some skills before I try to make cornbread dressing or other homemade breads for the holidays.May all your baking experiments turn out to be wonderful successes! Remember, SLOW cooking keeps everything more moist, and helps flavors blend together. Let any anxiety or past "failures" go, and start again (I'm now 60, and just starting cornbread mastery!). Make cornbread as often as you can -- not just as part of "important" meals, but just to practice consistency. Soon we'll all be making lots of cornbread delicacies, and delighting our friends and family with fresh breads that come alive with some butter at the table! Best of everything, -Russell (transplanted from Atlanta to Manhattan).

Bought a used one from Benefit Books & Discs. The book is basically perfect. Could not have asked for any better product or customer service/shipping. Highly recommend this seller.

I love this book! I've had the physical book for years and just bought a Kindle version because I love this book so much!The stories about the recipes and the regional differences just her in the US alone made it a fun read! It's nice to know where the recipes came from! :) I've made many of the different recipes and enjoyed the results! My adventure making cornbread was to start with the earlier Colonial recipes... and work my way around the world as I could! I was so glad to find the South African mealie bread here, too! Johnnycakes... hoe cakes... I could go on and on!This was my first introduction to Crescent Dragonwagon and her work - and it remains my favorite! I had bought the book because of the the name and the topic... and her name! However, I fell in love with the book for the variety of cornbread, the anecdotes, and overall charm of the book. The recipes are delicious! This is my "go to" book if I need a cornbread recipe - and then I agonize over deciding which one!I still enjoy this book and had to buy another because mine is a bit beaten up from use and moving! If you love cornbread, you will enjoy this book!

When I think of cornbread, I have flashbacks to many occasions in my life growing up in rural Winston County and suburban Mobile Alabama. My grandma liked hers yellow, my mother liked hers yellow, both cooked in a cast iron pan, never as muffins. So when I married a Yankee, it surprised me that his concept of cornbread could be so different. This ebook gives regional recipes, but also explains the key differences. Last night I read the chapter on these differences to my husband...because he liked his sweet, with flour, cooked as muffins, with syrup, frequently for breakfast...while I chose to serve it with dinner, especially cooked greens or crumbled in a goblet of milk. How appalling to pair it with sweet items. Thus we were out of sync about cornbread.Well written, with references to other sources both culinary and historical, the differences in the manufacture of stone ground and steelcut. It even discusses grits, hominy, and polenta. The live links are clickable and take you to specific recipes...or almost to the recipe, because it is a page number which could be off if you set your font size larger. I flipped to the beginning of the NEXT recipe and had what I wanted. Obviously this ebook was carefully planned and organized to provide the reader or cook with more than a recipe.

This book was a gift and the recipient was thrilled beyond words. She immediately baked one of the recipes, exclaiming how good it was and brought me a sample. Really find cornbread!!!

Great recipes, big variety. Stories are great too!

I saw this book when visiting a friend and got caught up in the anecdotes and the variety of recipes. Well, I bought the book and am glad I did. I've only used two of the recipes so far, but they've both been big hits. There are LOTS of cornbread recipes of all types, but also sweet breads, griddle breads (like pancakes.... some look amazing) and other foods that go with cornbread. As I am a vegetarian, too, I appreciate that there are lots of adaptations made for us and a healthy take on most of the offerings. I made the maple-cornmeal sticky buns last weekend and wow, they were really good. I just like to read the recipes, notes and stories Ms. Dragonwagon's included. It's a good book; I recommend it to anyone wanting new things to try with corn/cornmeal.

I love cornbread and waa surprised to find a whole cookbook devoted to it. I was even more surprised to find one written by the author of one of my favorite books (To Take a Dare). It was a match made in heaven. The author includes lovely little notes and helpful tips. Everything you never knew you needed to know about cornbread is here.

I was using this book without a cast iron skillet as I had a pan the right weight, shape and size to substitute. Wonderful recipes. Luckily my husband was able to rescue and recondition two cast iron skillets and now the recipes turn out even better.

Cornbreads sind bei uns kaum bekannt und das ist schade. Crescent Dragonwagon, bekannte Koch- und Kinderbuchautorin hat einen wunderbaren Schatz amerikanischer und internationaler Rezepte für das in den Staaten sehr oft gebackenes Cornbread gesammelt. Süd- und Nordstaaten haben alle so ihre eigene Rezepte und es ist schön, die verschiedene Unterschiede zu lesen. Für diejenige die gerne schnell ein Brot backen und auf Sauerteig verzichten wollen, können hier tolle Rezepte finden. Eine echte Empfehlung!