The Cornbread Gospels

If you are not sure you could use a whole cookbook devoted to cornmeal and cornbread, you really should check this book out - it will wipe away any doubts you have that cornbread is not important in your life. First of all, this book can be READ, actually read, like a novel, I mean night-time reading. The stories and notes on nearly every page have been my evening reading and most enjoyably so. Then the recipes - every kind of cornbread, plus all kinds of cakes and other dishes using different kinds of corn meal. You can learn all kinds of things about corn meal - its history, the different forms it can take, and the various ways it is prepared. I am now making my way through the recipes, and so far its been excellent. The Vermont custardy cornbread is excellent; my daughter just told me its great with the black bean soup I made last night, but also good enough for dessert (she said with her mouth full of it). This cook book is worth it, do try it!

I laughed, I cried, I sat spellbound and on the edge of my seat to the very end! I was reading the newest Harry Potter book, right? Wrong. I just finished reading The Cornbread Gospels by Crescent Dragonwagon and I absolutely LOVE this book. This is not just a cookbook. It's stories wound around history, looped with facts and hints and tied together with recipes that will join your repertoire and never, ever leave. It's not just cornbread recipes, either! It's muffins and pones and pancakes and go-withs like greens and soups. I, like so many people that Crescent Dragonwagon met in her travels, grew up with cornbread and have a deep affection for it; not just because I love it, but because of the memories it brings with it each time it's pulled hot from the oven. When I told my mom about this book, the first thing out of her mouth was, "Grandma made cornbread every day of her life." I didn't know that! I knew grandma made it, of course, but I didn't know it was a daily thing for her. I asked mom if grandma had a recipe or if she (and I looked around and lowered my voice at this) made it from a box. Thankfully, mom said grandma always used a recipe, "...yellow cornmeal-always, a little flour, some sugar..." Just as I'd suspected. At any rate, when I read about the history of cornbread and how it at one time was thought by some to be "poor people food", or that others were looked down upon for eating it, it nearly broke my heart. Cornbread is beautiful to me, and to think that anyone would think different was just not right. I kept reading, not able to stop, and found that thoughts turned around eventually. I didn't know there was so much to know about cornbread. I couldn't wait to get started on making some of those recipes, so I chose 3 and got started. The first one was, of course, the first (and I feel-best) in the book, "Dairy Hollow House Skillet-Sizzled Cornbread", the very cornbread served by C.D. at her former Eureka Springs inn of the same name. Let me tell you, I didn't think there was much reason to make any other cornbread at all - ever - after that one. Even my husband a true *gasp* cornbread-hater (I'll deal with him later, don't you worry) liked it. The next two were "Leora's Sweet-Milk Buttermilk Cornbread" and "Ronni's Appalachian Cornbread". Those greens I made the other day were made especially to go with these cornbreads - and they were perfect. The next day, I made Kush from the leftovers, which I only think we had since I'd made 3 pans of cornbread! I just loved having my cast iron pan out for something truly worthy of being made in it. There is no other book you will ever need for a cornbread recipe. Not ever. This woman has traveled far and wide and found versions that span the globe. Did you even have a clue that cornbread was global? I have lots of recipes left to try (there's over 200!), and I plan to make as many as I can. I urge you to get your own copy of this book.

I love to read, so I've often waited impatiently for my favorite fiction writer to publish her or his next novel. But this is the first time I've tapped my foot while waiting for a cookbook writer. As expected, CD comes through again with her fantastic follow-up to Passionate Vegetarian. I'll be cooking my way through these recipes, comparing, contrasting, and savoring every bite for years to come. As I expected it would be, this is a fantastic book choc-full of corny information. I would never have imagined you could write such a book on a single, seemingly narrow subject, but CD proved that you can. I'm oh so glad she did. If you love cornbread like I love cornbread, you gotta get this book.

As another reviewer suggested, this is the sort of cookbook that you'll want to keep near you for lively, inspired reading. By the time I finally got this book back into the kitchen, it was already dog-eared, and I've been cooking from it almost every day since. The recipes are clear, delicious, and fail-proof. I have been a big fan of Crescent Dragonwagon's Inspired Vegetarian cookbook because she's such a fantastic, generous writer. In The Cornbread Gospels, she dives deep into a beloved subject and just keeps dishing up great recipes, corn-lore, and people stories. She also has included recipes for side-dishes and ways to use leftovers. When you open up your oven to pull out a batch of sweet-smelling cornbread (try the Dairy Hollow Skillet-Sizzled recipe), all will be right in your world. Crescent Dragonwagon knows how to satisfy our bellies, minds, and hearts.

As ever, this cook book by Crescent Dragonwagon is as much at home on your bedside table as in the kitchen. Read it for history -- who'd have thought corn had so much!?; for personal inspiration -- that comes with the territory, with Crescent; for laughs -- her friends and anecdotes about them are pretty funny; for sociology -- you think I'm kidding?; and oh, yeah, for recipes. Amazing recipes. Well researched, carefully documented, easily followed, they come from old family recipes and beyond. Cornbread, we learn from Cornbread Gospels, is not just for soup, anymore. It's for breakfast. It's for dessert. It's good, 24/7.