Happy New Year! I hope the first week of 2024 is treating you right.
After such a busy holiday season, my family and I had a quiet New Year’s Eve at home around a backyard fire pit. I made some buffalo chicken dip and jingle juice, a fruity cocktail with spiced rum and white wine, and we grilled out, cooked some tater tots in the oven, and watched the ball drop on TV at midnight.
A few of our neighbors shot fireworks and we watched them from the back porch steps with a glass of champagne. It was nice to be safe and sound at home, and tucked in asleep in the early hours of 2024.
Before I went to bed, I soaked black-eyed peas in a pot of water on the stovetop in preparation for New Year’s Day lunch. I had been shopping at a local antiques store earlier in the week, and I came across something special. It was a bag of Chef Sean Brock’s Jimmy Red Cornbread Mix. I had seen a documentary about Chef Sean Brock, a renowned Southern chef from Virginia, and his passion for seed saving on this very same corn.
I couldn’t wait to get home and make it, and I knew it would be the perfect addition to our January first table. Jimmy Red Corn is an heirloom variety of blood-red corn which was nearly extinct in the early 2000s, but thanks to seed savers and intentional farming, the corn is now thriving in the South and widely used by chefs and distillers. It is a piece of Southern history, known for making good hooch, or moonshine whiskey.
Chef Brock’s recipe requires a hot cast iron skillet and uses full fat buttermilk and a little more than half a cup of melted lard or vegetable shortening. It is a brown-purplish color once baked, and has a distinct flavor all its own.
I cut some unsalted butter over the top and let it slide across the hot bread when it came from the oven.
The sides were crispy. I sliced it into eight pieces and we enjoyed the cornbread along with the black-eyed peas with bacon, homemade mac n’ cheese, green beans and grilled ribeye steaks. We sat in the dining room and served the meal on special china passed down from my mother-in-law, with matching brown goblets filled with cold sweet tea.
It is not often we take the time to linger over a home cooked meal at the dining room table, but this year, I hope we can slow down and do more of that.
The New Year is full of hope and possibilities. No matter what this next year holds, never underestimate the things that bring you joy, always have the courage of your convictions even when others may not understand, and show up for yourself every day. Those realizations have served me well, and I’m grateful for another 365 days to learn, grow and keep shining. Let’s do this.
Rebekah Faulk Lingenfelser is a private chef and the author of the best-selling memoir “Some Kinda Good.” Featured in Forbes, on Food Network and ABC, she writes about Southern, coastal cuisine, locally sourced and in season. Connect with her on social media by liking Some Kinda Good on Facebook, or follow @SKGFoodBlog on Instagram and Twitter.
Jimmy Red Cornbread Recipe
(Makes a 10-inch Round Loaf)
Try this recipe for yourself and see what you think! If you have any leftovers, make croutons or toast the cornbread and toss it with vegetables in a panzanella salad.
• 1 package Jimmy Red Cornbread Mix
• 2 ½ cups Full Fat Buttermilk
• 2 Each Whole Eggs
• ½ cup + 4 Tbsp Lard, melted (or vegetable shortening)
• A pinch of black pepper
• A pinch of coarse salt
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Put a 10-inch cast iron skillet in the oven for at least 10 minutes.
Combine the cornbread mix with the black pepper, buttermilk, and eggs. Stir in the melted lard. Move the skillet from the oven to the stove, placing it over high heat. Add half of the remaining lard and swirl to coat the skillet. Pour in the batter, distributing it evenly. It should sizzle.
Transfer back to the oven and bake the cornbread for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Brush the top with the last of the lard and sprinkle with the coarse salt. Serve warm, directly from the skillet.
Recipe courtesy of ChefSeanBrock.com