Hearty Stews and Soups: November 30, 2009

The Monday after Thanksgiving we promised simple, flavorful, nutrient-rich food -- cornbread and multi-beans & greens soup. An after-Supper photo shows what a fine night it was for soups and stews.

Energetic groups planned fine things for downtown this Monday, both to the east and west, round about Cornbread Supper time, 6 PM. So we encouraged people to go the 5:30 PM tree lighting at the Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden or to the 5:00 PM petition signing at the Distillery District, or both, and then come by Campsie. We promised there would be plenty of cornbread, hearty warm foods, and conviviality. People took us up on the promise, and we had a fine group, some of whom came in with cold cheeks and hands, and double-Santa flexi-straw-whistles, from the East End's first ever tree lighting ceremony.

What they brought to and found on the food table:

Beef Stew
Grandma's Meat Loaf
Multi-bean Soup with Greens and More; vegetarian/vegan, very little salt/fat
Pumpkin & Turnip Soup (vegan)
Bean Soup (vegetarian)
Tofu & Sesame Noodles
Beautiful Spinach Salad
Green Salad with Fruit Topper
Appalachian Black Skillet/Hot Water Cornbread with a few tweaks, vegetarian
A more (not sweet) custardy cornbread; vegetarian
Grandmother's Fruit Cocktail Bars
Homemade Sorghum Caramels

Comments

Boone Tavern Spoon Bread, the 1950s recipe

We have tried spoonbreads (soft, luscious, buttery—described by James Beard as a "heavy, dense soufflé") as Cornbread Supper mainstays before, and used great recipes, but the spoonbreads always did what spoonbreads (and soufflés) do: deflate. Through serendipity, and thanks to a Cornbread Supperian, I lucked into the old Boone Tavern (Berea College) recipe for spoonbread, and it is far less droopy. Perhaps Boone Tavern developed an approach to spoonbread that preserves all its goodness while still working for a busy restaurant. In any case, with thanks to Kentucky food and foodways author and guru John van Willigen, here's an excellent recipe for that can be doubled, tripled, and quadrupled to feed spoonbread to a crowd. It did just that on Monday, February 25, 2013. From Richard T. Hougen. Look No Further: A cookbook of favorite recipes from Boone Tavern Hotel, Berea College, Kentucky. New York: Abingdon Press. 1955. Southern Spoon Bread 1955 Ingredients 3 c...

We remember Vicky Schankula, 1947–2016

Vicky Schankula, at right, in purple One of life's most gracious and delightful people, Victoria Fairbanks Schankula, found Cornbread Suppers early on, and took joy in the weekly gatherings. She came to Cornbread Supper faithfully, bringing beautiful food, laughter, a camera for her "picture of the day," a lovely British accent, a commitment to helping clean up, and a constant interest in each other person in the room. When Vicky entered the house on Monday nights carrying a particular large round plate, children (and a few adults) trailed her to the dessert table to see what she had brought. The favorites: lemon bars, brownies and her mother's most unusual, delicious carrot cake. Vicky graciously shared and allowed us to publish recipes for Lemon Bars and Isabel Fairbairns's (Gangy's) Carrot Cake on this site. Gangy's Carrot Cake on Vicky Schankula's special dessert plate When illness prevented Vicky from returning to Cornbread Supper...

Cornbread Supper now is resting

For all the Cornbreadians and would-be Cornbreadians -- it was a good run. A bit more than nine years. You came on Mondays. Conviviality ensued. You made community. Gratitude to all. It was a gift to us.

Cornbread Supper

Search This Blog