April 25, 2011: Noisy for Radio

In honor of the venerable audio medium, radio, we'll forego our usual picture this week. For that reason, and also the fact that your documentarian got a bit caught up in getting Cornbread Supper underway while also talking with acclaimed radio journalist Stu Johnson of NPR affiliate radio station WEKU in Richmond, Kentucky. (Tr: I forgot to take photos.)

Stu came by to talk about food, local food, gardening, food blogging, and really we don't know what all, because he talked with several volunteer Cornbreadians and the conversations could have taken any kinds of turns -- all good ones, we're confident.

We enjoyed the hubbub of a good crowd, plenty of kids, and beautiful food, including ever more green and fresh offerings as the season unfolds. People brought at least these foods, transcribed from their food description slips:

Onion-mushroom-cheese lasagna
Lasagna w/beef & turkey
Local Asparagus; Oliva Bella Oil, Salt & Pepper
Greens! Carrots! Red Cabbage! Feta Italian Dressing Walnuts if you like...
Caesar with Anchovies
Tabouli w/capers & garbanzos
Deviled Eggs (from Easter Eggs)
Pickled Beets with Pickled Eggs
Spaghetti with Tomato-Meat Sauce
Traditional Kentucky Black Skillet Cornbread (vegetarian)
Traditional Kentucky Black Skillet Cornbread with vegetarian add-ins: Cheddar, Red Peppers, Onions, Corn
Pasta with white beans and tuna
Homemade Fresh Bread
Cookies
Vanilla Homemade Ice Cream (unpasteurized milk)
Reed Valley Orchard Blueberry Sauce

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

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