Zippy Hot Water Cornbread
Author: 
Cuisine: Southern
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: About 12 patties
 
This is a recipe for a Creole-style hot water cornbread.
Ingredients
  • 2 cups coarse cornmeal
  • ⅓ cup AP flour
  • 2 tablespoons rice flour
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 2 tablespoons baking powder
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons Creole seasoning (or more, but not too much)
  • 1-1/2 - 2 teaspoons Kosher salt (more if you don't use the Creole seasoning)
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper (omit if using Creole seasoning)
  • ½ stick melted butter
  • Kettle of boiling water
  • Vegetable oil--enough to shallow-fry. About 1-1/4 cups, give or take. Sunflower, safflower, grapeseed or even the dreaded Canola, but not olive. And read the post!
Method
  1. READ THE TEXT IN THE POST BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING!
  2. Whisk all dry ingredients together in glass bowl.
  3. Add melted butter.
  4. Add boiling water about a cup at a time, mixing well, until you have the texture of damp Play-Doh. When you think you have it let it sit for a couple of minutes to fully hydrate. Only then will you know if you have enough water.
  5. To your skillet add a good amount of vegetable oil. Add enough so that your patties are ¾ covered. Eyeball your situation. Your pan is not the same size as my pan.
  6. Bring oil to a shimmer. It's got to be hot enough but not too hot!
  7. While you wait for the oil you can set up your batter bowl and a bowl of water. You will form either round or oblong patties by dipping your hands in the water, then shaking them off, then taking a scoop of dough and taking care of business. You need about 1/12 of the dough for each patty. Make them about ½-inch thick. The patties should not be dripping wet. Just a bit of water patted onto each side.
  8. When the oil is ready start forming patties and add them directly to the skillet. Carefully. They will spatter.
  9. When you have you pan full but not too full, allow them to fry on medium flame for a minute or so, then TURN DOWN THE FLAME TO LOW.
  10. At some point gently shake the pan to make sure you have no stickage.
  11. When golden brown carefully turn over.
  12. You want a good 5 minutes on each side on low flame. When you turn them over you should jack up the flame for a minute and then turn it down again.
  13. When done transfer to a platter lined with paper towels.
  14. Devour.
Recipe by Akitachow.com: A food site and a big dog at https://www.akitachow.com/zippy-hot-water-cornbread/