John B. Waters, Jr.
In Luke 4:4, Jesus says, “It is written. Man cannot live by bread alone.” John B. Waters Jr. would add, “Unless it’s cornbread!”
Mr. Waters, the well-known Sevierville lawyer and former chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority Board of Directors, has published a charming little essay on the subject of cornbread. He mailed it to several people as part of his annual post-Christmas letter. The title of the work is “Cornbread on Joy Street,” paying homage to the home where he was born and still has his office — 107 Joy Street in Sevierville.
“Everybody likes cornbread,” Mr. Waters told me on the phone by way of explaining why he selected this topic. “No matter who you talk to, they only fix it one way — probably the way their mother fixed it. I’m pretty strict about how I like it. If you put sugar in it, I get a little irritated, to tell you the truth.”
I’ll post Mr. Waters’ recipe for “honest cornbread” in a minute. But first, here are some excerpts from Mr. Waters’ essay:
- “It just can’t get much better than when you sit down to a table and see hot cornbread, cold milk and butter.”
-
"The Waters were breakers."
“When I was growing up, Mother made the cornbread but Dad had a lot of opinions on how he thought it ought to be made. Dad said that yellow corn was only used to feed the animals, so we used only white cornmeal. Many people turned the bread out of the skillet and served it bottom up. They cut the bread into pie-like triangles. In this way, each person got a piece. Dad said that the bread should be turned over and set on the bottom with the top up. Also, he insisted that the bread not be cut with a knife. To do so did something to the taste. You must break the bread into pieces. Dad said that there were cutters and breakers. The Waters were breakers. Sometimes Mother didn’t pay any attention to Dad and made the cornbread the way she wanted to”
- “Many good cooks will continue to disagree, but to me honest cornbread has neither flour nor sugar. Certain recipes for cornbread call for flour and/or sugar. This would be fine for spoon bread and some dessert type recipes. But really, folks, we’re talking about bread, not cake. I like cake, but I don’t eat it with beans and onions.”
- “I am not going to get into the north and south debate. Northern cooks have some very good dishes and I have enjoyed many good meals prepared by them. In my opinion there is one thing they simply don’t know how to cook: green beans. They just do not know that you must boil green beans for some time. I saw the great Emeril on Food Network. He said he was preparing a Southern-cooked meal. He boiled the fresh beans about five or six minutes and then, to stop the cooking, he immersed the beans in ice water. Really, in Tennessee he would be asked to leave the state.”
- “Be happy; break cornbread with a friend.”
OK. Here’s Mr. Waters’ recipe for “honest cornbread.”
One cup white cornmeal mix (self-rising)
One cup 2% milk or low fat buttermilk
One egg, lightly beaten
One-fourth cup vegetable oil, canola is good
Pour oil into iron skillet, put into oven and preheat to 400 degrees. Mix all ingredients. A little lumpy is good. Bake for 30 minutes.
107 Joy Street
Do you have a favorite cornbread recipe?
Photo credit: All photos from “Cornbread on Joy Street.” Thanks, Mr. Waters!
As a fellow Sevierville native I share a lot of Mr. Waters’ opinions on cornbread! My mouth is watering reading this. (Wonder if Mom would make a pan of cornbread if we came for a visit this weekend…)
My Mother made great cornbread along the Waters’ style. My wife makes great cornbread too. She puts cream corn in it, which she says adds a little sweetness, but it still seems savory – and moist – to me. John Waters was a great TVA Board member. He knows as much as anyone about the Tennessee River, and I am glad to find out he knows a whole lot about cornbread too. And by the way we are cutters, not breakers.
I see a run on cornmeal coming!
I have used the same cornbread recipe for more than 35 years. I got it when we lived in Murray KY and it is in the Murray Women’s Club Cookbook. It’s called Perfect Cornbread and has a little sugar in it but it’s not as sweet as “Yankee” cornbread!.
1 cup sifted all purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 cup yellow corn meal
1 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup soft shortening
Mix flour with sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in corn meal. Add eggs, milk and shortening. Beat with electric mixer till just smooth about one minute. Pour into greased 9 x 9 x 2 inch pan. Bake at 425 for 20 to 25 minutes.
I usually make cornbread sticks as that’s Richard’s favorite. Those are baked at 425 for 12 to 15 minutes.
Thanks for that, Dawn!
We are cutters, as well. But, my family likes really thin, very crusty corn bread. Not so much bread as just crusts surrounding the interior for a slice and schmear of the butter! No sugar or eggs in ours either . Yummy corn bread … like it all!!
Sounds good, Allyn!
We’re “slicers” — we cut our skillet cornbread into wedges, like pie. Must be a Texas thing… Here’s a fav recipe — a southwestern take on cornbread:
Dutch Oven Green Chile Corn Bread
1 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
4 eggs
1/2 cup roasted, seeded and diced green chiles (canned may be used, I like to use fresh and roast them, etc., myself; I sometimes use poblanos for more spark!**)
1 1/2 cups cream-style corn
1/2 cup grated Monterey jack Cheese (you can use jalapeno jack for more heat!)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 10-inch Dutch oven.
In a large bowl, beat together the butter and the sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the chiles, corn and cheese and mix well. Sift together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt; add to the egg mixture and mix until smooth.
Pour batter into the prepared Dutch oven. Bake until a tester inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean, about 1 hour.
*Don’t feel compelled to remove every last bit of skin from the chiles after you’ve roasted them. And, DON’T rinse them off under water after they’re roasted. You’ll wash away the flavor that the roasting just put in!
YUMMY!
Dang, Ellen! I wish I had some of that right now! These recipes are all so different — and I bet I’d love every one. I intend to try them. I think each would be best on a different occasion. Mr. Waters’ honest cornbread might be best with simple things like beans and onions. Dawn’s would be good at a family supper. And Ellen’s could shine at a fancier dinner. Also, Mr. Waters’ could be put together much more quickly. So maybe it also depends on how hungry you are when you decide to make cornbread.
Cynthia, I have my grandmother’s recipe, but she was from Newport, not Sevierville. But she did not put ramps in it! I have my other grandmother’s cast iron skillet, which I use to cook my cornbread. The last thing my father asked me to cook for him before he died was a “pone of cornbread!
Here’s my mother’s cornbread recipe (which means it was probably her mother’s)
1/2 tsp. soda
1 1/3 c. cornmeal (pref stone ground)
1/3 tsp. salt
1/4 c. shortening (bacon grease for most authentic)
1 c. buttermilk
1 egg
Preheat to 400. Put shortening in well seasoned iron skillet and put in oven to melt. Mix dry ingredients together. Mix egg and buttermilk and add hot oil. Make a well in dry ingredients and pour wet ingredients into dry. Stir only slightly until all is moistened. Sprinkle a small amount of corn meal in hot skillet before pouring batter. Bake 25-30 minutes. Turn out of pan and serve upside down, cut into wedges.
Glo: Great story! Is your Newport recipe very different from Mr. Waters’? Gay: that sounds wonderful. May have to start saving bacon grease again! Thanks! Looks like we have a lot more cutters than breakers!
My recipe is frm Newport–and looks pretty similar to Mr. Waters’. I do have a grease keeper–and just as I was taught, it’s only for “good” grease and only for cornbread. I used some to bake a skillet of cornbread the other night. Oops. Just outed myself. I doubt Bill knew he was eating something with grease in it.
Preheat oven to 425. I use only for cornbread a seasoned iron skillet. Grease heavily with Crisco shortening for a great brown crust. Or if you prefer spray with crisco spray.
2 cups self-rising buttermilk enriched white cornbread mix.
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups milk or buttermilk. I use 1 cup buttermilk to 1/2 cup sweet milk. 1/4 cup of veg. oil stirred in 1 egg together.
Stir all ingredients completely together. Pour into skillet and place in hot oven 425 degrees 30 minutes until good and brown. Slice. I serve with new crop pintos, onions, chow chow, and butter.
Mrs. Brown, that sounds delicious! Thanks so much!
Good God in heaven! Now I’ve got serious cornbread fever…and there’s only one cure! Preheat the oven, dahling!
Will be doing the same thing in a couple of hours, Phyllis!
I’d tell you my recipe, but I can’t find the Jiffy box just now! LOL!! Oh, and I do like just a touch of sugar but not sugary sweet! And, I’m a cutter, like to cut it like a pie. I may have to get adventurous and try some of these recipes though because I do LOVE cornbread!!!!
Welcome to The Blue Streak, Gina!
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