My Grandmother’s Virginia Spoonbread Recipe

Excerpted from 'Baking in the American South' by Anne Byrn

AARP

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Published November 13, 2024

Have your meal ready once this spoonbread is in the oven, because once it’s out, it starts sinking like a popped balloon. But that is the drama of spoonbread!

Rinne Allen

I tend to associate spoonbread, the soufflé of the South, with Virginia — not just with the state, but also with my grandmother Virginia, who was raised in middle Tennessee but taught school briefly in Abingdon, Virginia. Her recipe is similar to the famous Boone Tavern recipe from Berea, Kentucky, where spoonbread is brought to the table and, true to its name, spooned onto your plate.

In my grandmother’s spoonbread, white cornmeal is cooked in milk until thick. Egg yolks are added for richness, and then egg whites are beaten until nearly stiff peaks and folded in carefully. No other leavening is needed. And while baking powder might have been added to some spoonbread recipes around the turn of the 20th century, purists didn’t add it.

You need to have the meal ready once spoonbread is in the oven, because once it’s out of the oven, it starts sinking like a popped balloon. But that is the drama of spoonbread! One bite, and you will see why cooks have revered it and why historians have waxed poetic about it. The late food historian John Egerton once wrote, “A properly prepared dish of spoonbread can be taken as testimony to the perfectibility of humankind.” — Anne Byrn

My Grandmother’s Virginia Spoonbread

Serves 6 to 8

Prep: 15 to 20 minutes

Bake: 40 to 45 minutes

Ingredients

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus 2 teaspoons for greasing the pan
3 cups whole milk
2 teaspoons salt, plus a pinch
1 cup finely ground white cornmeal
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
3 large eggs

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Directions

Heat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit, with a rack in the middle. Grease a 2-quart casserole dish or 6-cup soufflé dish with the 2 teaspoons butter (see note).

Place the milk and the 2 teaspoons salt in a large heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and while it is boiling, slowly whisk in the cornmeal, stirring to keep the mixture smooth. Reduce the heat to low so it simmers and switch to a wooden spoon. Cook, stirring, until very thick, about 5 minutes.

"Baking in the American South" by Anne Byrn includes 200 recipes and more than 150 photos from 14 states.

Rinne Allen/Harper Celebrate

Bake With Anne

Byrn shared three recipes from 'Baking in the American South' with AARP members:

Nashville Chess Tartlets

This smaller version is great for summer barbecues, packed in box lunches, and on the table at holiday parties.

My Grandmother’s Virginia Spoonbread

One bite, and you will see why cooks have revered it and why historians have waxed poetic about it.

Ella Beesley’s Refrigerator Rolls

These are the Southern version of Parker House rolls — light as a feather and yet wickedly rich.

Remove the pan from the heat. Add the 6 tablespoons butter, sugar, nutmeg, and cayenne and stir until the butter melts.

Separate the eggs, placing the yolks in a small dish and the whites in a large stainless-steel bowl. Add the pinch of salt to the whites and set aside. Blend a spoonful of the cornmeal mixture into the egg yolks and stir to temper them (gradually bringing up their temperature). Add the egg yolks back to the pan of cornmeal and stir until smooth. Set aside.

Beat the egg whites on high speed with an electric mixer until stiff but not dry, 2 to 3 minutes. Fold the beaten whites into the cornmeal mixture until nearly smooth. Turn the batter into the prepared dish and smooth the top. Place the pan in the oven.

Bake until the spoonbread has puffed up and is golden brown, 40 to 45 minutes. Serve at once.

Note: You can pile the spoonbread into any 2-quart casserole dish, but a more elegant presentation is in a straight-sided ceramic soufflé dish. Once the spoonbread is in the oven, it begins to rise, and by 40 to 45 minutes, it hits its peak and has a glorious golden crown on top. That’s when it’s time to carefully pull it from the oven, take it straight to the table, and serve with butter.

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