Tex-Mex Cornbread

Let’s make some South Texas-style cornbread.

• 1 cup masa (masa harina)
• 1 cup flour (masa de trigo)
• 1/8 cup sugar
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup oil or lard (manteca)
• cooking spray for the pan

Mix the dry ingredients. Wisk eggs, milk, oil in a separate bowl. If using
lard, melt separately, then add to dry ingredients before adding in milk and
eggs. Don’t get crazy about a few lumps. Put it all in the pan (I like my
cast-iron cornstick pan, which can easily double up as an impromptu murder
weapon). Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

This recipe is robust enough to fiddle with. Mince in a jalapeño, sub canned
pumpkin for the egg, sub plain yogurt for the milk, use blue masa, etc.

SO. Not a big list of ingredients, and none of them the result of any complicated
processing. In comparison, look what’s in a commercial product labelled “cornbread”,
the (randomly selected) Walmart Freshness Guaranteed Mini Sweet Cornbread:

SUGAR, BLEACHED ENRICHED WHEAT FLOUR, (WHEAT FLOUR, CHLORINE, BENZOYL PEROXIDE, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID),
VEGETABLE OIL, YELLOW CORN MEAL, LIQUID WHOLE EGG, WATER, INVERT SUGAR,
CONTAIN 2% OR LESS OF: NONFAT DRY MILK, BAKING POWDER SODIUM ACID PYROPHOSPHATE, SODIUM BICARBONATE, CORN STARCH, MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE), FOOD STARCH-MODIFIED, CORN STARCH, SALT, CAKE EMULSIFIER (SORBITAN MONOESTEARATE, MONOGLYCERIDES, POLYSORBATE 60, PROPYLEN GLYCOL, SODIUM PROPIONATE [PRESERVATIVE], SORBIC ACID [PRESERVATIVE], BENZOIC ACID [PRESERVATIVE], MOLD INHIBITORS), NATURAL FLAVOR, POTASSIUM SORBATE (PRESERVATIVE), XANTHAN GUM, ANNATTO POWDER. CONTAINS MILK, EGGS AND WHEAT. MAY CONTAIN TRACES OF COCONUT AND SOY.

Mad props on the ANNATTO POWDER, nice to see a natural ingredient down in weeds.

And this stuff is a greasy, sticky mess.

PROPYLEN GLYCOL(!) is also present in many cosmetics, dog food, bath products, and medications. The industrial version is an active ingredient in engine coolants, airplane deicers, enamels, paints, varnishes, and polyurethane cushions.‌ I think a nice hot chunk of the homemade version is adequate as a stomach deicer.

Hey! I get it. Sometimes a starchy item needs to be served in an institutional setting, and the folks that gotta do, gotta do. But that’s no reason to do it to yourself at home.