Everyone has a favourite corn bread recipe, this one is mine. It came from an 80’s trendy restaurant called Fred’s Not Here in the theatre district in Toronto. I qualify that it was trendy in the 80’s because although it is still around, I haven’t been to it since the 80’s so I’m not certain it’s ‘trendy’ any more. I do know that the particular strip that this and many other restaurants reside on are fighting for their lives from being re-zoned and torn down to be made into condos. Like Toronto needs more condos; apparently we have the most condos under construction in all of North America, more than New York, Chicago and Boston, believe it or not. Even if you don’t believe that, surely you must believe that this is absolutely the best corn bread recipe EVER! It’s got great texture (thank you cheddar cheese), a slight sweetness and heat. What more can you want?
Originally posted on this blog in 2009 here, I found this recipe in the Toronto Star in the section that people wrote in and asked the Star to print a recipe from a specific restaurant. It wasn’t me who wrote in, obviously someone else also thought it was the best cornbread ever, so you needn’t take my word for it. I still have the original printed recipe. But I’ve immortalized it for you here and reposted it below because the original photo sucked. These are better.
Fred’s Not Here Jalapeño Corn Bread
Makes about 26 small corn-shaped corn breads. I have altered the original recipe, so if you’d prefer the actual Fred’s Not Here version, please click to my original post here.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cups finely ground corn meal (not corn flour)
- 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 2 tbsp finely diced jalapeños or hot chili peppers (or more if you really like it hot!)
- 2 finely sliced green onions
- 1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Directions:
- Pre heat oven to 400° F.
- Sift cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Stir in the shredded cheese.
- Blend eggs, milk and oil in another bowl. Add the finely diced jalapeños and green onion.
- Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients and stir well to combine.
- Spray your cast iron corn shaped pan with non-stick spray and pre-heat until smoking.
- Spoon batter into smoking hot moulds and bake for 25 minutes or until firm and golden.
- Serve warm or at room temperature with fresh butter.
Notes:
- In a pinch I’ve used dried chili flakes, it works very well.
- You can substitute honey for the granulated sugar, but I haven’t tried it.
- Keep your eye on the baking after the first couple of pans because the pan gets hotter; I had to reduce my baking time by a minute or so by the end.
- Fill the cavity only to the top, this batter has a lot of leavening and will fill out very nicely.
- I served it with this Sopa Azteca and it was very successful.
[…] Serve in warmed bowls and top with avocado, a spoonful of Greek yogurt, cilantro, and cheese. Serve immediately with Cornbread. […]
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[…] Serve with Jalopeño corn bread. […]
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First, yes the theatre district is still trendy and vibrant.
Second, I ate at this restaurant just last night and thought I’d gone to heaven after tasting the cornbread. It successfully hits everything I’ve ever looked for in this kind of treat: crispy on the outside, moist but not too dense on the inside, a great bite thanks to the jalapeños and just a hint of sweetness.
My question, because I’d like to make these, is whether the cast iron forms are necessary or can you still get the same outer crispiness if you used something like a Madeleine pan or a muffin top pan.
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Hi Lisa, thanks for your comment. I’m glad to hear that Fred’s Not Here is still great. I don’t think the madeleine pan would do the trick. You have to heat it up quite a bit and pour the batter into the smoking hot forms. That’s how you get the crispy exterior. Having said that, you could use a cast iron frying pan and just bake them whole and slice after it cools. I also would caution using non-stick as the high baking temperature may make the non-stick coating unstable, but you’d have to read the maximum temperature your particular pan should take. If you don’t have a cast iron frying pan, this is a great excuse to buy one, Tap Phong on Spadina (south if College) is a great resource and has reasonably priced kitchen tools (love, love, love that place). If you can afford it, Lodge is a good, reliable brand, but they also have no names for much less. Take the time to season it properly though. Hope that helps.
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Hi Eva Thanks for the tips. I finally picked up my pans yesterday and have all my ingredients ready to go! Comparing the two recipes, I noticed that the more recent one entirely excludes the oil. How does this change the way they turn out?
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Hi Lisa, to be honest it did not so that’s why I didn’t include it this time. The cheese adds enough moisture in my opinion. Hope you love them!
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thanks Eva for the recipe i too had the original recipe from the strarweek magazine i believe i threw it out accidently. i don’t know if you have the recipe for jerk chicken. it was done on the show what’s for dinner with fred on tv i lost that recipe too
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Hi Mike, welcome to my blog and thank you for your comment. I’m very glad that you found this recipe, it’s always such a big thrill when you find exactly what you’re looking for on the net. Sadly I do not have the Jerk Chicken recipe but you might want to contact the Star and see if they can get it for you from their Archives.http://www.thestar.com/life/food_wine/recipes.html I no longer have an account with them so I couldn’t search it, but if you subscribe I believe you are automatically included in the web version. Let me know if you were successful.
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Eva, these are so cute!! I never knew that corn molds existed for this sort of thing so when I saw the title “Not Here” I literally thought the bread had been replaced by a cob/s 😉 — I didn’t recognize them as bread at all! (just looked up the corn molds now) I just love the look of these little charmers and the recipe sounds delish. My boys would go crazy over these — they both love corn bread and would be tickled by the presentation too. Happy to make the discovery; thanks!
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Hi Kelly, thank you for your comment. I’m pretty certain I purchased that mold in a store called Kitchen Collections in Chicagoland and it looks like it’s on line too http://www.kitchencollection.com/lodge-seasoned-cast-iron-cornstick-pan-l27c3 it’s a store generally found in the Premium Outlet Malls but I’m sure you could get it on line too.
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Oh, what a fun shape for cornbread! I’ve had cornbread precisely once in my life (that flour isn’t common here… well, not in France – I didn’t check yet here) but I’m loving the shape. Where did you get your corn-shaped pan from?
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Hi Charles I actually picked that cast iron pan up in Florida many, many years ago, but I have seen it here in Toronto since then. Of course, back in those days they didn’t weigh luggage so I bought my souvenirs by weight! I even brought home a cast iron pizza pan from Chicago and a cast iron crêpe pan from Paris! Our snail mail just increased by 40% here otherwise I’d offer to send it to you, but it would be cost prohibitive by the weight!
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Perhaps on Amazon… I shall go in search! 😀
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Good luck, I find Amazon a bit expensive for shipping sometimes.
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These loaves look great, Eva. So good that I really did think that first photo was a few ears of corn that had been seasoned with something. No need to play an April Fool’s joke on me. I’ll do if for you. Once I read the recipe I realized my mistake and, I must say, this corn bread does sound good, too. You’ve, also, reminded me that I should go back and re-write a few of my earlier posts.I shudder when I look at some of them.
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Hi John, it’s a funny thing isn’t it? When we posted those photos and recipes so many years ago, it seemed Ok, but now our cell phones take better photos than those old digital cameras! I’m glad to be able to go back and revisit some old favourites. I have a pan in the shape of cacti too!
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Eva, these breads look so cute! I am sure I would love them especially for the jalapeños 😉 I have never had corn bread in my life. Maybe it’s time to start baking…
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Hi Sissi, it’s definitely a Southern US food, particularly the addition of the heat and the sweet. I like this recipe with some tex mex-style foods and it freezes very well, so I can usually pull out one or two for a meal and not have to worry about eating the entire recipe.
I hope you do try to make this recipe, the corn meal does give it an interesting texture.
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I’m totally jealous with your corn mould for sure!!!
looks pretty damn moist and tasty corn bread…
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Thanks so much Dedy, I brought that pan back from the US when they didn’t weigh your luggage!
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Lol…yes the original photos do suck and I know all about that with some of our originals too. 🙂 But these images are absolutely AMAZING Eva. Seriously if this isn’t the best recipe ever, then these are the most awesome looking cornbreads I’ve ever seen. Liz and I are going to make these just b/c of the photos. Love it and have a great weekend!!!
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Thanks so much Jed, it’s always interesting to go back to the beginnings of the blog (mine is over seven years now) and see just how bad it was! But then again it gives us the opportunity to improve on the recipe and the images! Hope you enjoy the results, it’s a tasty one for sure.
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So tell me the truth Eva… in your opinion would this work without the hot stuff in it? I never had a cornbread or corn muffin I liked. What do you say?
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Hi Zsuzsa, the flavour combination of the heat and the sweet is what works for me in this recipe, therefore I have to concede that omitting the heat will probably result in a disappointing product.
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Love those fun corn moulds and your recipe sounds fantastic.
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Thanks so much Bam.
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What a great idea! I love your moulds. Your bread looks exactly like corn husks. Corn bread isn’t very popular here. You never see it. When I was little my mother went on a holiday to the USA. She came back with a cornbread recipe and would make it for us. Didn’t look anything like your cornbread though! xx
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Thanks Charlie, there are as many cornbread recipes as there are families in the US. It’s primarily a southern thing. My Mom used to make corn muffins which were similar to this recipe.
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I love those molds! Great recipe too.
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Thanks Greg, it’s a cast iron pan which works very well for cornbread.
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Not only do these look adorable in the corn shape but the texture looks really good too! 😀
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Thanks so much Lorraine.
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Wow, I’ve not seen cornbread before, Eva. This sounds wonderful. And how great are the molds!
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Thanks Liz, this is why I love blogging, it’s fascinating to hear comments like yours; there are so many differences in cultures around the world.
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I’m jealous of your cute cornbread molds. The recipe sounds similar to mine though I cut back the sugar dramatically to about 2 tbsp (1/4 cup max). You can really personalized cornbread or muffins to your taste or the contents of your pantry. 🙂
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You are absolutely right Maria, cornbread is one of those recipes you can personalize. The balance of the hot and sweet work well with this recipe, but cutting back is always a good idea.
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This is going to be my favourite cornbread! They look so cool with that fancy mould!
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Thanks Angie.
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I haven’t made cornbread in a long time. It’s next to impossible to get good cornmeal here but I’m going to give it the old college try because this recipe seems too good to miss out on.
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Hi Maureen, thank you for your kind words, I hope you and your clan enjoy the corn bread.
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