I apologize in advance for the extent to which you will crave this cornbread when you finish the first batch. It started out innocently enough. As so often happens to me, yesterday I read the word “cornbread” and had to incorporate it into dinner. I don’t know why that happens – it’s like a fleeting idea of a particular dish will flip a switch in my brain and all of a sudden I am hungry for something I didn’t realize I wanted. It’s fine when this happens with foods for which I have the necessary ingredients; not so much when I start jonesing for pan-seared foie gras.
So cornbread. I started jazzing up cornbread a few years ago with diced apples and barbecue sauce – also delicious – and got really hooked on the idea that cornbread can take the main stage as an entrée rather than stay on the side dish sidelines. I thought the savory trio of the onions, bacon, and cheese here would nicely complement the sweetness of the cornbread. I didn’t really anticipate that the flavors would come together in a storm of perfection to create something I would end up dreaming about last night as I laboriously digested a third of the pan in my sleep (after intending to eat an eighth…oops).
There is cornbread and there is cornbread. This is the latter.
