By Tommy is almost three, and he has entered what Kai calls "the full-body phase," which means that everything Tommy does involves his entire body and considerable sound. He stirs bean pots with his whole torso, leaning into the spoon like he's paddling upstream. He tastes things by leaning toward them with his nose first, then his mouth, then pulling back to consider, then going in again. He has opinions about textures that he communicates through facial expressions of startling clarity.
Kai and Sarah were here for a week in May and I let Tommy help me with beans one evening — dried pintos, soaked overnight, going into a slow pot with onion and dried chiles and smoked turkey neck. He stood on a step stool at the stove and I let him stir during the early stages, before it was hot enough to matter, and he narrated the whole time in a mix of real words and sounds that are clearly words he hasn't found yet. When the beans were done and we sat down to eat, he requested to be moved to Kai's lap, ate from Kai's bowl, and fell asleep at the table with a bean still in his hand.
Kai said something later that I've been writing around in the guide. He said Tommy doesn't seem to distinguish between the kitchen and the food forest — they're the same subject to him, the place where food comes from and the place where food becomes something. He moves between them without a seam. Kai thought this was noteworthy. I told him it was the whole point, that's what we've been trying to build, a place where that seam doesn't exist. Tommy just got here early enough to not know the seam was supposed to be there.
That pot of pintos needs something beside it on the table — something you can tear into and drag through the pot liquor, something that holds up to a three-year-old’s hands and a tired family’s appetite. We always made cornbread, and I always make it with creamed corn because my grandmother did, and because it keeps the crumb moist even when the evening runs long and the beans take longer than you planned. It’s the recipe I reach for when the kitchen is full and the food is the point.
Cornbread with Creamed Corn
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes | Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 can (14.75 oz) creamed corn
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted, plus more for the pan
Instructions
- Preheat and prep. Heat oven to 400°F. Generously butter a 9-inch cast iron skillet or square baking pan and place it in the oven while it preheats — this gives the cornbread a crisp, golden bottom.
- Mix dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar until evenly combined.
- Mix wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the creamed corn, eggs, milk, and melted butter until smooth.
- Combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir gently until just combined — a few lumps are fine. Do not overmix.
- Bake. Carefully remove the hot skillet from the oven, pour in the batter (it should sizzle at the edges), and return to the oven. Bake for 22–26 minutes, until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Rest and serve. Let the cornbread rest for 5 minutes before cutting. Serve warm, directly from the skillet, alongside a pot of beans.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 240 | Protein: 5g | Fat: 8g | Carbs: 37g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 380mg