Southern Cornbread Salad -- The Dish We Brought to Celebrate Tom

Tom's mule book launch was Saturday evening at the Denton County Library — a room I've been in a hundred times for a hundred ordinary things, now rearranged with folding chairs and a podium and a stack of books on the table by the door. Fifty-one people came. I counted twice because it seemed impossible and then seemed exactly right.

Claire drove up from Billings — Tom's daughter, who has her father's eyes and her mother's patience, and who has been quietly worried about him since her mother passed four years ago. She sat in the front row. Tom saw her when he walked to the podium and had to stop for a moment before he could begin. I don't think most people caught it. I did.

He read for forty minutes. He read the chapter about the first mule he ever shod — a Missouri Fox Trotter hybrid named Clementine who bit him twice and taught him more about patience than any human being ever had. He read the chapter about the year he almost quit, the one where he spent three weeks in February convinced that what he did didn't matter to anyone. The room was very quiet. Some of the older men in the back nodded in the way that means "I know exactly what you're describing."

At the end he asked if there were questions and a girl of about nine raised her hand and asked if he liked mules better than horses. Tom considered this with full seriousness and said "they're harder to fool," and the girl nodded like that was the answer she expected.

I spoke briefly afterward — introduced Tom as my mentor and the best teacher I'd never had a class with, which got a laugh. Afterward Claire found me by the book table and said "he talks about you, you know. He says you're the reason he finished it." I told her that wasn't right. She said "that's exactly what he said you'd say."

I bought four copies and put them on the shelf between the cookbooks and the ranch journals. They belong there.

After an evening like that — fifty-one people in a library room, a man reading his own words out loud for the first time, his daughter in the front row — you want the food on the table to match the weight of the occasion without overshadowing it. I’d made this Southern Cornbread Salad for the reception beforehand, something that could sit and hold and feed a crowd without fuss, the kind of dish that says we planned for you, we expected you, we’re glad you came. It felt right for Tom: honest ingredients, nothing trying too hard, better than it looks at first glance.

Southern Cornbread Salad

Prep Time: 25 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 45 minutes | Servings: 12

Ingredients

• 1 batch (about 8 inches square) cornbread, cooled and crumbled
• 1 (1-ounce) packet ranch dressing mix
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 2 (15-ounce) cans pinto beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 (15-ounce) cans whole kernel corn, drained
• 3 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 1 cup green bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cup green onions, sliced
• 10 strips bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions

1. Make the dressing. Whisk together the ranch dressing mix, sour cream, and mayonnaise in a small bowl until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to assemble.
2. Crumble the cornbread. Break the cooled cornbread into bite-sized crumbles. Spread half of the crumbles in an even layer across the bottom of a large trifle bowl or 9x13 dish.
3. Layer the beans and corn. Spoon the pinto beans evenly over the cornbread layer, followed by the corn.
4. Add the vegetables. Scatter the chopped tomatoes, bell pepper, and green onions over the corn layer.
5. Spread the dressing. Dollop half the ranch dressing mixture over the vegetable layer and spread gently to cover.
6. Add toppings. Sprinkle half the crumbled bacon and half the shredded cheddar over the dressing layer.
7. Repeat the layers. Top with the remaining cornbread crumbles, the remaining dressing, and finish with the rest of the bacon and cheddar cheese.
8. Chill and serve. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving to allow the layers to meld. Serve cold, scooping down through all layers with each portion.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 420 | Protein: 14g | Fat: 26g | Carbs: 34g | Fiber: 5g | Sodium: 780mg