Complimentary Proteins in an Old Family Recipe

At a recent dinner party at Suzanna Leigh’s house, she served the most delicious Tennessee Cornpone I’ve tasted in years. The difference: She spiced the beans and included whole kernels in the cornpone. Together cornmeal and beans give you complete protein.

Here’s my recipe: It harks back to my great-great great grandma, Hannah Hinshaw, born and raised in Tennessee. Some of the Hinshaws owned slaves, and it seems Hanna’s family did, too, but when Hanna married William Macy, who didn’t hold with people owning other people, she had to learn to do her own cooking. Within a few years they had seven children. William could not endure a fear that their children might grow up and marry slave owners, so she and her husband and children moved in ox carts to a wilderness in Indiana, leaving many weeping relatives, many friends both black and white, and most of their assets behind. One thing they could not and did not leave behind was Hanna’s repertoire of easy, inexpensive recipes for truly delicious dishes.

Eventually, Hanna and Will had fourteen children, not counting the one that died in infancy. It took a huge cornpone to feed that family, but I’ve pared down the recipe to our conventional four servings and spiced the beans with hot pepper and garlic.

TENNESSEE CORNPONE

4 servings

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

The beans: ½ cup dry red kidney beans cooked with plenty of water and

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 Tablespoon chili powder or 1 jalapeño pepper, minced

3 cups water or

2 (15-ounce) cans red kidney beans with their liqueur

1 small yellow onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced, optional

1 Tablespoon olive or canola oil or chicken fat

Cornbread Topping:

2 cups whole cornmeal

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups stock from cooked beans

1 egg, beaten

½ cup whole kernel corn, optional

1/3 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese, optional

Stir-fry onions in oil or fat until limp and shiny. Combine with remaining ingredients except for cheese if using. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the cornbread top comes out clean. Most of the beans will have sunken to the bottom. Sprinkle the top with grated cheese if desired and leave it in the oven 5 minutes to melt the cheese. Alternatively, the cheese may be mixed into the batter before baking. Or you can leave it out.

Serve hot with a soup or a salad, or both.

Dig in.