Damn, you're making me hungry. My wife, being a vegetarian, eats beans all-the-time. It will be nice to have a new preparation for them. Also, I love corn bread. When you say it's not "sweet," it throws me off though. Most of the cornbread I've enjoyed most has a sweet component that is a direct result of the corn being itself sweet. edit: Just read the beans recipe and there aint no way I can serve that to a vegetarian :) Looks great though. You gonna be around tonight for the #hubskidrinkclub?
There's "cracker cornbread" which is what the white folx south of the Maxon Dixon but east of the Mississippi eat, and then there's "plains cornbread" which is what Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico and non-bastardized parts of the west eat. "Plains cornbread" is dying out thanks to the propagation of godless infidels like Chili's and other heinous tex-mex offenders (you know, the assholes that put kidney beans in chili). It's a shame. Most people's idea of "cornbread" is "muffin with chunks of usually-canned corn in it" which, to be frank, I'd rather eat a madeline. They're about as sweet. REAL cornbread doesn't have any corn in it. It has corn MEAL because the whole point was it was something made from dry goods year round. Cracker cornbread is something Woman's Day magazine thinks you should make to return to your roots or some shit.
There's plenty of cracker-cornbread where I'm at these days. The type you are talking about sounds a lot like the "baked polenta" we used to sell for an arm and a leg at the Northern Italian place I once worked at.
You could use veg stock and other stuff instead of bacon or a joint of meat or whatever. That's just for extra flavor and a bit of extra fat. This cornbread has that sweetness of cornmeal, but there's no corn kernels in it. It's not like a corn muffin is what I mean. I don't have any gin, but I'll try to drop in with a glass of what's available. I can't wait for this GD GRE to be over with, man . . .
You can replace any meat flavoring with another umami source. Some good ones are: garlic, onion, nooch, mushrooms (esp. shiitake), soy sauce. Half my meals are traditional meat recipes that I've replaced with various umami sources. I find nooch works well for chicken, shiitake for beef.You could use veg stock
thenewgreen Seconded. Especially if you make it yourself, which isn't hard.
Thanks, I'm aware that I have vegetarian options, I use them all the time though that nooch link was new to me. Thanks. That said, it is no longer this recipe at that point, right? If you are a vegetarian, then I highly suggest trying these out. Thanks for the tips rob05c!
I took a walk a little earlier and I was thinking: maybe instead of the bacon or chicken wing or whatever, a dried mushroom or two, or maybe a few sun dried tomatoes could work to add flavor as the beans cook. Have you tried cooking beans with either of those by any chance? Interesting tip on the nooch. I'd never heard of it before, but I had heard vegan friends mention using yeasts to add flavor. I'll give that a try sometime.
Sun-dried tomatoes sound good too. Tomatoes are supposed to have umami. I can't really tell; or maybe their own taste overpowers it. Personally, I feel like nooch, onion, and garlic sub well for chicken. Beef and pork are harder. Shiitake is the best thing I've found. Nooch is awesome. It's great for chicken/egg/cheese flavoring. I'm a particular fan of this unchicken seasoning recipe.Have you tried cooking beans with either of those by any chance?
I have. I like shiitake or baby portobello, with a little soy sauce, with beans or bean soup. Emphasis on little; it's very easy to add too much, and then it tastes like soy sauce, which is awful. White mushrooms also work. They don't have as much umami, but they're cheaper. If it's just beans, not soup, the mushrooms will be much better pan-fried in butter first. Really draws out the flavor. Especially white mushrooms.maybe instead of the bacon or chicken wing or whatever, a dried mushroom or two
If I were making that particular recipe, I'd probably sub chopped shiitake for the meats. Or ground. If you figure out how to grind them, let me know, heh.
Thanks for the encouragement. I don't usually create my own recipes. I usually use existing ones, or directly modify meat → umami-vegetable. Or throw random stuff into a stir fry, you know. But if I come up with something that seems original enough, sure, definitely. If you like, Thug Kitchen is one of my favorite vegan recipe sites. They're usually really good, don't require exotic ingredients, and his presentation is pretty great.
Don't discount those little tweaks that come when cooking! I've so often found a pretty solid recipe that needs a bit of tweaking and then before I know it, it's much more personalized than when I started. That site looks pretty fun, thanks for the link.But if I come up with something that seems original enough, sure, definitely.