Chef Walter's BBQ Recipes
Don't miss Chef Walter Staib on A Taste of History, winner of Two Emmy Awards, airing every Saturday on PBS NJN at 5:30 pm & WHYY at 4:00 pm (Check your local PBS channel for times in your area!).
Barbeque Sauce
12 ounces barbecue sauce (Your favorite brand)
4 teaspoons Dietz & Watson® horseradish
2 teaspoons honey
2 dashes hot pepper sauce
1 pinch red pepper flakes
1. In a small bowl or glass, whisk together the barbeque sauce, honey, hot pepper sauce, red pepper flakes & horseradish.
Corn Muffins
From The City Tavern Cookbook: Recipes from the Birthplace of American Cuisine ©2009 by Walter Staib
To Europeans, "corn" has always been a generic name for all grains, and "maize," from the American Indian mahiz, has referred specifically to what Americans know as corn. The colonists associated this native grain not only with the New World but also with the Indians who introduced them to it; they, therefore, referred to the grain frequently as "Indian corn" to differentiate it from other varieties.
Not only was cornbread included in period cookbooks, but related corn recipes appeared frequently as well, including baked and boiled Indian pudding, mush, and Johny or Johnny cakes, also known as journey and hoe cakes. These mildly sweet (if they were sweetened at all) dishes called for cornmeal, whole corn, or even, as in the case of Thomas Jefferson's "Corn Pudding" recipe, green (unripened) corn.
Like this version of cornbread, these recipes were flavorful and quick to prepare. In addition, as they were frequently served alongside European-inspired dishes on eighteenth-century dining tables, cornbread and its related preparations certainly represented distinctively American foodways.
Serves 10 to 12
2 cups coarse yellow cornmeal
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups whole milk
1/4 pound lard or margarine
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease two muffin pans with butter.
In a large mixing bowl, add the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt; stir to combine.
In a medium-size mixing bowl, combine the milk, lard, and eggs. Add to the dry ingredients, and stir until just moistened.
Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool in the pan for 30 minutes to prevent crumbling.
Cornmeal, unlike wheat flour, doesn't contain gluten-producing proteins (which, when combined with yeast, trap gases within batters and doughs, causing them to rise), and therefore, does not create a light and airy loaf of bread. Although they missed the traditional wheat breads of Europe, North American settlers came to depend on cornmeal out of necessity, mixing cornmeal with eggs and water to make fried corn bread and cake.
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