Boetticher Family Cornbread

Renée Robinson

A Cornbread Recipe Like No Other.

Anyone who’s been following me for any length of time has heard me championing the beans from Rancho Gordo for years. Whether here in my blog, or in my Facebook posts in the Milk Street Community, I’ve explained how and why I love their beans. Their heirloom beans and other offerings are simply superb. So, for my birthday last month my son gave me Steve Sando’s (Rancho Gordo’s owner) and Julia Newberry’s cookbook, appropriately titled The Bean Book .*

And what a cookbook it is. The recipes are innovative and exciting. From a white bean and anchovy dip, a Persian herb, bean, and lamb stew, to a pinquitos beans with medjool dates recipe, I can’t wait to make a bunch of these. But the first recipe I made from the book contains no beans. It’s called Boetticher Family Cornbread and Steve says it is his pal Taylor Boetticher’s mom’s recipe.

I’ve been making cornbread of all kinds throughout my cooking years. I grew up eating it, I like all kinds, including those with and without sugar. But I’ve never heard of this kind of cornbread. It’s a simple recipe, but with an unusual step. Here’s how it goes.

Mix together a simple batter of cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, milk, buttermilk, and eggs.

Melt butter in a cast iron skillet in a hot oven and pour the batter into the skillet. Now, here’s where it veers from the norm. Pour a cup of milk over the batter, but do not stir it. Pop it in the oven and bake it for a half hour.

What happens is that the milk sinks into the batter and you end up with a creamy, almost custard-like layer on the bottom. When I took my first bite I was instantly reminded of that scene in the movie about Julia Child, played by Meryl Streep, where she takes her first taste of sole meunière and she starts moaning with pleasure. Only this time it was a simple cornbread that brought forth this kind of reaction. What a revelation! This stuff is so good I can’t rave about it more highly.

I contacted Rancho Gordo and asked if I could please publish the recipe here on my blog. They kindly gave me permission and I’m thrilled to be able to share it. Think about it, a steaming hot slice of excellent cornbread, but it also has a milky soft layer of creaminess at the bottom. Can’t you just imagine it? It’s even better than my words can describe. I’ve made it twice now and it’s one of those recipes that I’ll be making over and over and over again. It really has put cornbread on a whole new level for me. A big thank you to Steve Sando, and the Boetticher Family for this wonderful recipe. Now it’s time for me to get started on some of those bean recipes!

Recipe is reprinted with permission from The Bean Book: 100 Recipes for Cooking with All Kinds of Beans, from the Rancho Gordo Kitchen by Steve Sando with Julia Newberry, copyright © 2024. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.

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