Mrs. Reid’s Good Corn Bread – The Afro-American – Black Foodie Finder

The Cornbread Recipe That Lit Up a Newspaper Switchboard

When The Afro-American ran a story about Mrs. Reid’s corn bread, readers called the paper wanting it. The AFRO printed it in a box titled The Recipe, under a line that tells you exactly how the week had gone: “Here’s the recipe that caused the excitement.”

It is a big, rich pan. Three cups of meal, four eggs, a pint of milk, and a quarter pound of butter. And one instruction the paper set off on its own line, because it is the part people get wrong: It is the mixing that counts.

Ingredients

• 3 cups corn meal
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
• 4 eggs
• 1 pint milk (2 cups)
• 1/4 pound butter (1 stick), melted

Makes: one large pan

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 400°F.
2. Sift together all of the dry ingredients except the baking powder.
3. Beat the eggs very lightly, then add the milk to the eggs.
4. Add the melted butter to the milk and egg mixture.
5. Mix the wet ingredients into the sifted dry ingredients.
6. Add the dry baking powder and mix very lightly.
7. Bake in the hot oven until the top is golden and the center is set.

Pro Tips & Suggestions

• Holding the baking powder until the end is the whole trick. It goes in last, dry, and gets barely stirred, so it does its lifting in the oven instead of in the bowl.
• “Mix very lightly” means stop early. The batter should still look a little rough when you pour it.
• On pan and timing: the clipping names neither. A buttered 9×13 runs about 25 to 30 minutes at 400°F. A 10-inch cast iron skillet, preheated with butter until it sizzles, runs closer to 22 to 25 and gives you the crust. Pull it when a toothpick comes out clean.
• A quarter pound of butter is one stick. Melt it and let it cool slightly before it meets the eggs.
• Two tablespoons of sugar across three cups of meal is seasoning, not sweetness. However you feel about the cornbread debate, this one lands on the savory side.

About the Creator

The Afro-American was founded in Baltimore in 1892 by John H. Murphy Sr., who was born enslaved in Maryland and bought a used printing press to merge two small church papers into one. The AFRO became one of the longest-running Black family-owned newspapers in the country, and its food pages ran on reader recipes exactly like this one.

The recipe ran under Mrs. Ronald Reid’s name, in the convention of the day, which is why the cook who caused all the excitement is recorded under her husband’s first name.

Where to Find This Recipe

This recipe was retyped from The Recipe box as it ran in The Afro-American.

The clipping surfaced through the vintage recipe archive kept by @therealblackhistorian.