From On the Menu: Threadgill’s, by Helen Thompson
WHEN MOTHER TOOK OVER THE COOKING for the family of nine at age eleven, Aunt Onie was six years old and Momma’s chief assistant. Onie is tucked away in Poplarville, Mississippi, just 13 miles from Lumberton where they grew up. When you drop in unannounced for a visit you’d best be hungry. In less time than it takes to say, “No, really, we just ate!” she’ll have her long table covered with pot roast, fried chicken, white soda cornbread, cream gravy, brown gravy, rice, potatoes, greens, beans, tomatoes, pecan pie, coconut layer cake. It just doesn’t seem to make sense but she makes it seem so easy. She glides around the kitchen like a young ice skater, smiling and joking and answering our questions about her huge garden. Sure enough, a couple of neighbors drop by in the nick of time, then cousin Chuck and a couple of Onie’s favorite grandsons. Before you know it bowls and platters are being stacked in the sink and she’s asking what would everyone like for supper. Everything she puts on the table beats any restaurant I’ve tried so far. Her garden is as big as the Threadgill’s parking lot.
Her white soda cornbread is unusual. It’s not often you see white corn bread anymore. Cut like pieces of pie from her round cast iron skillet, it maneuvers well on a plate full of things that accompany gravy.
White Soda Cornbread
2 cups Martha White Corn Meal
3/4 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Soda
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
1 1/2 cups Buttermilk
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Grease a 9" cast iron skillet. Measure meal and add remaining ingredients and stir until smooth. (I add a little water to make it a bit soupy.) Pour into a greased cast-iron skillet that is very hot. The sizzle you hear when the batter hits the skillet is the sound of the crispy bottom and edges beginning to form. Bake at 450° for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cut in wedges.
