The Creamy Addition Alton Brown Adds For Unforgettable Cornbread

Whether you're planning for a potluck or preparing sides for a Southern-style feast, cornbread is the unfussy, crowd-pleasing answer. Crumbly cornbread pairs perfectly with almost any savory, heavy dish, but also works entirely well on its own served with a slab of butter on top. But if you want your cornbread to stand out from the crowd, you'll want to take a page out of Alton Brown's cookbook.

For an unforgettable cornbread, follow Brown's lead and turn to an ingredient that's hiding in plain sight: creamed corn. Creamed corn is comforting and delicious on its own, but when added to cornbread, it brings in a creamy textural undertone that ensures your cornbread won't turn dry and inedible. Creamed corn makes the cornbread denser and thicker while giving it a hint of sweetness. The addition of creamed corn will surely elevate any boxed cornbread mix. And though using creamed corn may go against traditional Southern methods of making cornbread, which typically involve very few ingredients, you can't be too upset when the result is so delicious.

Creamed corn, whether homemade or canned, is the secret weapon ingredient for Alton Brown's cornbread, making it hefty enough to serve on its own instead of just as a side. But if you want to make sure the creamed corn doesn't moisten the cornbread too much, there's a specific kind of cornmeal Brown also uses that helps give the cornbread a coarse texture. If you want your cornbread to achieve the perfect balance of moist and rich with dense and crumbly so you can make the best cornbread possible, use stone ground cornmeal.

Stone ground cornmeal, Brown advises, aids not only in texture but in flavor too. Stone ground cornmeal is manufactured with a slower, more laborious process, a process that maintains the nutrients and strong corn flavor. The graininess is also maintained, making stone ground cornmeal the key to a super crispy cornbread crust as well. Combine stone ground cornmeal with sweet creamed corn and you've got a winning cornbread that doesn't skimp on flavor or consistency.