Southern Spoon Bread from the Boone Tavern Hotel in Berea, KY

When we stopped in Berea, KY to eat at the Boone Tavern Hotel, this delicious spoon bread was served with our meals. Mom made it at home on special occasions. There was never enough spoon bread - it was so good. I think we would rather eat the spoon bread than our meals. This recipe is from Richard T. Hogan's "Look No Further" cookbook published in 1954.

3 cups milk
1 1/4 cups cornmeal (Hogan advises his readers to use white cornmeal for the true Southern bread)
3 eggs
2 tablespoons butter
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

1. Stir meal into rapidly boiling milk. Cook until very thick, stirring constantly to prevent scorching.
2. Remove from fire and allow to cool. The mixture will be cold and very stiff.
3. Add well beaten eggs, salt, baking powder and melted butter. Beat with electric beater for 15 minutes. If hand beating is used, break the hardened cooked meal into the beaten eggs in small amounts until all is well mixed. Then beat thoroughly for 10 minutes using a wooden spoon.
4. Pour into a well greased casserole. Bake for 30 (Mom crossed that out and wrote 45) minutes at 375 F. Serve from casserole by spoonfuls.

Now this bread doesn't seem like a terribly fattening item to eat. But, what good is piping hot spoon bread without generous pats of cold butter?