Corn bread and spiced butter recipe by Marcus Samuelsson, Red Rooster

Marcus Samuelsson

Marcus Samuelsson

24th October 2018
Marcus Samuelsson

Corn bread and spiced butter recipe by Marcus Samuelsson, Red Rooster

Corn bread and spiced butter recipe by Marcus Samuelsson, Red Rooster

This is right up there with the Fried Yardbird as a
core recipe at the Rooster. We even have someone
dedicated to making all our corn bread. Charles
Webb, a former Alvin Ailey dancer, is the keeper of
our secrets.
I knew from the beginning how I wanted it to taste,
but we continue to tinker and change the recipe. This
version is very moist, almost custardy. It will keep for
4 days, but a better plan is to freeze individual slices.

Ingredients

  • 140g/5oz plain flour
  • 180g/6¼oz coarse
  • yellow cornmeal
  • 100g/3½oz caster sugar
  • 2¼ tsp baking powder
  • 1½ tsp Aleppo pepper (see
  • page 27)
  • 1½ tsp coarse sea salt
  • 425ml/15fl oz soured cream
  • 360ml/12½fl oz buttermilk
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
  • and cooled
  • 120g/4½oz corn kernels
  • (fresh or thawed frozen)

Method

Makes 1 loaf
1 Preheat the oven to
160ºC/325°F/Gas Mark 3.
Spray a 23cm x 12cm/9in x
5in loaf tin with non-stick
spray.
2 Whisk the flour,
cornmeal, sugar, baking
powder, Aleppo pepper and
salt together in a bowl.
3 Whisk the soured cream,
buttermilk, eggs, yolk and
melted butter together in
another bowl until smooth.
4 Pour the wet ingredients
into the dry and stir until
combined. Fold in the corn.
5 Scrape the batter into
the loaf tin and smooth
out the top. Bake until
the bread is browned
and pulling away from
the sides of the tin and
a skewer poked into the
centre comes out clean,
about 60 minutes.
6 Cool on a rack for
20 minutes. Run a knife
around the sides of the
tin to loosen the sides
and turn out the loaf. You
can cut it now – the slices
will be messy – or cool
completely.
SPICED BUTTER
We use this butter as a flavour enhancer – you find it in a lot
of recipes in the book. It has a hint of funk, like the funk of
fermented foods, the new wave of flavour to follow umami.
There are a lot of versions of spiced butter in Ethiopia. My
version is true to that made by my wife Maya’s tribe, the Gurage.
► Melt 900g/2lbs unsalted butter in a saucepan over a low heat.
Add 2 finely chopped garlic cloves, 2 finely chopped shallots,
a 5cm/2in piece of ginger (peeled, sliced and smashed),
11/2 tablespoons coriander seeds, 1 tablespoon cumin seeds,
11/2 teaspoons fenugreek, 11/2 teaspoons ajwain (see page 27),
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon ground
cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric. Simmer very
gently for 30 minutes to infuse the flavours. Keep an eye on
this; you don’t want the milk solids to brown.
► Skim off all the foam and any floating seeds, and let the butter sit
for about 10 minutes for the milk solids to settle on the bottom.
► Carefully pour the spiced butter through a sieve lined with a
few layers of muslin into a container, leaving the solids behind.
Let it cool, then cover and refrigerate. It will keep for months.
► This makes about 750ml/26fl oz.

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