How to Make Chef John's Hot Water Cornbread
In this video, learn how to make Chef John’s Hot Water Cornbread. Follow along as we guide you through this simple yet delicious Southern classic. With just a few ingredients and Chef John’s expert tips, you'll create crispy, golden cornbread that's perfect as a side dish or snack.
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00:00Hello! This is Chef John from FoodWishes.com with Old-Fashioned Fried Hot Water Cornbread!
00:09That's right! When I started researching this recipe, I saw people calling it the most southern
00:14of all the southern cornbreads, which I didn't really understand. But then I started making it,
00:20and it actually made sense. And it is definitely my favorite new way to eat cornbread.
00:25And to get started, we will mix up our dry ingredients, which of course will include
00:29some cornmeal. And we're supposed to use finely ground, but after some testing,
00:34I decided I preferred the texture of the medium grind, but either works. And then to that we
00:40will add some all-purpose flour, a little bit of sugar, some salt of course, and then we'll finish
00:47up with some baking powder, which is definitely not the same thing as baking soda. So double
00:52check you got the right one. And that's it. Once everything's in, we'll take a whisk, and we will
00:57whisk, and we will keep whisking until everything's thoroughly combined, at which point we'll stop
01:03and pour in the star of the show, some very, very hot water, as in water I've brought to a simmer in
01:09a tea kettle. And for two cups of cornmeal, I find about a cup and a half of water to be perfect.
01:15Although this really does vary recipe to recipe, right? Some use less for a stiffer dough,
01:21whereas some use a lot more, and they actually have to spoon this into the hot oil like a batter.
01:26But either way, we'll go ahead and take a spoon and carefully mix this all together,
01:30starting very slowly at first, so you don't splash out the water and burn yourself,
01:35and also throw off your measurements. And once we do have this all thoroughly and thoughtfully mixed,
01:40while this is still warm, we'll toss in the last ingredient, which is an optional chunk of butter,
01:46and we'll go ahead and mix that until it disappears. And no, not everybody likes to add
01:51fat to this dough, or if they do, they'll use something like bacon grease, or lard, or if you're
01:57one of these bearded hipster chefs, maybe some duck fat. But anyway, you decide. I mean, you are
02:03after all the valeries of making this with more calories, but either way, once we have everything
02:09mixed up, we'll go ahead and divide this into eight equal portions. And for that, I like to
02:14use this ice cream scoop, which is fast and easy, and a good way to keep these all nice and uniform,
02:20plus since we're already starting with a nice round shape, it's going to give us a head start,
02:24as we eventually form these into patties. Oh, and that parchment paper you see on the pan
02:29is not just to make cleanup easier. As you'll see, that's going to make it easier to pick these up
02:33once they're chilled. But before we pop these in the fridge, we'll go ahead and give them their
02:38final shape. And to do that, we simply lay a piece of plastic over the top, and then we'll lightly
02:44press these down until they're about three quarters to an inch thick. And then the final
02:48step here would be to smooth out the tops, just so these fry nice and evenly, and have a little
02:53more of a uniform look. So that's exactly what I did before I popped them in the fridge for about
02:59an hour, which is going to allow them to firm up a little bit. Although I should mention,
03:03you can transfer the dough right from the bowl to the fryer, which is how a lot of people do it,
03:08but I've tried it both ways and find this works out a little bit better.
03:12And that's it. With the help of the parchment paper, we will flip these over onto our hand,
03:16and then we'll head to the stove and transfer this into some 350 degree oil.
03:21But not directly, that's too dangerous. I recommend we use a spatula to lower that into the hot fat,
03:27which I probably should have oiled first to make it slide off easier.
03:31But anyway, no matter what method you use, as long as you don't burn yourself, you did it right.
03:36And unless you lay these on top of each other, you should not have a problem with them sticking
03:40together. But to hedge our bets, we can always poke around with the edge of the spatula to make sure.
03:45And that's it. We'll simply fry these for about three minutes per side,
03:49or until they've cooked through and browned up beautifully. And yes, of course, because I'm
03:54filming, one of them decided to puff up due to some kind of air pocket in the middle, which did
03:59not happen to any of the other ones, or in any of the test batches. But anyway, I can't even pretend
04:05to be concerned. Oh, and in case you're wondering, yes, you can totally shallow fry these in like
04:10just a half inch of oil, which I did for one batch, and it worked out fine. But anytime we deep
04:16fry, the more oil we have, the easier things are going to be. And that's it. After giving the second
04:21side about three minutes, I went ahead and transferred those onto a rack, at which point
04:26I fried up the other four. And as you can see, every single one is the exact same shape and size,
04:33except for those couple that aren't. But as they probably say in the South,
04:37close enough for cornbread. And then it wasn't easy, but I let those cool for about 10 minutes
04:43before I broke one open to go in for the official taste. And yes, I picked the puffy one,
04:49which was still perfectly fine and had a beautiful crumb. And that, my friends, is a very memorable
04:55cornbread experience. Okay, the taste is very familiar, but having that crusty, sort of crispy
05:01exterior surrounding the cornbread makes for something that's new and exciting. And if you're
05:06wondering, are these just larger, bigger hushpuppies? Well, I really can't answer that.
05:12But also, probably yes. Although in this larger format, it really is different texturally.
05:18But as far as the basic recipe goes, yes, it's very similar. And these really are nice,
05:23eaten warm just like this. Or of course, maybe slathered with some honey butter.
05:27But before we sign off, I did want to show them in their natural habitat,
05:32which would be broken open and stuck in a bowl of beans. Oh yeah, now that is a meal. Actually,
05:38probably a couple meals. But anyway, that's it. My take on old-fashioned fried hot water cornbread.
05:45This is an absolute must-make for any cornbread lover. And I really do hope you give this a try
05:51soon. So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts,
05:55a printable written recipe, and much more info as usual. And as always, enjoy!