Herding Swine and Judging Cornbread: Fun at the 4-H Fair
From wayward animals to sewing prom dresses, summer fairs mean activities and fun! Recipe for fluffy cornbread below!
It’s here! Labor Day weekend. While summer is still here weather-wise, I wanted to remind us that it is the time of County fairs. In some places that means rides and funnel cake, in others it means farm competitions and animal sales. For those of us in the Central Pennsylvania county of my youth, it meant our 4-H projects needed to be finished and ready for competition.
For those who don't know what 4-H is, think of it as a cousin to the FFA (Future Farmers of America). However, while many people do own animals and show them in competition through 4-H, rural living isn't necessary to participate. There are clubs for various interests, and workbooks to do at home to teach yourself or your children fun and interesting life skills.
For example, the main club I was part of was a Home Ec club. We learned to cook, bake, and sew (mostly sew). Our projects were judged for ribbons and pride at the 4-H fair.
All of our projects were overseen at home by Mom who has done lots of sewing in her life, and who could coach us through the steps. Some elements were more fun than others (looking at you, heavy denim pants that kept breaking needles), but we got them done regardless and every year we learned new skills.
I also did at home courses like Good Citizenship and dog training. Other friends learned archery, growing plants and food, and so much more! I honestly can’t even remember all the various skills we learned, there were so many.
Plants for fun and food
The exhibition halls and barns of the Farm Show Complex where the fair was hosted were hot and huge (at least to a child's eyes). We could always find something to keep us busy, from visiting the sheep and rabbits, to grabbing some boards to help herd escaped pigs (everybody, and I mean everybody, helped with this task), to eyeballing everyone else's cornbread to see how they sized up. Seriously, everyone made cornbread, it was a rite of passage and the simplest baking recipe we could make.
In the spirit of this delicious side dish, I've posted below my favorite cornbread recipe. I found this one after trying multiple others and have to give credit to the author at Can't Stay Out of the Kitchen.com, who adapted it from The Sisters’ Dish. See the link for original directions and additional notes.
It is not a traditional grainy, short cornbread – it has an excessive amount of eggs and other ingredients to make it as cake-like and fluffy as possible. The original recipe marketed it as a copycat for Boston Market Cornbread, which I haven’t had before, but that didn’t matter. I’m pretty sure it would have won first prize in any competition.
Tip:
I've sometimes had issues with it sinking somewhat in the middle. The best way I've found to combat this is to keep whisking the batter, after you think it should be done. Speaking of whisking, be careful if your tools are not strong as this is a heavy and thick batter to begin with. Start with a fork and work your way up to whisking, or try a hand held mixer.
Blue Ribbon Cornbread Recipe
Ingredients:
1 Box of Duncan Hines (or Betty Crocker) Butter Recipe Golden Cake Mix (not the same thing as yellow cake! This cannot be substituted for other kinds of cake mixes.)
2 boxes Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
4 large eggs (I’ve tried recipes with more eggs and buttermilk instead of regular milk, but they fell short of this one in my experience.)
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup milk (I just use whatever we have at the house, which is usually skim or 2% Lactose-free milk.)
Directions:
Whisk the eggs in a large bowl. Then incorporate the other ingredients with a fork, then mix well with a whisk. Keep whisking until batter is light and smooth. It may take some elbow grease! The more you mix, the less likely it is that the center will sink.
2. Deposit mixture into a 9”x13” glass baking dish that’s been sprayed with Pam or similar.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick or knife inserted into center comes out clean. Mine has usually taken closer to the 40 minute mark or a little more to be fully cooked in the center, but your mileage may vary depending on your oven, etc.
Happy Baking!