LAB NOTES: Mee Mee’s Real Southern Cornbread Veganised

     Hello All,
Wayne AKA the Mad Food Scientist here.
Recently, I made a batch of chili. I was searching for a good Southern style 
cornbread recipe. A friend, Ms. Lia was kind enough to share her Grandmother’s recipe with me.
I’ve taken it and veganised it. I’ll show the original and then show my tweaks.

ORIGINAL: 
Mee-Mee’s Real Southern Cornbread.

Preheat oven to 425.
Mix together
1 1/2 cups self-rising white cornmeal*
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk—or enough to make the mixture drop out of spoon easily, or about the consistency of pudding.
*If self-rising white cornmeal is not available, another option is a packet of Martha White brand White Cornbread Mix (sometimes called Buttermilk Cornbread Mix).
Place cast iron skillet on medium-high stove with 2 Tablespoons of bacon drippings or oil.
When hot, sprinkle cornmeal (1 or 2 tsp will work) in pan and spread around (I use yellow cornmeal for this). Pour in batter and place in oven. Bake til set. Turn over and brown for 5 minutes if needed. Turn out onto plate and enjoy!

03 November, 2024: Mee-Mee’s Real Southern Cornbread: Experiment: #01 
INGREDIENTS:
 268g/1 1/2 cups cornmeal
2 vegan eggs. I used 1 chia egg and 1 flax egg
1 cup buttermilk—or enough to make the mixture drop out of spoon easily, or about the consistency of pudding.
2.5 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Sea Salt
2 TBSP coconut oil
4 TBSP Aquafaba 

METHOD:
Set up the flax egg and chia egg.
Put the coconut oil in the skillet 
Preheat the airfryer to 218C/425F
Place the skillet in the airfryer while the airfryer is preheating.
Make the homemade self-rising cornmeal by whisking together the cornmeal, salt, and baking powder.
Sprinkle 1 or 2 tsp in the skillet and spread it around.
Assemble the batter
Pour the batter in the skillet and place the skillet in the airfryer.
Bake till set. Turn over and brown for 5 minutes if needed. Turn out onto plate and enjoy!
Borrowing from another recipe, I’m going to try 20 minutes.

LAB NOTES: 03 November, 2024
I subbed in 2 egg replacers. 1 chia 1 flax.
I subbed coconut oil for the bacon grease.
I made my own self-rising cornmeal
I added 4 TBSP of aquafaba as an oil replacer.

OBSERVATIONS: 03 November, 2024
I followed the instructions as given and will alter them for a future batch.
Next time, after warming up the cast iron and melting the coconut oil, I’ll pour the excess coconut oil into the batter, then sprinkle in the corn meal.
As expected without using wheat flour this cornbread is very crumbly.
That’s not a bad thing as it makes it easy to crumble atop a bowl of chili and rice. 
As for the bake time, I think next time I’ll try 30 minutes at 425F.
It tasted very, very nice with the vegan Chili Non-Carne, and rice.
I’m continuing to Fool Around And Find Out in the Domestic Culinary Lab.