BREAKFAST CORN BREAD

1 teacup boiled rice (about 1/2 c.)
1 1/2 teacup corn meal (about 3/4 c.)
1 tsp. salt
1 tbs. lard or butter
3 eggs
1/2 teacup sweet milk (about 1/4 c.)

One tea-cup of rice boiled nice and soft, to one and a half tea-cupful of corn meal. Mix together then stir the whole until light. One teaspoonful of salt, one tablespoonful of lard or butter, three eggs, half tea-cup of sweet milk. The rice must be mixed into the meal while hot; can be baked in either muffin cups or a pan.

From What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking by Mrs. Abby Fisher, pub. 1881

Comment: Abby Fisher was born a slave, and lived as one for the first 30-plus years of her life, making her cookbook a rare glimpse into the world of the plantation kitchen written by one who actually did the work. A native of South Carolina--which explains her use of boiled rice in bread products, as South Carolinians use rice in nearly everything-- she moved to San Francisco with her husband and children after the war, and established a very successful business producing pickles and other food products.

Her cookbook was compiled by her friends who sat with her in her kitchen and wrote down the recipes and procedures as she worked, as Mrs. Fisher was entirely illiterate.

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