Posted by Carolina Weekly on August 15, 2010 at 10:00:47:
Family cornbread recipe crowned the best
By Sarah Melton
Peggy McGlohon has never really considered herself a baker, so she was surprised, to say the least, when she won the Mount Holly Farmer’s Market cornbread contest.
A Mount Holly resident, McGlohon won the second annual contest July 24 with her buttermilk cornbread. The family recipe was passed down to McGlohon from her sister, Sue Martin of Georgia.
“I knew my sister had this wonderful recipe, and I kidded them the day of the contest about it because I am American-Indian,” McGlohon said. “I said, ‘I can’t share my recipe because it is an old Indian recipe’ and that is a joke at my church, First Baptist Church.”
The youngest of seven children, McGlohon’s parents loved cornbread. They often spoke about eating cold cornbread and buttermilk in “the old days.” McGlohon’s sister makes different variations of the family favorite, but the prize-winning cornbread did have one special ingredient.
“My sister added mayonnaise and it has to be Duke’s Mayonnaise,” McGlohon said. “Back in the old days, they would use lard and then Crisco came along and Sue added the mayonnaise. I think it’s more moist that way.”
Ginni Poole was one of the judges for the cornbread contest. Although all the entries were tasty, she really enjoyed McGlohon’s traditional, Southern recipe. The mayonnaise and white cornmeal gave the cornbread a true corn taste.
“In a lot of cases, you use mayonnaise as a substitute for eggs, but she used it in addition to the eggs she put in,” Poole said. “It gave a different texture and unique taste, but it wasn’t so overwhelming that it affected the cornbread flavor. It was super good.”
McGlohon, an administrative assistant in the Office of College Relations at Belmont Abbey College, got to share her winning cornbread with the community after judging.
“I had very little to take home,” McGlohon said. “That made me very happy.”
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