We love spicy food at CodeFab. We run the New York WebObjects Spicy Food Dining Out Meetup Group. I’ve been having Chili Cook-Offs and other spicy food parties for many, many years. I recently got prodded to share some of my recipes and i thought it easiest to just publish them on our Geek Out blog. Enjoy! Alex

I used to make this dish with jalepeños, but found habeneros much better in several ways. First they have a richer, fruitier flavor, they are usually hotter, and lastly (evil chuckle) they are harder to spot, defeating anyone’s attempt to pick out the peppers, which are clearly essential to the whole composition.

I usually make this in non-stick bread pans or similar rectangular cake / brownie pans. An excellent alternative, if you have a large cast iron skillet, is to fry up a bunch of thick sliced bacon in the skillet and leave the drippings as “non stick grease” and use the skillet instead as the baking pan. Eat the bacon, add to the chili you are making at the same time or even add to the cornbread as you desire. I feel that most recipes are improved (especially vegetarian ones) by the addition of bacon.

Note: I strongly suggest you de-seed, trim and dice the habeneros using the somewhat odd-looking approach of using a sharp knife and a fork. If possible, after piercing the skin, do not touch the pepper’s flesh with bare hands. Some folks even use surgical gloves. I have many fascinating stories about folks who were too casual and then later touched some vulnerable body part. Washing your hands with soap does not remove the magic pepper juice. Scrubbing vigorously with a pot scrubber will make a dent. You have been warned. Scotch bonnet peppers are even more fun!

Ingredients

1 cup flour
6 teaspoons baking powder
4 teaspoons sugar (honey or maple syrup makes a nice alternative)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 cups cornmeal (preferably stone ground yellow)
2 eggs beaten
6 tablespoons melted butter
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
8 oz Colby or Longhorn cheese, grated
1 can cream-style corn
2 (or more!!) ripe orange habaneros, de-seeded and veins removed, diced fine (see note)
Extra butter for greasing the pans

Directions

If you are trying the bacon-iron skillet approach, cook the bacon. Munch while cooking. Reserve drippings.

In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder and sugar. (If using honey or maple syrup, add later with liquid ingredients). Stir in cornmeal. Combine eggs, butter and buttermilk (and sweetener if not using sugar). I usually microwave the butter in a large pyrex container, mix in the buttermilk and then add the eggs, so buttermilk cools things off and the hot butter doesn’t cook the eggs. Stir into the big bowl with the dry ingredients. Add the corn, cheese and finely diced peppers. Add bacon if you haven’t eaten it all. Mix until just blended (make sure you get all the flour or cornmeal from the bottom) but do not over-beat. The batter should be stiff.

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. If using the skillet method, heat it up until the drippings are warm and can easily coat the pan. If using baking pans, lightly grease. If they are not non-stick, grease heavily.

Pour the mix in to a depth of 1/2 to 1 inch, depending on depth of pan.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until nicely browned on top and a knife comes out clean.

I suggest spreading a kitchen towel on a cutting board, popping the loaves out, and using the towel to flip them back right side up. Let them cool a bit before cutting. If you are not eating right away, wrap the loaves in the towels to keep them warm and moist.

Great plain, buttered, with red pepper jelly, or, of course, dipped in chili or gumbo!

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