Baking quick breads in cans is a quirky diversion for many Cook's Corner readers who wrote in response to a letter from Jan Fisher of Frenchtown, N.J. Fisher shared her recipe for pumpkin bread baked that way and asked readers for more recipes. The design of the cans "makes for an interesting presentation if you wrap the breads in colored plastic wrap with a ribbon tied on top," Fisher said.
Readers responded not only with recipes, but with tips on how to use other size cans besides a coffee can. That's helpful, as a couple of folks wrote that they could not find metal coffee cans that would work.
Today's cans usually hold 10 or 11 ounces instead of a pound. The trick is to remember to fill cans only ? full, and watch baking time, as it will be less with a smaller quantity of batter.
Candis e-mailed a helpful tip. She uses No. 2 cans (20 ounces), and found that three of them accommodate a recipe that bakes one loaf of quick bread or a mix.
Q: I am looking for a recipe for fried corn bread like my mother-in-law used to make. All I remember is that she started with one part cornmeal to three parts flour and the batter was fried in bacon fat. I would love to be able to make this for my husband.
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A: There's a wonderful new cookbook, "Cornbread Gospels" by Crescent Dragonwagon (Workman, $19.95), with more than 200 recipes for corn breads, rolls, muffins, fritters, spoon breads, tortillas, hush puppies, puddings and pancakes.
In all those recipes, however, I did not find one with the ratio you mention. Recipes from south of the Mason-Dixon Line tend to be more cornmeal than flour, and those north may go as high as an equal ratio of flour to cornmeal.
As to frying in bacon fat, your mother-in-law probably used the time-honored method of making the corn bread in a cast-iron skillet greased with plenty of bacon renderings.
