Your Cornbread Tastes Like Cat Food

It pained Mr. Pie to tell me this, but after I had the second-to-last piece, I realized, yeah, that is the mystery essence I was detecting. To be more specific, he meant the dry type of cat food, not the wet. Thank goodness!
Of course, I prefer traditional, white-flour cornbread, but in an attempt to eat healthier, I wanted to make a whole-wheat version and it wasn't especially good. So if anyone has any whole-wheat versions that will save my marriage, I'd love to hear 'em. I have buttermilk, by the way, so a recipe that uses it would be a plus.

Thanks!

How would you know what cat food tastes like?

Times are tough if you haven't noticed. Cat food is 14 oz for a buck at the dollar store.

Beat that Aldi.

When we had a cat, we'd usually feed him those high-end cat foods that come in the square soft tins with the peelable foil labels. Oft was the time I said to myself, "I'd totally eat this."

New to LTH: how to make chicken salad from Fancy Feast

A thread like that totally needs to be created--especially now that so many are entering their "golden years" with decimated 401Ks.

I have sampled my dog's Liver Mesquite dog treats. They just smelled so good!

I notice you don't mention the taste.

That's because I'm actively trying to repress the memory.

I made some dog biscuits for a bake sale at the pet hospital that MincyBits works at. I thought that whole wheat flower, bacon grease, an egg, and some oats couldn't possibly taste bad. I was wrong.

The dogs loved them, though.

My wife is alway trying to sneak whole wheat flour into things...pancakes, pizza dough, quick breads. One bite and it's "oh no, you did it again." bleech.

Um, on the off chance that it's OK to respond to the OP request, I have no whole wheat version, but Cook's Country and Cook's Illustrated each have a version made entirely from cornmeal. I've been intending to try each of these, but wind up making spoonbread instead, it's easy and so good...

Cook's Country Southern-Style Skillet Cornbread (requires registration to view.)

Cook's Illustrated Southern-Style Cornbread

And in the interest of fairness:

Cook's Illustrated Northern-Style Cornbread recipe

I appreciate your attempt to make cornbread healthier by using whole wheat flour, but I don't think cornbread is the place for it. I think that the assertive, earthy taste of whole wheat would fight with the cornmeal. Anyhow, this is a tested recipe, so if you try to sub out the flour for whole wheat in this recipe, and you still think it tastes like cat food, one of two things is happening: One, whole wheat flour doesn't work in cornbread; or two, your cat got into your whole wheat flour.

Actually, I just realized another possiblity - the fats in your whole wheat flour may be rancid...rancid whole grains have a very distinctive smell, not unlike that sort of rubbery smell that dry cat food and "moist" dog food have.

You could try whole-wheat pastry flour, which I love and which has a distinctive flavor.

I have always been partial to Molly Katzen's cornbread recipe, which can be found here. It has buttermilk. My ex, whose people were from Texas, said it was some of the best cornbread he'd ever had.

This is an opportunity for me to mention one of my favorite ingredients: white whole wheat flour. It's a whole wheat flour made from hard white spring wheat, and it doesn't have the pronounced 'whole wheat' taste that red wheat has. I always make my muffins out of it, and you can't tell I'm using whole wheat at all. It has all the same nutrition as other whole wheat [afaik], without the assertive flavor [which is a fine flavor in some recipes, but not in everything - like cornbread].

King Arthur sells it [Whole Foods carries it] or you can read about it here, and Trader Joe's sells a house brand of it as well.

Giovanna

It depends on what your goal is with whole wheat: if it's nutrition and texture, add wheat germ to unbleached white. But if you want the fiber, sorry, you're going to get that weird sweet taste from the whole wheat.

I liked this thread more when people were talking about tasting cat food. Shows you where my mind is at.

It can be both!

Mhays wrote:Actually, I just realized another possiblity - the fats in your whole wheat flour may be rancid...rancid whole grains have a very distinctive smell, not unlike that sort of rubbery smell that dry cat food and "moist" dog food have.

I don't think that's it. I kept it in the freezer.

I'm no connoisseur, but I can report that kitten chow is much more flavorful than cat chow. Oddly, the same does not hold true for the human equivalent.

I do like whole wheat in all sorts of unorthodox places, but I can't picture it working in cornbread. Cornbread is kind of like a cake that's OK to serve with dinner.

How about white whole wheat flour-- it might not be as cat-foody.

Once when I was young, I picked up a tasty-looking brown crumb from the table thinking it was chocolate cake or something delectable. I tried it and it was cat food. My brother still laughs about it to this day, almost 40 years later.

Jen

That might work. I just wanted to reduce carbs or at least eat healthier ones, but I think I'll try these Cook's Illustrated recipes and see what happens.

Is it worth making a version of the corn bread that doesn't taste as good just so you can use whole wheat flour? I would suggest making the version you like and just eat a slightly smaller piece if you are worried about it. There are some foods you just can't make 'lighter' and have them taste good.

Well, I only tried one with whole wheat flour. I want to try more before I write off the whole category. Anyway, the two above from Cook's Illustrated/Country don't have flour at all.

My wife routinely uses a 50-50 mix of white whole wheat flour and unbleached all-purpose four when baking muffins and quick breads with excellent results using direct substitution for all-purpose flour. After the cold wave went through yesterday she made some blueberry corn muffins using a corn bread recipe that apparently came from a Fowler's Mill corn meal bag. This recipe uses one cup each of corn meal and wheat flour. The result is a bit sweet and smooth for accompanying an entree but very good for breakfast either plain (possibly with some honey or sorghum syrup to take it over the top) using either a square baking pan or as muffins. The muffins are not as sweet or greasy as most commercial muffins, however. The version with blueberries in the batter is best baked as muffins. Fowler's Mill does not show any recipes on their web site so I cannot link one from there but am a little reluctant to post what is probably a copyrighted recipe.

White wheat comes in both hard and soft varieties grown with winter and spring seeding, so there are four types although there is not much distinction between winter and spring in the trade or in USDA statistics. For all practical purposes the bran does not have the tannins and phenols that color bran in red wheat and account for the assertive taste and bitterness of red wheat bran.

Historically white wheat dominates Australian production and is a big part of China's production. Most white wheat in the United States was grown in the northwest for export to Asia. Domestic use was largely in many whole wheat breakfast cereals. Hard white wheat was separated as a statistical class in 1990. Production has increased a lot in the last ten years due to increased demand and a USDA incentive program. White wheat can be grown anywhere the same type of red wheat can be grown although it can be a bit touchier in terms of disease and weather sensitivity. The biggest practical problem is keeping type separation on the farm and the marketing channels from grain elevators on. The presence of over one percent red wheat grains in white wheat causes downgrading and marketability problems.

Hard versus soft is a proxy for protein level as wheat protein is much harder than starch. Growing conditions affect the protein level for a variety. Generally speaking, the more moisture the lower the protein level. Planting hard red winter wheat in Illinois produces lower protein than the same type on unirrigated land in Kansas as well as problems in tempering during the milling process. Yield is higher than soft red winter wheat here, but the resulting grain is probably best used for feeding chickens. The eastern part of the United States generally produces soft wheat. Southern-grown soft wheat, both red and white, tend to have lower protein. This wheat is ideal for biscuits and pastry. The soft white wheat tends to have lower protein than the soft red wheat.

White whole wheat flour may or may not be labeled as to hardness and protein level. King Arthur white whole wheat flour uses hard white spring wheat and has 13% protein. Trader Joe's white whole wheat flour does not say anything about type or protein level on our nearly empty bag.

Trader Joe's carries a whole white wheat sliced bread under their own name. There is added wheat gluten down the label. Whole wheat flour has less protein (and hence gluten) than white flour made from the same grain because the germ and bran effectively dilute the endosperm, which is the gluten source. Compare this bread with Natural Ovens more or less comparable 100% whole grain bread made with hard red wheat flour to get a good comparison of red versus white wheat flavors.

If I have not already overloaded you with information on white wheat, the Wheat Foods Council and Whole Grains Council have a lot more material. Another publication aimed at North Dakota farmers probably will produce information overload.

ekreider, excellent information about the types of flour. Very much appreciated! --Joy

Mhays wrote:Cook's Country and Cook's Illustrated each have a version made entirely from cornmeal. I've been intending to try each of these, but wind up making spoonbread instead, it's easy and so good...

Could you share your spoonbread recipe when you get a chance? I was experimenting a few months ago and never felt that I had "the one."

As a Southerner, I had momentary confusion about why the whole wheat flour would change the taste of cornbread since at most it would be a few tablespoons...oh those Yankees!

I have two: the original is posted here:http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=257877#p257877

I posted a lighter version on my blog, and found it to be just as successful; somehow, it tastes just as rich without all the extra cream and butter.

Mhays wrote:I have two: the original is posted here:http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=257877#p257877

I posted a lighter version on my blog, and found it to be just as successful; somehow, it tastes just as rich without all the extra cream and butter.

Thanks--I'll try the one from your blog and report back. I think I was using slightly different proportions so this may be the tweak I need.

I've made this cornbread recipe from Bob's Red Mill using their excellent coarse cornmeal.
It's very easy and has been well-liked by everyone.

http://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes_detail.php?rid=658