Enjoy The B-52s sweet potato cornbread recipe
Music is a medium beloved for its transportive qualities that help the listener groove on the dance floor, enter a state of deep contemplation or escape to a world of dream-like fantasy. Frankly, lyrics focussing on something as quotidian as food will usually confine the song to a cage of intense boredom with a severe significance deficit to boot. This was shrewdly pointed out by Talking Heads, who ironically named their 1978 album More Songs About Buildings and Food. Talking Heads’ new-wave brethren, The B-52s, also straddled the line between food and music with style, but in a slightly different way.
The B-52s formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1976 after longtime friends Ricky Wilson and Keith Strickland became close with Ricky’s sister Cindy Wilson. The trio subsequently became acquainted with Fred Schneider and Kate Pierson through mutual friends. One evening, while sharing a flaming volcano cocktail at a Chinese restaurant, this group of kooky youths drunkenly decided to form a band. The rest, as they say, is history.
The band fondly note the culinary environment and specific poison of choice on the night of their formation, presumably, because they’re partial to food and drink reference points. Further evidence can be found in some of their artistic material: If you find yourself at the band’s restaurant, presumably the Love Shack, don’t be surprised if you’re served a plate of rock lobster with wild potato from Idaho and a side order of Quiche Lorraine.
As well as bringing one of the finest voices to the new-wave era, The B-52s’ Cindy Wilson is a keen chef and takes pride in devising her own recipes. In one of the band’s popular fan club newsletters, Wilson once shared her recipe for sweet potato cornbread, titled “Cornbread with sweet potato in it.” According to Evenings With Peter, frontman Fred Schneider also has a cracking recipe for Italian-style soba noodles.
See Cindy Wilson’s sweet potato cornbread recipe below.
Cornbread with sweet potato in it:
Ingredients
- 2 cups cornmeal
- 1 cup flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ⅔ brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 1 medium size sweet potato (cooked and mashed)
Method
- Preheat oven to 450.
- Sift dry ingredients together.
- Beat egg, add wet ingredients, mix together.
- Coat cast iron skillet with cooking oil. Put in oven to get hot. When hot, pour in batter.
- Leave in oven about 20 minutes.
A regular baking pan can be used instead.
