Food - Drink
Why Duff Goldman Bakes His Cornbread With Oil Instead Of Butter
By KAREN HART
While traditionalists might call a foul for changing classic American Southern cornbread in any way, “Ace of Cakes” star Duff Goldman shared on Twitter that he likes to use vegetable oil instead of butter in his recipe. While butter brings a velvety buttery flavor to cornbread, Goldman says oil has many merits as well.
Goldman explained on Twitter that he uses oil because he likes his cornbread “really sweet” and “really crumbly,” and vegetable oil helps achieve that texture. This is largely due to the fact that oil is pure fat, while butter is made up of solids and liquids, which can lead to evaporation and loss of moisture for a more solid crumb.
Goldman also uses cake flour in his cornbread to help achieve a crumbly texture, in addition to a fair amount of sugar for sweetness. He also likes to preheat the pans so the cornbread batter immediately starts cooking on the outside, which helps to create an outer surface that is nice and crispy, with a tender interior.