Anytime I travel north on Hwy. 17, I breathe a sigh of relief once I finally get past all the strip malls, annoying traffic lights, and fast-food restaurants. I arrived in Awendaw, where Native Americans built a massive oyster shell ring for their many ceremonies. This is where it’s convenient to enter the Francis Marion National Forest and the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge—perhaps two of the last real frontiers in the entire state.
At this point, I’m more interested in finding breakfast. I have learned to stop where the parking lot is full and Sewee Post fits the description. Once inside I walked past the cast-iron cookware, crab traps, and large-size pots for cooking Lowcountry boil to the shelves loaded with biscuits filled with sausage and country ham. Each is made from scratch and light as angel wings - truly divinely inspired.
As I turned around and headed to the cash register with several of each, I noticed something labeled spoonbread. I purchased a couple packages and headed outside to enjoy all the fixin’s.
Once I opened the spoonbread, I discovered a soft, ethereal cornbread. Later I found out that it used to be the souffle of the South. Recipes are in all my southern cookbooks, but I had never paid much attention. Made with humble ingredients such as grits, cornmeal, milk, eggs, and butter combined with a whole lot of history, it’s a comfort food dating back to the Native Americans who named the river and the surrounding region where they lived here in Awendaw.
Historians say the name has only been used to describe this bread since the end of the 19th century, but it went by other names like “batter bread.” The 1847 cookbook, “The Carolina Housewife” is the source of the first published Awendaw recipe. Written by Sarah Rutledge of Charleston, whose father, Edward, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Sarah writes that it has the “delicacy of a baked custard.”
All things Thanksgiving
Spoonbread, custard, souffle, pudding, or casserole - Awendaw Spoonbread is delicious no matter what you call it.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Diary of Southern Lifestyle Author Pat Branning to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.
