for the love of mayonnaise a blog about sandwiches.

So I have no idea what kind of sandwich innards are appropriate for the taste of cornbread. But this is what I had. This is what I wanted. This is what I made. It was glorious.

Now I know many of you are probably wondering how the bread didn’t fall apart, and the answer is, it did. But it was moist enough that I could still eat it like a sandwich, no fork needed, it was just slightly crumbly. There are recipes floating around the interweb for cornbread that is more of a bread consistency specifically for sandwich making. But I have a feeling if any of you make this it will be because you have leftover cornbread from a meal that did not require sandwich cornbread and therefore I will instead share with you the one I made because it had the word Butter in the name.

If you are interested in the sandwich kind, just google it. And then let me know how it tastes.

This comes from Nicole Callen Auburn from California via TasteofHome that I found through allrecipes.com who serves it with butter and syrup hot from the oven who got it several years ago from a long-time friend which was actually more than several years ago since it was posted in 2007 so technically I don’t know who came up with this recipe but it is good. Thank you.

Buttery Cornbread
Ingredients:
2/3 cup Butter or Margarine, softened
1 cup Sugar
3 Eggs
1 2/3 cups Milk
2 1/3 cups all-purpose Flour
1 cup Cornmeal
4 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt

Directions:
I want to start off by saying that I don’t support the use of 2/3 cup butter or margarine in any recipe because really, who knows off the top of their head how many tablespoons that is? Well for those of you like me who didn’t, it’s 10 2/3 tablespoons so why don’t you just throw in 11. That’s what I did and the world is the same as it was before this crisis.

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. In a separate bowl, combine the eggs and milk. In yet another bowl (Nicole’s friend is sorry), combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with the egg mixture.

Pour into a greased 13″x9″ baking pan. Bake at 400 degrees F for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Serves 12 or me.

As for the chicken tenders, these pictured I stole from my mother’s fridge and I have no idea how she made them. But the chicken tenders I typically make look much like these and are supa good. They come, once again, from Pioneer Woman and while I’m not a huge fan of the personal part of her site, the cooking part is a winner in my household. She uses lots of butter, flour and cream and lots of her stuff is fried so if I tell Scott the recipe is hers, he doesn’t ask me what’s in it and always asks for seconds and thirds. Hallelujah.

The only changes I make are that I use canola oil instead of vegetable because canola is heart healthy and vegetable is not and I add cayenne pepper to the flour because well, everything can use more cayenne pepper.

Homemade Chicken Strips
Ingredients:
1 package Chicken Breasts, cut into strips
Buttermilk
1 1/2 cup Flour
2 tsp (to 3 tsp, I do 3) Lawry’s Seasoning Salt
Canola Oil

Directions:
Start by rinsing and drying your chicken strips. Next, in a bowl submerge the chicken strips in buttermilk for 15 to 20 minutes (or longer if you’d like).

In another bowl combine about 1 ½ cups flour and 2 to 3 teaspoons of Lawry’s Seasoning Salt (or other seasonings if you prefer). Mix this together well. Next, add about ¼ to ½ cup of buttermilk into the flour mixture and stir lightly with a fork as you add it.

Heat about 1 inch of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-low to medium heat.

Remove a few of the buttermilk-soaked strips and place them in the flour mixture, turning them over to coat them thoroughly. Place them on a plate. Continue coating chicken strips until they are all ready to cook.

When the oil is sufficiently heated, begin cooking the strips a few at a time. Cook them for about a minute and a half or so on each side. When golden and crispy, remove them to a paper towel-lined plate.

BBQ Chicken Tender Cornbread Sandwich
Ingredients:
Cornbread, one piece
Chicken Tender(s)
Mozzarella Cheese
BBQ Sauce, Sweet Baby Rays
Mayonnaise
Tomato, 1 or 2 slices

Directions:
Slice a piece of cornbread in half. (I’m going to assume that people will use leftover cornbread so we will pretend it is no longer warm.) Place however many chicken tenders needed on top of cornbread (these can be warm or cold, if they are cold you might want to pop them in the oven for a minute or two to crisp up).

In a small bowl mix together mayo and bbq sauce, the ratio being whatever you like. Put mozzarella cheese on top of chicken tenders. At this point you can choose to put the tomato on top of your sandwich, under your chicken tenders or on top and then place the whole sandwich in the oven to heat up.

Heat the oven around 400 degrees and place the sandwich on a cookie sheet. Heat until the tenders are sizzling and the cheese is melting. Remove from oven and if you haven’t already put your tomato on the sandwich do so now. Drizzle your sauce on top. Sandwich the cornbread pieces and eat. Don’t smush it with your hands or it will crumble, hold lightly and bite, you should be just fine.