A little history lesson

In trying to decide what to make today I read a list of recipes aloud to Matt, with the final decision being Cornbread (his choice). This particular recipe for Durgin Park Cornbread comes with a history lesson:

Durgin-Park is a centuries-old restaurant at 340 at Faneuil Hill Marketplace in downtown Boston. The Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau states that it has been a "landmark since 1827", and it continues to be a popular tourist destination within Quincy Market. The restaurant has entrances on both of its facades (Faneuil Hall and Clinton Street).

 In keeping with its long history, the concept of Durgin-Park maintains the tradition of communal seating at long tables. The menu is designed to offer traditional New England-style fare with a concentration on seafoods, chowders, broiled meats, and broiled dinners. The service is also a partial hold-over from the time of its founding as the waitstaff have been encouraged to adopt a "surly" attitude and "backtalk" the clientele. Another sign of it heritage, is that it has only changed head chefs a handful of times in its history. ~ Wikipedia

I have never been to this restaurant, but I could see how Mary would be a fan since she was never one to pass up seafood, chowder, or broiled dinners!

Durgin Park Cornbread
(written by my aunt Kathy - excellent handwriting - on lined recipe card)
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 tsp salt
2 cups flour
1 cup cornmeal (grandulated)
3 tsp Baking Powder
1 tbsp melted butter
1 1/2 cups milk

Mix sugar with beaten eggs. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together. Add cornmeal, melted butter & milk. Beat up quickly and bake in buttered pan. Use very hot oven

So besides the history of the restaurant that I had to look up, I also had to research the oven temp and cooking time of this recipe. Some recipes called for a 450 degree oven, but this cooked the bottom to quickly and left the middle uncooked. Other recipes called for a 375 degree oven for 35-40 minutes. I concluded that baking the cornbread in an oven between 375 degrees for @ 25-30 minutes was perfect!

Mine browned  on the top because I was experimenting with the different temps/times, but it still came out delicious! I cooked mine in a 8X8 pan, but you could also do a 9X9 and reduce the cooking by a little.