Mieliepap is a South African breakfast dish of cooked cornmeal. If I had a category for comfort food, this would definitely be in it. It's warm and soft, a little sweet and a little savory. And there's cheese and salty, smoked meat. I served it drizzled with maple syrup. Reading through the recipe, I thought it was going to be a rich, heavy, meal-in-a-bowl, and probably too greasy; it was nothing of the kind. I hadn't anticipated the cornmeal would expand so much, turning the bacon and cheese into mild flavorings rather than substantial meal components. In fact, I initially left the cheese out, but when I saw what a small proportion of cheese there was relative to cornmeal, I added it in.
The Joe Pastry web site has two entries for this recipe: one with just the recipe (and some photos), and another that walks you through the steps, including photos along the way. I followed just the recipe, since it seemed so simple, and was baffled why I didn't get the same results. Then I found the step-by-step and could see the difference. (I also think there might have been a little cheating with quantities to make the dish appear richer than it is-- more bacon, more cheese.)
I don't do pork, so I substituted smoked turkey leg. I accidentally left out the baking soda. I've modified the directions slightly to be more helpful and to simplify. If you want this for breakfast, I recommend making the cornmeal mixture the night before, as it takes quite a while to cool if using a full cup. Here's what I used:
1 cup cornmeal*
3/4 cup milk
2 cups buttermilk
3 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon salt1/2 1 cup chopped slab bacon smoked turkey leg
2 eggs lightly beaten
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
maple syrup, for drizzling (optional)
In a saucepan, combine the cornmeal, milk, buttermilk, butter, (sugar-- see below), honey, and salt, and bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes until the mixture has thickened (like hot cereal); allow to cool enough so it won't cook the eggs. Meanwhile, slice the turkey meat thinly, then fry in some oil until lightly crisp; reserve half and fry the remainder to your liking.
Using the measuring cup used for the dairy, lightly beat the eggs, then add them to the cornmeal mixture along with the soda, the fully-crisped turkey, and half the cheese; stir to combine. Lightly butter an 8" cast iron skillet or an 8″ x 8″ pan. Spoon in the batter and bake at 375 for 20 minutes; remove from the oven and sprinkle on the rest of the cheese and reserved turkey bits. Bake another 10-15 minutes until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Scoop into bowls and drizzle with maple syrup.
Lots of issues with this recipe. The first is that sugar is called for in the directions, but there is none listed in the ingredients. It's probably 1-2 tablespoons, depending on your taste. It's very mildly sweet with just the honey and no added sugar, and since I added syrup when serving, I was happy with the results.
*Pan size and baking times are cautionary: I feel confident there is an error in the amount of cornmeal-- it should probably be more like 1/2 cup. It's not fatal, but it has an impact. I thought I was making a meal, and what I got was really a tasty but very starchy, high glycemic, low nutrient side dish. Where to start? Well, the first clue was that he has you heat your oven at the start, but the cornmeal took at least 30 minutes to cool (maybe more like 45) and there's no need to be running an empty oven that long. Less cornmeal would have cooled faster. The next clue was that my cornmeal cooked up to be very thick, and continued to thicken into a solid mass as it cooled. His photos show a hot slurry and a cooled porridge. (He even states that this dish is like a cooked porridge or custard-- mine certainly was not.) My mixture was so thick, I don't think baking soda was going to add any lift to it, so it's just as well I left it out. His photos show a substantially higher percentage of mix-ins; mine were fairly sparse. But the biggest affect was on baking time. Had I used an 8" skillet, it would have been filled to the very top, but his photos show the mixture coming up only about half way. I used an 8" x 3" casserole dish and filled it to about an inch from the top (whereas my skillet is only 1.75" deep.) This affected heating and evaporation and lengthened the cooking time. Even after an extra 30 minutes in the oven, I still wasn't getting a clean knife, but the cheese and crust had become very brown. I really only needed the egg to be cooked and it was certainly hot enough for that, so I took it out. The result was soft and scoopable while hot, but became very firm once cool. What I essentially ended up with was scrapple, which is fine, just not what I was expecting.
Because of how long it took for the pan of cornmeal to cool (yes, I could have spread it out on a sheet pan, but then that's more to wash, and there are already too many pans for this simple recipe) and then the extended baking time, this wasn't out of the oven until at least 2 hours after I'd started. That's too long to wait for breakfast! Especially when you're holding off drinking your coffee so you can have it with your meal. By the time I ate, I was so hungry I ate too much of it, and then felt guilty, and thus was forced to eat cabbage salad as the only other meal of the day, with a protein shake for dessert. "Yum", she says sarcastically.
If you want a warm dish of comfort, this is it. If you want a dish with more substance, reduce the cornmeal (or increase the mix-ins.) If you don't care what it looks like, you could probably cook the whole thing in one pan on the stove on low heat, stirring occasionally. Cooked grains are pretty forgiving-- you can mess with them to make them however you like. Use more liquid if you want it softer. Like scrapple, I've sliced my leftovers and am going to fry them up in a pan to heat and crisp.
Conclusion: This had a surprising tartness, I guess from the buttermilk, that I didn't care for, although sourdough fans might love it. (Perhaps the baking soda was included to temper that tartness.) It was still good, but not something I'm likely to make again as is. I'm not diabetic, but I don't want to be either. Cornmeal has a very high glycemic index and it throws off my blood sugar, not really filling me up and leaving me hungry a short time later despite being high in calories. This would be great at brunch served on the side with a good protein and a salad. Alternatively, if it truly were more like a baked cornmeal custard, that sounds delicious and a little more balanced.
Recipe: Mieliepap (recipe) and Making Mieliepap (guidance) via Joe Pastry (MIA)
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