Making the corn meal mixture
The corn meal (which was
soaking in the cold water while the meat was being fully cooked)
can now can be transferred to a sauce pan. Add the rest of the
cold water to the corn meal. When cooking the corn meal I
normally bring the heat up slowly while stirring the mixture
constantly in the sauce pan. If the corn meal is not constantly
stirred it will form clumps that will be hard to spread out
and/or the corn meal will burn on the bottom of the pan. Once
burned it can be difficult to clean the pan, not to mention
burned corn meal gives an unpleasant flavor to the dish.
After the corn meal has
reached the consistency of oatmeal, (thick but still spreadable),
it is ready to be smeared over the meat mixture in the casserole
dish.
The easiest way to get the corn meal onto the pie is to drop small spoonfuls of it on to the top of the meat mixture. Then come back with a thin spatula or a butter knife and spread it out across the top of the meat mixture.
If there are some thick spots
or uncovered spots that is ok too. Try to cover as much as you
can so it looks similar to the picture on the right. The corn
meal layer should be about 1/2 of an inch thick or less. If the
meat mixture is still hot it will make the spreading easier to
accomplish.
If you do not want to spread it out on top, follow the original recipe and mix the cornmeal into the meat mixture and cook the dish for 15 minutes before going on to add the cheese.
No matter which way you include the corn meal you are now ready to add the shredded cheese. Spread the cheese out evenly covering the whole top of the pie. Then put the dish into the pre-heated oven and in 20 minutes enjoy your meal.
The
following page will show you
the finished meal.
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