Wikipedia

Wikipedia is often dismissed as an unreliable source, and nothing on it should be trusted. However, all of you know if something's on Wikipedia, it must be true. Hence, lots of random things get looked up on Wikipedia, and it's actually quite a good place to start your research for a paper, because of the compilation of actual sources in the references and bibliography section of each article.

Today, however, I used Wikipedia in a way I

thought I never would: recipe searching.

This morning, before I left for work (in a last minute, panicked kind of way, because I thought of it while brushing my teeth, then quickly forgot due to exhaustion and only remembered while waiting for Hannah to leave), I threw some pinto beans in the crock pot. I'd been using a lot of black beans and lentils lately, which was making me feel a little guilty every time I looked at that little Tupperware of pinto beans sitting on my shelf in the pantry. I had no idea what I was going to make with them, but at least I'd have something ready to work with when I got home.

One of the things that goes best with pinto beans is cornbread, or some sort of variant of such. Butter and cornbread and pinto beans, and salt are a marvelous meal, but hard to eat (despite my compartmentalized stomach, I eat these all together). I've tried corn meal mush to make it easier to eat, and I've tried crumbling the cornbread up and stirring with the beans in a bowl (or Tupperware... you know, if you're at work and eating lunch). Today, I decided I might try corn fritters.

There was, however, a problem. Corn fritters actually 1) are deep fried (not the way my mom does them) and 2) don't actually involve cornmeal, but rather creamed or fresh corn, and a flour dough. This was not what I wanted (though they still sound delicious). I was looking for something like fried corn meal mush, but made straight from a batter. So I google fried corn bread. First result? The Wikipedia cornbread article. I figure, What the heck? and click.

On this Wikipedia page I learn of the history of cornbread, and a bunch of different variants of cornbread, all of which I had never heard of. I read the descriptions, pick one that sounds good, and google that. Voilà! I find exactly what I was looking for, which is this wonderous Fried Cornbread recipe.

It took a bit more water to get the batter consistency like the recipe called for, so take note.

For the pinto beans, I caramelized some onion (about 1/4 of a jumbo one) in a tablespoon or two or butter, added the beans for a little bit, then transferred to a bowl.

The goal here is the pinto bean version of mashed potatoes. I added salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and butter (aka veggie oil spread stuff), then mashed.

You like the potato masher? I got it for my birthday. It's already been used twice, and it hasn't been in this kitchen yet for 24 hours.

Anyway, the way you eat this is you spread the bean mixture on top of a 'corn meal fritter' (as I'm dubbing them), and enjoy. They're quite awesome.

Oh, and my new plates for my birthday are awesome. Yay for Macy's.