Corndog Casserole

This one's my husband's fault

My husband likes to read funnies he finds on the internet out loud to me. In this case, he’d found something about how a corndog is a redneck tamale on a stick.

“Could you make me that?”

“I could probably fry a tamale with a stick in it, sure.”

“I meant a corndog, but I’d try that.”

“I’m sure it has been done, given the American obsession with deep-fried everything.”

And with a mental note to, next time I make up a big batch of tamales, make him his fried one on a stick (and one for me to try, too!) I set it aside and went on with life. Until I was looking for a way to use up some stuff. See, in January the plan is to eat through a lot of the random stuff in the pantry that has been hanging around since we became empty nesters a year ago (and then we weren’t, and then we were again, and we had all the stuff from our son’s apartment which he gifted us when he enlisted. Whee…). I’ve been standing in the pantry looking long and hard at what’s in there. So. With the conversation about corndogs fresh on my mind, having neither the time nor the inclination to make actual corn dogs, I made… this.

Corndog Casserole

• 1 1/2 c self-rising cornmeal

• 1 can creamed corn

• 1 egg

• 3 hotdogs*

• 1 c shredded cheese, reserve half for the topping

• Bacon grease

Preheat oven to 400F

In a cast iron pan put a couple of tablespoonfuls of bacon grease, and let this preheat with the oven.

Mix together the cornmeal, canned corn, and egg to form a stiff batter. Mix in the shredded cheese and the cut-up hotdogs. Pour some but not all the hot bacon grease in, and mix that in thoroughly.

Pour the batter into the hot pan (I was using a little cast iron dutch oven, but a 10” skillet would work fine) and put into the oven to bake. Sprinkle cheese over the top before baking.

Bake for 20-30 minutes until top is browned, cheese is crispy, and a tester comes out cleanly. Baking this in a shallow, wider pan will get it cooked through faster, and everyone’s oven is different, so keep an eye on it towards the end. Looking in on it every five minutes, even just through the door with the light on, should do it.

Serve when a little cooled. It is, as my husband commented, more of a cornbread with additions than a casserole. If you want it to be moister, simply add another can of corn and another egg. Which is also a good way to stretch this meal even further if you have many mouths or an unexpected guest to feed.

You could do all kinds of variations on this, I came up with it by just playing with the Cornbread^2 recipe I created years ago to satisfy picky eaters who preferred a moister cornbread than self-rising made to specs comes out. I won’t add sugar to cornbread, but corn is pretty sweet itself, so this is also sweeter. A bit of chopped jalapeno would be nice in this, too. I debated throwing in pickles (playing on the cornbread theme) but opted against it as I knew my husband would object. A spoonful of mustard would perk it right up, too! I didn’t add any spices - unless, as I do, you count bacon grease as a spice - but it would play well with a pinch of this or that, depending. This is where knowing what flavors they bring will help you decide what you want. I rarely play a recipe straight, and neither should you!

*I was using nice hotdogs since the kids don’t live with us, but you could do this with anything, and my rule of thumb would be to add one dog per person eating, plus one for the pot. You could stretch this to four people or so before doubling up the batter part. Depends on appetites!