​​The Classic Southern Side Dish That's Even More Comforting Than Cornbread

Think of a corn-centric Southern side dish and your mind likely jumps straight to cornbread — but for an uber-comforting alternative, consider corn pudding instead. It's arguably closer to a casserole: It's made with a custard-like mix of eggs, butter, and milk, with corn and flour to add some bulk. While cornbread is (obviously) a bread, corn pudding is softer and denser. It comes out of the oven with a wobble to it and is much more moist than cornbread, but still dry enough that it can soak up juices from a main meat item or other sides.

Corn pudding has hazy origins: Some trace it back to English savory custard puddings, which had the same eggy base but often featured meat, or sometimes vegetables or cheese. (It wasn't until the 1900s that "pudding" came to be seen as mostly a sweet dish.) Somewhere along the chain, these were adapted by American cooks to feature corn. Alternatively, it's been suggested that it originated out of Native American techniques of cooking cornmeal and water together. Whether it was originally Southern is debated: Prominent cookbook author Fanny Farmer published a recipe for "Corn à la Southern" in 1896, and this may fit with the prominence of corn crops in the South, although some historians have argued that it wasn't specific to the South at that time.

The basics of most corn pudding recipes are fairly similar: Eggs are whisked together with melted butter, milk, or cream, a dash of sugar, and a small amount of flour or cornmeal so the pudding gets a tiny bit bready, giving it some structure. Corn kernels are stirred into this mix: These can be fresh, frozen, or canned. Then it's poured into a buttered casserole dish and baked. Some recipes suggest blending half of the corn before adding it in, creating a puree that can thicken the custard a bit more. A properly cooked corn pudding should have golden edges but a little jiggle in the center (some might argue that letting the middle set fully is a sign of overcooking).

There's no shortage of potential extras that can be added in for more flavor; these usually go in at the same time as the corn. A few suggestions include cheese, sauteed onions, chiles, or bacon. Obviously, it's a great old-fashioned Thanksgiving side, but realistically, it can go with anything juicy, from grilled chicken to sauteed greens.

If you're a fan of Southern-style corn sides, you've probably heard of corn spoonbread, and there's some ambiguity around whether this is a variation on corn pudding or the same thing under a different name. Some say spoonbread is heavier on flour or cornmeal making it more bread-like than the eggy pudding, while others use the terms interchangeably.