Spoonbread, a heavenly cross between polenta and a cornmeal soufflÃ, is a sweet, airy puff of smooth corn flavor in your mouth.

Part of its marvel is that the texture is so delicate and the taste combination of egg, corn and sugar is so flavorful that it wakes up your taste buds.

Even though it's called a bread, spoonbread is so pleasantly sweet that it can served as dessert for any occasion.

Some culinary authorities maintain that spoonbread can be traced back to the Indian porridge called suppone or suppawn . Others say that the butter, milk and eggs, which made spoonbread such a special dish, probably came after the Civil War.

Whatever the answer, spoonbread makes for a delicious mystery.

MRS. ROWE'S SPOON BREAD

4 cups 2 percent reduced-fat milk

1/2 cup butter, plus more for the dish

1 cup yellow cornmeal

4 eggs, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 13 by 9-inch baking dish.

2. Heat milk and butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. When milk begins to steam, whisk in cornmeal and cook, whisking constantly, until thoroughly mixed. Remove from heat and cool until thicken slightly.

3. Whisk eggs, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. Pour into cornmeal mixture; mix well. Scrape into prepared pan.

4. Bake 30 to 40 minutes, until golden brown on top. Serve hot with butter. Makes 10 servings. Serves 12.

Note: The batter can be refrigerated up to 6 hours before baking, but the baking time increases. Spoonbread reheats well in the microwave, although the consistency is drier.

This recipe was adapted with permission from Mollie Bryan's Mrs. Rowe's Restaurant Cookbook: A Lifetime of Recipes from the Shenandoah Valley (Ten Speed Press, 2006).

NUTRITION PER SERVING: 170 calories, 11 grams fat, 100 milligrams cholesterol, 6 grams protein, 13 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber and 400 milligrams sodium.

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