Corn Muffins: Thanks to Court Street Grocers

When you love someone, sometimes you do things for them that you don’t totally understand.
By Rebecca Orchant

My Sidekick turned thirty this January and one morning a few days before, I woke up and baked. This is not really normal behavior for me. But, the dude loves corn muffins the way most people love their pets, so I decided to take one for the team.

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The truth is, these muffins never would have happened without Court Street Grocers and their delightful array of weird regional food nerdery. For those of you unacquainted, Court Street Grocers is partially exactly what it sounds like, a specialty food market and sandwich shop on Court Street in Brooklyn. But, really, there’s something else that makes it way more special. It just so happens to house the most specific, regionally famous goods imaginable. Durkee sauce. Vernor’s ginger ale. Heinz Cream of Tomato Soup. Chinese black vinegar. Jarred Brunswick Stew. Double Cola. And so many precious and strange things between them. Including Brinser’s Best corn meal, which made the birthday muffins my Sidekick was so pleased to wake up to.

The muffins that the recipe on the back of this adorably strange bag of corn meal (IT’S ROASTED) produced were moist and tender on the inside, a little crunchy on the outside, not too sweet, and really – well – roasty. They were also easy enough that someone like me could knock them out of the park before coffee, which is really saying something.

So, big thanks to Court Street Grocers for bringing these babies into our lives. I can’t wait to see what the next weird thing I bring home will produce. Also, we should probably talk about you guys getting some salsa from New Mexico?