Since I posted yesterday about the wrongs of adding sugar to cornbread, I thought I should share an honest cornbread recipe the way God intended for it to be eaten.
Cornbread: The real thing
Preheat oven to 400
2 cups self rising cornmeal mix (Strongly suggest Martha White because it contains no flour or sugar)
2 eggs
2 tablespoons melted butter, oil, or bacon grease (I use butter for this part)
1 3/4 cups buttermilk* (You can use regular milk but it will take less)
Additional oil or bacon grease to coat the bottom of a cast iron skillet
Mix all the ingredients together, by hand (preferably using a wooden spoon because that is just the way you make cornbread).
Put bacon grease (or oil ,but I have no idea why anyone would use oil when you can have that heavenly bacony flavor) in a cast iron skillet on the stovetop burner. Get that stuff sizzling hot. Pour the cornbread batter into the skillet and listen to the sound of angels as the batter sizzles on contact with the hot bacon grease. Using a pot holder grab the handle and put the pan in the hot oven. (Saving any of you who are not used to cooking with cast iron form making a rookie mistake. The handle will be seriously hot)
Bake it for about 20-25 minutes. Serve hot slathered with butter.
And this, my friends is how cornbread should be eaten!
*If you don't have buttermilk then just put 1 1/2 tablespoons of lemon juice or white vinegar in the bottom of your measuring cup and add enough regular milk to make 1 3/4 cups. Let it sit on the counter for a bit until it is clabbered and nice and thick 10-15 minus maybe.
Ah thanks! I'll be trying this.
ReplyDeleteIt will make my gluten sensitive son happy.
If I were making this for someone with gluten sensitivities I would use GF cornmeal and add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 2 teaspoons baking powder (I know Clabber Girl is gluten free. Not sure about other brands) If you do it this way be sure to use either buttermilk or clabbered milk
DeleteYour post and the comments made me smile. I can't help it. I live maple syrup in it.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, bless your heart!
DeleteNow I have to look for cornmeal mix - sans flour and sugar. Oh, and a cast iron frying pan. The bacon grease, now that I can do. :)
ReplyDeleteSubstitute using regular cornmeal, 2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt; however, you have to use buttermilk or clabbered milk
DeleteBacon grease-I can definitely get behind that! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
ReplyDeleteThere is something about the crispy crunchy bottom (unless you are like my mom and flip it out of the pan so they beautiful crust is on the top.)
DeleteAnd the church says AMEN…. Lol! Cindy in the South
ReplyDeleteThat is recipe my grandma used. Cindy in the South
DeleteAmen and Amen!
DeleteThis is how I make mine also and it is delicious!!
ReplyDeleteMe too Lori!
DeleteThank you! From the person from New Jersey who just learned a new way to live ;). Hilogene in Az
ReplyDeleteJust doing my southern duty!
DeleteOkay but now where do you buy that mix?
ReplyDeleteJust use cornmeal and add 2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt
DeleteI wonder whether we have cornmeal mix?
ReplyDeletePossibly but plain cornmeal with 2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt works also. Just make sure to use buttermilk or clabbered milk
DeleteAs it should be. Bacon grease, iron skillet, and no sugar. :)
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely!
DeleteI always cook it like Mama did. I put a plate over the top of the skillet when I take it out of the oven, flip the cornbread onto the plate, then slide the cornbread back into the hot skillet. Put it in the oven for another five minutes with heat still on. When it comes out it is golden top and bottom. The sizzle of cornbread mix in the hot grease is so satisfying to my senses.
ReplyDeleteWhen I went to a garden party in Birmingham, I took a pan of cornbread as one of my two things for the party of a friend. The woman who was the wife of the voice of Radio Free Europe sought me out and said the cornbread was just right--no sugar. She said it had been a long time since she had no-sugar cornbread. I cut this in squares so it served more people I thought a garden party in the South was the appropriate place to serve cornbread.
DeleteThe sizzle is the best part of making it, but the best part of cornbread is eating it hot out the oven with butter melting over the sides.
I had a cast iron skillet, once upon a time, many apartment/house moves ago. I think it got left behind on one of those moves. Maybe when I packed all my belongings into two suitcases and travelled from Wisconsin to Florida by Greyhound bus. Or, was it when my parents and I packed our car with all our belongings and drove from Florida to California? I guess I'll have to buy myself a new cast iron skillet to try your version of cornbread. Wonder how it will be with my chicken curry on the side? :D
ReplyDeleteCorn bread might work well with the curry. Would be an Asian/Redneck fusion meal?
DeleteI am definitely going to try this. My dad and husband love cornbread and I never seem to get it just right. I do use bacon grease in the bottom of my skillet for biscuits. YUM!
ReplyDeleteYou can't beat the flavor of the bacon grease, can you?
DeleteI have never had a Southern Card and must admit that when I used to make cornbread I used a Jiffy mix, which I'm sure had sugar in it.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Jiffy cornbread is cake with cornmeal in it!
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