Cornbread. It doesn't have to be complicated.
Well, my buddy LawDog is posting recipes, so I'll just post a tried-and-true recipe that we eat about weekly here at Casa G:
No-Flour Cornbread.
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup stone ground YELLOW cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon (rounded) salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1 tablespoon shortening
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Melt the shortening in one 9 inch round iron skillet in the heating oven. Cast a little loose cornmeal into the bottom of the pan.
2. Stir the cornmeal, salt and baking soda together. Add the egg and buttermilk and mix well.
3. Remove skillet from the oven and pour the batter into the skillet, stirring the melted shortening into the batter.
4. Bake at 450 degrees F (230 degrees C) for 30 to 40 minutes.
Remove from oven when top of cornbread is brown and turn out on to a serving plate. Cut into wedges and serve immediately with real butter.
For double batches (I make 'em in my big cast-iron skillet), reduce the heat slightly and increase the time slightly.
posted by Matt G @ 5:17 PM
11 Comments:
That's making my mouth water.
Sauted onions and jalepenos are good to throw in the mix too.
I'll have to give this one a shot. I love cornbread, but LabRat, er, doesn't. Mayhaps if I find a recipie we can both agree on, happiness will flow through the land.
Perfect timing too, I've had a craving for cornbread & sweetmilk building up for a while now.
Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE good cornbread? The Army may have a Southern culture in general, guaranteeing grits worldwide, but the Philistines at Fort Lewis persisted in putting SUGAR in my cornbread! That ain't cornbread- it's corn-flavored cake.
Instead of the shortening, I put in thin sliced pieces of fatback. I leave the strips of fatback in the skillet and pour the batter over them.
Texas style cornbread! My Dad made it like that except he would add just a touch of sugar
"Fried in slices with molasses" would catch my interest even despite my basic handicaps in cornbread appreciation. You have my blessing to try that, dear.
Stallard's idea with the fatback seems intriguing, too.
My mother was raised in Alabama, I remember the first time my Yankee grandfather made cornbread (in a cake pan). My mother stood in his kitchen and informed him that that was NOT cornbread that was Yankee corncake and she would make the real thing.
"...the Philistines at Fort Lewis persisted in putting SUGAR in my cornbread! That ain't cornbread- it's corn-flavored cake."
Johnny Cake, to be precise. It can be good, but it ain't corn bread is it?
Most pre-prepared mixes yield Johnny Cake, in my opinion.
Oh, and for artery-hardening goodness, the "shortening" in the recipe can be substituded by Bacon Grease. Damn, that's tasty.
Wound up using lard instead of shortening since there wasn't a tub of crisco to be found in the house, but it still worked pretty well. Much obliged for the recipie.
I must be a traitor or something.
Although I was born a Rebel, I was raised a Yankee. To me, nothing tastes better than Yankee food - well, except for my Soutern aunt's cooking. That just blows everything else out of the water.
When I lived in North Carolina for 3 years, the things I was homesick most for were Philly sports teams (Go Flyers!) and the foods we have up here: soft pretzels, cheese steaks, hoagies, Tastykakes (Butterscotch Krimpets!) and scrapple, although I can't stomach that now.
I remember ordering a hot dog one time when I was out in NC and they put slaw on it. The concept was definitely strange to me, because I was used to hot dogs with mustard, onions and sauerkraut, but the slaw wasn't too bad.
I'm definitely going to give your recipe a try, Matt. It does sound very good. :)
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