Recipe Tuesday - Cornbread

Today's recipe is by request from another of my bestest girls since I talked about it in last week's recipe.

My recipe has been handed down generations. In my opinion, there is only 1 way to make true Southern Cornbread and that is in a cast iron skillet. Mine was given to me when my grandmother passed away but I had already found my own at an antique store. Buying a new one just takes way too long to season but it can be done. First check out antique places or farm estate sales.

For those of you who want to just bake it in a pyrex square pan you can but you just don't know what you are missing by not using a well seasoned cast iron skillet - the bestest part which is the really crispy crust.

There is also a difference in cornbread recipes - Northern recipes and Southern recipes. How one tells the difference is the ingredients. A Southern Cornbread is not sweet and does not ever use sugar in it. You are allowed to drizzle honey on the finished product but never evah put sugar in your cornbread if you are serving it to a Southerner! Cornbread is for dinner, not dessert.

So here's my family cornbread handed down lots of generations:

Ingredients:
2 cups of cornmeal (yellow or white)
½ cup sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg lightly beaten
2 cups buttermilk
2 tablespoons bacon drippings or vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Put the drippings or oil in a cast iron skillet and place it in the oven for a few minutes until it’s sizzling. Mix together dry ingredients. Set aside. Whisk egg and buttermilk. Mix with dry ingredients. (Note here: make sure your cast iron skillet is good and hot because that is what sears the batter and makes for a crispy, crunchy crust which is what makes it a true cornbread). Take cast iron skillet out of oven, and pour hot oil into batter, and mix. Pour batter immediately into cast iron skillet (you don't want the skillet to cool that much). Bake in oven for 20 minutes. Cornbread should be brown on top and pulling away from the sides of the skillet when done. Take out of the oven and cut in pie-like pieces. Serve!

This recipe makes 8 pie slices. I usually double the recipe since I love leftovers. I will zap it in the microwave for 5 seconds in a brown paper bag and voila - my cornbread is warm again. Drizzle with honey and it is a perfect breakfast food!

As a side addition, you can also use this recipe to make hush puppies! I usually add chop a quarter of an onion and mix in the batter and sometimes add fresh corn kernels I have canned to it too. Take the batter then and form it into balls and fry them in the cast iron skillet with oil, turning them frequently. I will also deep fry them in my Fry Baby.