Corn Bread

[LeeBo]

I suppose this message is akin to the pinto beans. That is, corn bread is also a largely cultural / geographic thing.

Here's what we do in OK (I'm sure other Southern states do this too).

Get a cast iron skillet and put a table spoon of baking grease in it. Put it in the oven at 350 until the grease is good and hot. Tilt the skillet around until you have a thin layer of grease and pour off the excess.

Pour your corn bread batter into it and bake per your recipe.

Cooking it in a cast iron skillet with a little bacon grease makes it taste wonderful. Also, some people like it really thin. Just use a bigger skillet.

Lastly, there's a thing call cracklin' cornbread where you put pork cracklins in the batter. I suppose that's the difference between South and Deep South

Here's a pretty decent link:
http://www.recipegoldmine.com/castiron/castiron28.html

Use bacon grease on the skillet instead of oil though.


Oh yeah - corn bread and milk makes a great bed time snack!

 

[thirdeye]

Hadn't thought of the cracklins in cornbread for years! Those are good. (Hummmm,... maybe a crumbled fatty?) I sometimes add corn, diced jalapeno's or sweet onions to cornbread.

Do you ever make hoe cakes? It's just a thinner batter and you cook 'em on a griddle like a flapjack. Usually just one turn and you are there.

 

[nmayeux]

I think I'm gettin' hungry!

 

[FatDaddy]

Love makin cornbread in my cast iron. the one i use belonged to my great grandmother so it has been bakin cornbread for 80 some odd years

 

[VitaminQ]

LeeBo, you know what you're talkin' about! Nothing beats my mama's cornbread from the cast-iron skillet! IIRC, that skillet has been in my family for about 70-80 years, too.

 

[nmayeux]

You can make cornbread in something other than old cast iron?

 

[bbqjoe]

I'm thinking maybe about candy corn and orange circus peanuts!

 

[chad]

You can make cornbread in something other than old cast iron?

Yeah, you can...and you can add flour and sugar, too!! :shock:

I grew up on cornbread from self-rising meal (I make my own now since I lived in areas that nobody knew what self-rising meal was!) and an egg, a bit of oil (bacon grease is great), and use either a 30 year old "corn stick" pan, a 35 year old 6" cast iron pan, or a who knows how old 10" cast iron skillet. My brother and I split the cast iron between us when momma died - and that was 27 years ago.

I also preheat the skillets but I cook the cornmeal only cornbread at about 450 - it flat sizzles when you pour the batter into the greased pan!!

 

[Jorge]

Yeah, you can...and you can add flour and sugar, too!! :shock:

I grew up on cornbread from self-rising meal (I make my own now since I lived in areas that nobody knew what self-rising meal was!) and an egg, a bit of oil (bacon grease is great), and use either a 30 year old "corn stick" pan, a 35 year old 6" cast iron pan, or a who knows how old 10" cast iron skillet. My brother and I split the cast iron between us when momma died - and that was 27 years ago.

I also preheat the skillets but I cook the cornmeal only cornbread at about 450 - it flat sizzles when you pour the batter into the greased pan!!

I learned the same way and have been seasoning my "corn stick" pans for close to 15 years now. Should have them almost broken in soon.

 

[kcquer]

Chad, I'm really suprised that you're the only one who mentions that sugar in cornbread is as bad as boiling ribs.

When I was in the Air Force, all the guys from southern states, especially Texas, would really give me what for when I'd cook Jiffy cornbread mix, because it contained sugar. I was assured "that sweet chit ain't cornbread".

Doens't bother me in the least but, cornbread has come up here before and it always suprises me not to hear the "no sugar allowed" argument.

 

[chad]

Actually, I don't care one way or another - but MY peference is that it be unadulterated!!

Even working for Luby's cafeteria (a TX company) our recipe called for sugar and flour - ie. a "cake" type cornbread.

I'm just poking a bit. I failed to mention that my recipe uses buttermilk. Sweet milk or "clabbered" just isn't the same and I definately don't get the same "rise" as from buttermilk. The acid in it works with the baking powder and baking soda along with the egg help the bread to rise.

One of my grandmothers made the most fantastic "fried cornbread" or johnnycake type cornbread. It would clog your arteries in a heartbeat or two but it sure was good!!

 

[chad]

I learned the same way and have been seasoning my "corn stick" pans for close to 15 years now. Should have them almost broken in soon.

One of the saddest days of my married life was when Anne made spaghetti sauce in one of the cast iron skillets and didn't immediately rinse it out -- the acid in the tomatoes took about 10 years (it was one of my mom's "new" skillets) of seasoning off - right to the bare metal. :shock: I kept her anyway but she rarely uses "my" cast iron anymore!!

That skillet is just now getting back to "normal"! You can still see the "ridge" up on the side of the skillet!!

 

[nmayeux]

I was lucky, as my grandmother "schooled" Melissa about the cast iron. However, my wife is absolutely stumped as to why I use the old free cast iron, when we have a cupboard full of Caphlon stuff.

 

[cmcadams]

There's nothing wrong with Calphalon... it has its uses and its non-uses... Cornbread is a non-use.

However, I'm from Ohio, and can appreciate things like Skyline Chili, which a Texan would claim isn't chili (I agree, but I like it anyway). Cornbread with sugar and milk on it while the cornbread is hot is something I like, but I don't consider it real cornbread. More like a different form of cereal.

But what about this... all meal, or whole corn added? Jalepenos or no jalepanos?

 

[brdbbq]

Thought Jiffy Mix was real corn bread ?

 

[Arlin_MacRae]

Thought Jiffy Mix was real corn bread ?

Always has been to me!

 

[jpw23]

I suppose this message is akin to the pinto beans. That is, corn bread is also a largely cultural / geographic thing.

Here's what we do in OK (I'm sure other Southern states do this too).

Get a cast iron skillet and put a table spoon of baking grease in it. Put it in the oven at 350 until the grease is good and hot. Tilt the skillet around until you have a thin layer of grease and pour off the excess.

Pour your corn bread batter into it and bake per your recipe.

Cooking it in a cast iron skillet with a little bacon grease makes it taste wonderful. Also, some people like it really thin. Just use a bigger skillet.

Lastly, there's a thing call cracklin' cornbread where you put pork cracklins in the batter. I suppose that's the difference between South and Deep South

Here's a pretty decent link:
http://www.recipegoldmine.com/castiron/castiron28.html

Use bacon grease on the skillet instead of oil though.


Oh yeah - corn bread and milk makes a great bed time snack!

Don't drain off the excess.....when you pour the batter in the skillet, the grease will come up the sides and make them very crispy!!!:biggrin:

 

[kcquer]

Jiffy is the real deal for me too, but to some southerners its not.

I do have a really good buttermilk cornbread recipe that I make once a year when I do a pot of ham and butterbeans (ham and mf'ers for you old military types). It's really good but not nearly as convenient as open box, add 1 egg and 1/3c of milk:wink:

 

[The_Kapn]

Curt,

"But what about this... all meal, or whole corn added? Jalepenos or no jalepanos?"

BINGO :lol:

I add fine chopped Japs and whole kernel corn (cooked)!!!!
Not a lot--just a bit.

And Karen is stuck on Marie Calendar's mix. Yeah, I know--sweet.
But I'm not in charge!
And, it is good anyway.

TIM

 

[VitaminQ]

Well, that northern style cornbread is not bad, for what it is. Cook's Illustrated did a thing on cornbread a couple months ago- the southern v northern styles. It was interesting. I'll look up the recipe they came up with and post it.

Edit: It's the January/ February 2005 issue. I posted the recipe in the recipe section. Supposedly, they wanted to "bridge the gap" between southern and northern cornbread. Purist on either side will probably hate it.