I am starting to see a trend developing here. I'm here yet again with a clarification on a traditional Southern recipe. This time, we're talking about cornbread.I have had the opportunity to experience cornbread in many regions of this country and I have to tell you, there were times when I was shocked... especially when what I was eating was advertised as "old-fashioned" or "Southern" cornbread.
Let me tell you what real Southern cornbread ain't.
Southern Cornbread AIN'T
- Sweet
- Square
- A muffin
- Anything resembling a cake in texture or sweetness
- Yellow
Here's what real Southern cornbread is.
Southern Cornbread IS- Round (cut into wedges) or in pone "sticks, having been baked in a corn pone pan
- White
- NOT sweet
- Has a crumbly texture
- Baked in a cast-iron skillet
- All one word. Cornbread. Not corn bread.
I have had some things that were called "corn bread" that were just awful. Sickeningly sweet. Bright yellow. Tasted more like a dessert that what real cornbread is supposed to taste like.
I've had other things what tasted good, but still weren't what I'd classify as real Southern cornbread. I've had some things that were slightly sweet, made with yellow cornmeal, fluffy cake-like or loaf bread-like texture. Good taste, but still not cornbread.
If you experience or make any of those things - if your "corn bread" has sugar in it - I'm here to ask you to PLEASE stop calling it "Southern Cornbread." It ain't. Call it something else. Sweet corn bread. Corn cake. Corn muffin. ANYTHING but Southern Cornbread.
Between this issue, sweet tea and slaw, I'm in fear of Southern cuisine disappearing from all culinary knowledge!
Here is my contribution to the Preservation of the Traditional Southern Culinary Arts:
REAL SOUTHERN CORNBREAD
1 cup white cornmeal (not cornmeal mix!)1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 egg, beaten
1 cup buttermilk
2-3 Tbsp. shortening or bacon grease
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put shortening or bacon grease into 8- or 9-inch cast iron skillet. Put skillet in oven to melt shortening or grease. Be sure not to let it burn.
In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients together. Stir in egg and buttermilk and mix well.
Remove skillet from oven and pour almost all the melted shortening/bacon grease into the batter. Be sure to leave a little grease in the skillet.
Stir batter well to mix in grease. Pour batter in skillet.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cornbread is lightly browned. You can test for doneness by inserting a knife in the middle of the cornbread - the knife should come out clean.
This is especially good buttered. Or crumble it up in a glass of milk and eat it with a spoon. I'm serious!
My mom and dad have said they love their cornbread crumbled in milk. I can't understand that. I love cornbread but can't imagine it being in milk. Having heard it from so many people I'm just gonna have to jump outta my comfort zone and try it. You have a way of pushing me to do that :O)
ReplyDeletelike rose petal jelly!!!
This is exactly the way I make it but with Three Rivers self-rising meal, that I haul back from my Tennessee trips!I never use my bread skillet for antthing but cornbread either!
ReplyDeleteMJP...try it in milk, it's great!
My Mother liked it in Buttermilk, I like it in sweet milk!
I was surfing and found your site. Thank you for sharing so many wonderful cooking and living ideas.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I'm no southerner, I am country and love good eats. Where I grew up the general store was eight miles away and town was twenty six miles, so most everything was home made. Odd how it brings back memories, I can remember standing on a wooden crate in front of a wood cookstove flipping my first pancakes, my mom showed me how to wait till the bubbles were just so before turning them. If I remember correctly, a couple of them weren't to pretty, but I finally got the timing of the flip down. I was pretty proud of them.
Mmm... I love me some cornbread the way my great grandma used to make it! It was exactly as you've described it.... and I love it crumbled in milk, as well. We always called it "crumblins".
ReplyDeleteI can't stand that sweet stuff...and especially not that nasty Jiffy mix!
Your so right ! Southern Cornbread is always made with white cormeal and is never sweet. Grew up on it, love the leftover crumbled in milk for breakfast!
ReplyDeleteboth my mom and my husband's mom love cornbread in milk, and we make it "southern style" for sure. how can you eat brown beans without it?
ReplyDeleteI was also wondering if you have some tips/recipes for raspberries? we are going picking this week. thanks so much, LOVE your blog!
My momma always made cornbread like this. But my grandma made fried cornbread in the cast iron skillet.
ReplyDeleteMy papaw would refuse to eat if there wasn't cornbread on the table. I reckon we had it for every meal. When we killed hogs we would make cracklins and have cracklin cornbread. I foundered on that one time and haven't ate any since. We also would fry our cornbread on occasions, usually when we had fried okrie and fried tomatoes.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for putting in on the side of real cornbread. While I was raised in Hawaii, my Dad was from Arkansas, and though he hated much about the South, he loved the cooking! I remember as a teenager grabbing pieces of hard coarse cornbread (cooked of course in cast iron molds) and sharp cheddar and heading for the beach.
ReplyDeleteIt was only in restaurants that I was fed the corn cake crud and was amazed that most people think that this soft, bright yellow, junk in normal.