Even before we began our journey of corn, I knew in Appalachia, cornbread was the most common way folks today and in days gone by used corn in their daily diets.
Folks in Appalachia, and in the south in general, take their cornbread seriously. I’m sure you’ve heard the jokes about how cornbread isn’t supposed to be sweet and it isn’t supposed to be cut in squares. Growing up we either had cornbread or biscuits with our meals and most of the time it was cornbread.
Various recipes for cornbread are used throughout the country-even in my house. I make my cornbread one way and The Deer Hunter makes his a different way (that’s him showing off his cornbread in the photo above). I think the absolute must for making good cornbread-is the pan. It must be cast iron and it must be heated first to get the type of cornbread that is preferred throughout my area.
The Deer Hunter is one of those cooks who throws a little of this and a little of that in, cooks it all up and it’s always delicious. For his cornbread he coats a cast iron pan with vegetable oil, places it in the oven to heat, then mixes up cornmeal (we both prefer white and we use White Lily self-rising), a little flour, one egg, a little vegetable oil, a dash of sugar, and some milk. He sprinkles cornmeal on to the hot pan, pours the batter in, and bakes till done.
I’m one of those cooks who likes recipes:
Tipper’s Cornbread
- 2 cups self rising white cornmeal
- 1 beaten egg
- 1/4 cup veg. oil
- 1 1/3 cup milk
- shortening or lard
Before I even turn the oven on, I grease a cast iron pan liberally with shortening. If I happened to have some of Granny’s rendered lard I use that. I put the pan in the oven and set it to 475 °.
Put 2 cups of white self-rising cornmeal into a mixing bowl
Mix egg, oil, and milk together; then pour into bowl with cornmeal and mix thoroughly. If I’m low on milk I’ll use a small can of evaporated milk mixed with a half cup of water to make up part of the milk needed.
Once the oven has heated carefully take the hot pan out and pour the batter into it. The batter will instantly start to sizzle so be careful not to get burned. Put pan back in oven and cook for 20 minutes or until done.
Lots of folks love cornbread crumbled in a glass of milk. Probably my favorite way to eat cornbread is straight from the oven slathered in butter. Coming in a close second is crumbled cornbread with soup beans spooned on top.
Tipper
I plan to make this recipe in the morning. I love watching your channel and I love your people. We need more folks with your way of living I think anyway. Please never change, God bless you all
Hi Tipper!
Just found your channel last month and we feel like we know you. We love how you just live your day in front of the camera sometimes.
Anyway…are you using a #8 or 9 pan when making your cornbread?
Gina-thank you! So glad you are enjoying the videos! I’m using a #8 🙂
I love to watch your family and your show brings back memories of my family when I was young.
Novice baker here, didn’t use self-rising cornmeal and didn’t realize that some other rising agent would therefore be needed! But I had fun and I’ll try again.
Mama, from West Virginia and her mother and her mother ALL used bacon grease. You should know if you’re from the mountains you use bacon grease in cornbread and biscuits. Also, yellow meal is okay too. That’s what mother used. Dad would not eat white cornbread so yellow it was!
Velma- thank you for the comment! You are absolutely right lots of folks prefer bacon grease but some don’t. Sort of like most folks preferring white cornmeal but some not 🙂
This made me smile. All of my family on both sides went at least 6 generations back in Pike County Ky. My mother used yellow cornmeal while my paternal grandmother swore by white cornmeal. She had her cornbread skillet and she used lard or Crisco and no sugar. Mom’s cornbread was good but grandma’s was the best. (She could make a feast out of nothing and it tasted so good, nobody could beat it). She used to say yellow corn was for animal feed… white corn was for humans.
Thank you for all of your Videos, I love them, I am 61 now and grew up in Cincinnati, OH, but I was born in Hazard, Ky. in a small coal mining camp, we moved to N. Ky. and then I began 1st grade in Cincinnati, but all of our Family was from Jackson & Hazard, Ky. and all around those areas to Harlan down into N. Tn. Most everyone were all from West Virginia and had moved there, my relatives even founded Hazard, their Spencer Name is on the sign as you enter, I just recently learned that. But Granny lived in the hills of Jackson up a Holler they called it, she was always in the Kitchen cooking when we all visited, I would get up with her at 4am and watch her cook, I learned a lot even at 8 years old when I started, Mamaw lived in the Hills of Hazard, she was not as much the Cook as she worked and Granny was a stay at home Wife/Mom, but everything was fresh from the garden I do remember, and your videos and recipes bring all those memories back. thank you.
My daughters farther inlaw gene hensley is from hazard
Morning Tipper!
I prefer your cornbread criteria 100%! And that was not the way my mother made it, although I must say she turned out delicious cornbread with a beautiful texture day in and day out for a lifetime. But she used rectangular metal pans and I love my cast iron.
My parents knew a guy who dried and ground corn. I buy dried corn and grind at home in small batches. I prefer anything directly from the grower over Martha White.
Btw i’m 65 and originally from WVa. I really admire your work and your beautifully presented videos.
Best wishes!
Hi Patty
Would you mind giving me your recipe for cornbread using the ground corn. I am looking for a recipe without flour in it. My husband has celiac and I have purchased 10 lbs of ground corn but can’t seem to get the ratios right for the baking powder and salt. I’m a country girl from TN and am 61. By the time I came along back on the day my grandmother was using self rising.
My oldest son has that too and I’ve used this recipe for several years and we all like it Cooking Korean food with Maangchi – Delicious Korean home cooking recipes, videos, photos, cookbooks, and blog
Cornbread
Oksusu-ppang 옥수수빵
Today I’m going to show you how to make a special Korean-style cornbread that I used to have when I was a kid in elementary school in Korea. The school provided this daily snack to the students just before class was dismissed. We looked forward to it every day, so I have fond childhood memories of cornbread, and of the anticipation of waiting for snack time at school!
I learned later that the American government was supporting Koreans’ nutrition by sending us tons and tons of cornmeal. Someone got the idea to make cornbread out of it and to distribute the bread through the school system. I don’t know who came up with the recipe, but I loved that corn bread: it was so flavorful.
I had almost forgotten all about it until one of my website readers asked me if I knew how to make it. She was Korean, but living in the US for a long time, and really wanted to taste that bread again. Suddenly, I did, too! I remembered the smell of the bread, the slightly gritty texture, the strong corn flavor, everything. I also remembered the excitement of me and my classmates when the bread came, and how happy we were. Sometimes I used to eat half of it, put the other half in the red schoolbag my father bought for me, and brought it home to share with my sisters and brother. All these memories came back to me.
When I started living in America, I saw cornbread being sold in nearly every grocery store. I bought some from time to time. It was delicious but different than the cornbread in Korea. It was usually sweeter and had less of a corny flavor.
So I started experimenting and trying to recreate the Korean-style cornbread I used to eat. It took a while. I’ve been working on this recipe for months, and learned a few tips and tricks along the way. One thing I found was that if I let the cornmeal soak for 20 minutes, like I let rice soak when making rice cake, it softens the gritty cornmeal just enough, so the cornbread I make from it is satisfyingly grainy but not too gritty.
Now I can say this bread is very close to the bread that I used to have in Korea. I love this cornbread because it has an intense corn flavor, and is just sweet enough to be enjoyable, without being too sweet. It’s fluffy like a sponge, and it has a perfectly full corn aftertaste.
I can’t wait to share this recipe with my lovely readers! It’s been a long time in development, and now you can have Korean-style corn bread, too!
cornbread-breakfast
Ingredients: Serves 4-6
2 cups (280 grams) cornmeal (Indian Head works best)
2 tablespoons white sugar
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 large egg
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1½ cup milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon butter, softened at room temperature
cornmealcornmeal
Directions
Combine the cornmeal, sugar, kosher salt, egg, vegetable oil, and milk in a bowl and mix well. Let it sit for 20 minutes.
cornbread (oksusuppang: 옥수수빵)
Pre-heat the oven 400 degrees F (about 200 degrees C).
Add the baking powder to the batter and mix well. Brush the butter all over the bottom and the sides of baking pan (8 x 8 inch square).
cornbread (oksusuppang: 옥수수빵)
Bake for 30 minutes.
Check to see if it’s fully cooked by inserting a toothpick into the center of the bread. It should come out clean. You can cook a few minutes longer to brown the top of the bread.
Remove from the oven. Turn the pan upside down and let the cornbread fall onto your cutting board. Let cool for a few minutes. Cut into bite size pieces and serve. You can freeze leftovers in a plastic bag and reheat it in a microwave oven, where the fluffiness and moisture will be revived.
Oops sorry I didn’t copy this right
My all-time favorite way to eat cornbread is with homemade honey butter… YUM!
Hi Tipper! I’m making this today after seeing your video of making cornbread on YouTube. Thanks for sharing 🙂
I made your cornbread today and it is delicious. I served it with Black Eyed Peas and a pot of Collard and Kale greens. My grandmother would make meals like that all the time when I was growing up. I wouldn’t even think of putting sugar in cornbread — that would make it cake!
Yes for sure cornbread was so good with just about any thing try it with some old fashion carne syrup if u can find it we made in the back yard fron the sugar cane we grew not much but would supply till nex season but we gave the neighbors too
I grew up using molasses for the cornbread.
Wife and I had your biscuit recipe for breakfast this morning and just fixed the skillet cornbread and some beans for supper.
Both were awesome and simple to make.
Thank you for sharing
THANK YOU , FIXED ME AND WIFE SOME OF YOUR CORNBREAD RECIPE WITH PINTOS,ONIONS AND FRIED SPAM AND IT WAS EXCELLENT.
David-so glad you enjoyed it!
WHAT SIZE SKILLET DO YOU USE? IF I WANTED TO USE BUTTERMILK INSTEAD OF PLAIN MILK WOULD I USE THE SAME AMOUNT?
Marshall-I use an 8 inch cast iron pan. I think buttermilk will work just fine!
I use white or if I have to, yellow meal, stone ground (don’t matter but I get mine from a mill in North Carolina down the New River area called The old mill at Guilford, she will mail it about anywhere in the states, can’t say about England. I use home grown and ground mostly, which I grind three times in my old iron grinder till it’s about like the stone ground kind in fineness. I use an old white corn variety of Muley corn that has been around the hills back home in Magoffin County probably since the first arrived and passed down It grows about 9 foot high and usually has two 10 inch ears on it. Makes the best bread. Heat 10 in CI skillet in oven at 475 like above while mixing up batter don’t add wet ingredients to dry till pan and oven are ready.
I use about a cup of butter milk and salt with 2 eggs mixed together with about a1/4 cup oil add it to and about 3/4 cup wheat flour and 2 cups of meal and a tsp of soda. If you use store bought butter milk add 1 tsp baking powder as well. Usually grease the CI skillet with bacon grease but put Canola oil in the batter. It’s just healthier. Sometimes add some fresh cut corn to the batter. Got to have the cast Iron and wedges though, like cake but slathered in butter. Best with pinto soup beans and good mess of greens.
That’s where I get my cornmeal. Found it a few years ago.
Steve, long time since your post, so I don’t know if you will see my reply, but was watching Tipper’s cornbread recipe and saw your note about the Old Mill of Guilford in NC. Thank you for letting us know about it! I’m sure there’s nothing like freshly ground products. I’ll be ordering some.
I’m not even from the south and I know that the ONLY way to make cornbread is in a cast iron skillet. I love my cast iron skillets and even though my wife thinks I’m crazy I will be taking them with me no matter where I go. Seems things just fry up better and once they’re seasoned there’s no worrying about stuff sticking to them.
You got me hungry now…think I’ll go home and make some cornbread.
Amen! Cornbread is made in cast iron! It’s the only way!
Oh and buttermilk is an aquired taste. I happen to love it. My friend and I have buttermilk ‘teas’ where we have biscuits and buttermilk in place of tea and scones! Shirley (have to go to each other’s houses to have it since our families won’t drink it)
I have to say here in Ky there were plenty of times we had cornbread and milk for supper. My kids and grandkids think I’m nuts, and of course my parents say we didn’t eat it as often as they had to! Lets hope the economy doesn’t get to where it is a staple on tables once again. Shirley
When I was growing up my mom and grandmother used bacon grease…it was good! I however do not like the memory of how everyone sat around crumbling it into butter milk, lol!
Buttermilk is not my favorite thing, that and cottage cheese and peaches 🙂
Tipper: That looks mighty tasty.
This is a new way of doing it. I am so wishing I had a cast-iron pan.
If you can buy one, Lodge has good, already seasoned one and not terribly expensive.
If I couldn’t use an iron skillet I just wouldn’t make cornbread! I use the same recipe you do but I put the oil in the skillet and heat it in the oven. When it’s real hot I pour it into the cornmeal mix and stir, then pour the whole thing into the skillet. And if I could only have one food for a week I’d want it to be hot cornbread with lots of real butter on it! blessings, marlene
Tipper,
I do eat cornbread when I’m in the US, or at least used to. Because of my diabetes and recent change to insulin, I have to watch my carbs, so would be allowed only a small piece.But it is delicious.
Thank you so much for the lovely Christmas card. I received it today and it was lovely.
Take care and keep warm.
Blessings,
Mary
You have it down pat!! Cast iron is far best and I was taught to heat my skillet first to get that good crust started. Wedges every time!
Milk and cornbread is great. We grew up eating it like that, but mostly with pinto beans, and onions. Yum! Nothing better…except some fried taters with it!
this is so interseting for we really have nothing to compare here in england~i guess our scones are a close cousin to your biscuits. i have to say i prefer your biscuits to our scones and quite oftern make them. i have made cornbread once and am now thinking of making it again!
I’m from Washington State, my best friend is from Alabama…we have had many a heated discussion about corn bread! I eat mine with honey, she with gravy…mine sweet, her’s savory…we both think ours is the right way, lol! Great post, Kim
There is nothing better than a pan of cornbread from the oven. I have never developed a taste for milk over cornbread……however, that is how my Grandfather ate his! I fix cornbread in my iron skillets. Have a wonderful weekend, blessings,Kathleen
Yes, have to use a cast-iron skillet (coated with bacon grease) and buttermilk.
No sugar! From the Ole Hermit, “That ain’t cornbread!” 🙂
He eats cornbread and milk, my daddy always ate cornbread in buttermilk.
The best meal to use was Three Rivers made by White Lily -but they don’t make it anymore. 🙁 And I’m still looking for a good substitute -so we’ve been eatin’ more biscuits, lately.
I make them with buttermilk, too. 🙂
Hope it’s warmer there than it is here, and watch out for the snow -it’s headed your way!
We use a recipe similiar to yours but with buttermilk. It came from Marolyn’s 1958 4-H Cookbook. We use cast iron skillets or corn bread stick pans, also cast iron that I got at the Murphy flea market. We usually make it plain but sometimes add garnishes. I particularly like cracklins but that may just be a South Carolina thing.
Hello Rooney my Father was from Oklahoma and he used to make cracklin cornbread. It was thinner and cooked on a cookie sheet with alot of crisp cracklins in it, I loved it but never learned how to make it. If this is whatyou make could you please send me your recipe?
You Have a Blessed Day!
Dee from Tennesssee
1. NO sugar…never.
2. Cast iron only.
3. Wedges.
4. Wishing I had some hot cornbread riiiiiiiiiiiight now with a thick crust! (sometimes with apple butter as a snack ♥)
Lost my earlier comment somewhere in la la land….
But to say NO Sugar in the cornbread here……always made with a cast iron skillet…Late night snack was leftover cornbread and milk…My Mother always poured buttermilk on hers with a dash of black pepper and (weird I know)….a sprinkle of black walnuts…
Well Tipper, you’ve stirred up a controversy—-to sugar, or not to sugar! lol
I use sugar, not enough to taste but enough to enhance the flavor of the cornbread.
I’ve made cornbread different ways over the years. In the beginning I had fresh homemade buttermilk. There is nothing better for cornbread and biscuits. Add a little soda with buttermilk. When the fresh buttermilk was no longer available I tried the cultured buttermilk from the grocery, but was never satisfied with the results. I think it is not as sour as the homemade buttermilk.
Now I use whole organic milk or sometimes powdered milk.
ALWAYS use a cast iron skillet, that’s the only way to get a good crust, and I do love the crust!
The older skillets are easier to keep seasoned than the newer ones. There is actually less iron in the newer skillets. The old ones were pure iron.
Never cared for cornbread and milk, though my mother and sister liked it. They also liked crumbled up cornbread in cream of chicken soup!
I prefer plain white cornmeal so I add baking powder and salt—along with my sugar lol
I preheat the pan with whatever grease I’m using and pour half of it into my batter then pour the batter into the hot grease in the skillet. Currently I use butter. I have used shortening, bacon grease, and oil.
My mother sprinkled cornmeal in the bottom of the pan, like the Deer Hunter does, but I do not do that.
The Deer Hunter’s other grandmother Lura mixed her cornbread and her biscuits with her hands. I tried that but was never able to get the hang of it.
As far as I’m concerned Cornbread and Pinto Beans are one of the finer things in life!!!
Dana-as long as your new pan is seasoned well itll work for making cornbread. Just grease it and heat it first like I do the cast iron pan.
Blind Pig The Acorn
Music, Giveaways, Mountain Folk
All at http://www.blindpigandtheacorn.com
Do I use a cast iron pan? Do pigs root for acorns?
The recipe I use is a local favorite — not my own concoction — and is best when you have fresh-ground, unbleached yellow corn meal.
Corn Bread and Pinto beans is a meal. Iron skillet. My mom likes to put stuff in her cornbread, bacon, green chili’s, She makes a mexican cornbread that is one of her favorites.
I like mine hot out of the pan with butter and I like to put jelly on it too.
Well I know what I am having for supper tonight. Thanks!!!!!
I never use sugar and always use buttermilk. But a glass of crumbled up corbread with sweet milk is better than any dessert!! I especially liked it when I was a kid and my mother made corn sticks. She had a cast iron corn stick pan that made plain corn sticks. They were about 6 inches long and about 3/4 inch in diameter – not these corn sticks that are meant to look like an ear of corn. They were delicious because they had lots of crust, which is my favorite part. I don’t know what happened to that pan…
We cook ours in an iron skillet and also and pan at times, but the skillet is the best. We most like it is winter when we cook it in the wood stove in an iron skillet….yum!!
We use Polenta (Yellow corn meal) down here because it is easy to get, not many brands down here.
We had some a few days ago, good for you and it tasts great.
I love the conversation about sugar in cornbread verses no sugar. A Southern Living article once said in the south we make cornbread with no sugar, but in the north they use sugar. But that isn’t always the case, it seems. No sugar in my cornbread or my mother’s cornbread, and I use my mother-in-law’s cast iron pan which is so perfectly seasoned the bottom is shiny and my cornbread never sticks. I heat oil in the pan in the oven and I love it when the batter begins to cook around the edges the minute it hits that hot, hot pan.
My siblings grew up eating cornbread and buttermilk, but I never acquired the taste. But hot cornbread slathered with butter can’t be beat with a stick.
Ahhhhh,Girl, you’ve done it again.
Now I have to get up and mix up some cornbread. lol. I use a cast iron skillet, always have and will. I taught my daughter how to make it just right. Now she has the “cornbread pan”. My son has to use cake pans, cause santa forgot to bring him a cast iron skillet. Thanks for the recipe.
T
I use corneal Buttermilk egg salt pepper jalapenos corn and cast iron pan. Delish.
I have never made it in a cast iron skillet, but you can bet I’m gonna try it. We always used a square bread pan. I’ve not heard of heating the pan first either. I’ll try that too.
My Mom, Brother and Dad ate cornbread with milk, buttermilk or beans poured on top. When I was young I would eat it with milk. But NEVER buttermilk. Yuck!!
Mom and Dad made it with half cornmeal, half flour and with powdered milk. I like sweet cornbread myself.
A cast iron skillet is always a must at our house. We may not always agree on the type of cornbread.
My family never made it sweet, BT’s always did.
I’ve never used self rise flour. So I add baking powder.
Most of the time he want Jiffy brand cornbread, I still lkke the homemade kind.
When Dad was alive, he always took leftover cornbread, crumbled it in a glass, poured milk over it, add salt and that was his bed time snack.
Thanks for bringing that memory back!
Patti
I don’t make it often but love it. I recently acquired some cast iron pans that have the corn cob imprint in them. Know what I mean? Ever used those for corn bread? Any advice?
We love cornbread. My husband likes to break up cornbread in a glass of buttermilk and eat it. I always melted butter in my pan in the oven and then poured the butter into my batter. I use a mixture of cornmeal and flour, egg, the melted butter and milk and water. You all are probably cringing at water being added to the batter, but that’s how Mom always made it, so I do it that way too. I’m thinking maybe it was just to save on the milk. I love cornbread and pinto beans. When I was little and a neighbor kid was visiting and it came to be supper time we would send them home with a slice of buttered cornbread.
Yum!! I’ve just this past yr gotten to where I can make some good cornbread, no sugar. It was alwasy a staple at our house growing up. Mom would make hers in her cast iron skillet, would sprinkle it w/cornmeal too. Loved how the crust would come out on it! We always had it with beans. nothing like a bowl of pintos with cornbread crumbled up in it, some onion, salt and pepper and some good homemade chow chow. Whew! thats a meal. And i do love cornbread and milk, sweet milk not buttermilk. Crumble it up in the glass, cut up some onion in w/ some salt and pepper. ANd you’d have to be carful how you eat it so you wouldn’t get choked on it. Haven’t had that in awhile. But there’s nothing better than a piece of hot cornbread, fresh from the oven w/ a good slathering of butter on it.
Lots of comments on this subject!! I make mine with white self-rising cornmeal, too. First I put one egg and some buttermilk in a bowl and stir it up good. Then I start adding cornmeal. Depending on what size skillet I’m using I adjust the amount of meal and buttermilk until it “looks” just right. I put a couple of tablespoons of bacon grease in my cast iron skillet and heat it up really hot on the stovetop. One it’s sizzling hotI pour about half the bacon grease into my batter. Then I pour the cornbread batter into the skillet and put it in the oven. I bake it at 425 degrees for 20 minutes. I absolutely LOVE hot cornbread and butter! My husband knows how much I love it and he lets me have the crusty part of his cornbread. That’s true love! I also cut mine in wedges like you do. No square cornbread in this house and no sugar in it either! I’ve enjoyed this post, Tipper!
My cornbread is sort of a cross between yours and deerhunter’s. I heat my oil and add it back to the batter just before sticking it into the oven. I do prefer to use buttermilk when I have it. Don’t always keep it on hand any more. And, no one had better use my “cornbread skillet” for any thing else. That’s all I use it for because I have it so slick from years of use.
My mamaw always made her filling for her chocolate pies in her iron skillet and it was the best you’ll ever find.
We also hardly ever keep buttermilk around, then I read an article where a Test Kitchen online whom are always testing out and trying different recipes & looking for the best ways to make things, said they tested Powdered buttermilk against regular in a bottle and they preferred the powdered, so I found some on amazon and it’s all I use now, 4 tbsp with a cup of water and you have a cup of instant very good buttermilk.
We always have cornbread and Black Eyed peas on New Years day in our house. The corn bread is fixed in a cast iron skillet. The black eye peas, big meaty ham hocks, diced onions and good dark beer is simmered in a cast iron dutch oven on the stove until done.
YUM!
We make our cornbread in an old square cast iron skillet that was my Granny’s – I have to sometimes go scrape off the accumulated gook off the outside edges and bottom ’cause you know you can’t wash a cast iron skillet. I only use buttermilk to make mine, but I have found a shortcut to getting the pan hot since I hate to wait. I turn my oven on to preheat (I bake mine at 400), but while it’s heating up, I take my cast iron skillet, add veg. oil to it, and put it on the eye of the stove to heat up while I’m busy making the cornbread. It’s sizzling hot about the same time the mix is ready and the oven is ready… just a little shortcut.
Cornbread is a staple in our house. Ummm, nothing better!!
Girl, I made me a big ole pan of cornbread the other night. I put jalapenos and cream style corn in mine. I must say it turned out pretty darn tasty.
I didn’t care for cornbread much growing up. I did like it crumbled up in milk.
My mother did something very different with her cornbread. She made it in a cast iron griddle (some call it a spider). It came out thin with a crust on the top and bottom. Boy, that and some butter and homeade strawberry preserves is fantastic!
We use yellow cornbread. We also like to have some as an after-supper snack by putting honey on it.
i do not use cast iron, but my grandma did, and she would crumble it and pour milk over it for breakfast, as well.
i have all my granny’s cast iron now, and cook in it pretty much every day, so you’d think i’d give the cornbread a go!
my favorite way to eat cornbread is with ham n’ bean soup.
Heating oil or grease in a cast Iron skillet while you mixing the batter together is the key to the best crust ever for crispy cornbread and who does not like that crisp crust on it the bottom especially. Pull the pan out pour some of that hot grease or oil into the batter and mix it up good, then sprinkle a little cornmeal, just a little into the pan, then pour in the batter, I’ve tried it in regular square type pans and my Wife & I have done blind taste tests and the cast Iron wins out easily everytime, there is also a clear difference in taste using buttermilk & regular milk, we like both so we keep 2 different recipes around and switch them everytime with fried cornbread in our beans.
My mom was a city girl that never made cornbread. The family up the holler always had corn bread, pole beans and potatoes. I would try and stay for supper. When I got my own family, corn bread always went with homemade soup, chili and beans and potatoes. Yummy. I’m having chili and cornbread tonight.
skillet cornbread I have not had that in a long time.looks yummy just like I remember it.
MMMmmm cornbread. I’ve never made it in a cast iron skillet, but it sounds so good. I’ll give it a try and let you know how it goes! How about with some chowder…
I like to use buttermilk, no sugar. And what I really like is to use bacon grease and put chopped onions in it to cook while the cast iron skillet is heating. Then pour the batter over the cooked onions. Sometimes I stir corn into the batter and crumbled bacon, and even roasted chilis.
Then lots of butter on the finished product for a taste of heaven.
My parents are from southern Indiana and we had beans and cornbread as a staple growing up. My mom used a cast iron corn-fingers pan as well as a skillet. We usually ate butter on the cornbread and sometimes added sorghum, too. My dad always put french dressing on his hot beans; my siblings and I preferred ketchup.
Tipper, your cornbread looks yummy. I always like my crust very brown like yours.
I make mine very similar to yours, but I never grease the iron skillet while its heating. Sometimes, I leave it in the oven several minutes before I add the batter, until its screaming hot. I add bacon drippings, then sprinkle it with corn meal before adding the batter. If we have any left from supper, Hub always has a glass of milk and bread before bed.
During the depression, my mom’s family had a hard time getting food. They had ground corn that they had raised, and my grandpa worked in exchange for molasses. Sometimes, they would have hot cornbread with molasses three times a day. They got tired of it, but it kept them going until times got better.
Love your blog.
Still waiting for snow!
Wanda
Funny, I think we always grew up with ours just a tad sweet, but then again, my grandma put sugar on rice and on grits, too, so maybe she just liked everything sweet. Whenever we had it with supper, we always pulled out the strawberry preserves and slathered on a slice for dessert. That’s still one of my favorite desserts. Oh, and always the cast iron!
Found you on YouTube, then your blog. Followed your recipe exactly. Delicious! I especially like the crispy edges of the crust.
Hey Gal! I make mine like Deerhunter but I prefer yellow cornmeal. We eat cornbread and buttermilk in our family. And tonight I’m having corn bread and beans, onion slices and sliced tomatoes. I’m still fussing about the cold.
Can’t beleive you don’t eat cornbread & milk!!! I also love pinto beans over chocolate cake & yes with the chocolate icing on ot too. I cook like the deerhunter,a little of this & a little of that plus a dab of sugar. Soooo good. Try it just once.
No sugar in cornbread,and I would not attempt to make cornbread without buttermilk. Oh, and you must have an iron skillet. I guess we older people are set in our ways.LOL
Oh, I love cornbread! When I got married, my granny gave me an old, square cast iron skillet. It is my ‘cornbread’ skillet.
I pretty much use the same recipe that you do. I only buy white cornmeal mix, too, except I put my 1/4 cup of oil in my skillet and stick it in a 425 degree oven to get it good and hot. I don’t add the oil back into the mix, just pour my cornmeal mixture on top of the hot oil.
I’ve never liked cornbread and milk together, either. My mom and dad like to break it up, put it in a glass and pour buttermilk over.
We have ALWAYS made our cornbread in an iron skillet, my favorite is a square one. I love the corners. We use buttermilk or take 1 cup milk and add 2 tsp. vinegar to make it taste like buttermilk. We also add 2 tablespooons sugar to the 2 cups cornmeal, just a tad sweet. My favorite thing, but rarely do that anymore is to spray my skillet with Pam, then add 1/2 stick of real butter, put in oven to preheat, then as you pour the mixture into the hot pan, it will sizzle, just like yours. You can avoid having to add butter when it comes out of oven, as it has the buttery taste in the crust. But after losing 40 pounds on WW this past year, those days are no more……
Never sugar! Sacrilege!
I always use my grandmother’s iron skillet she gave me when we married…don’t know how old it is, I got it over 30 years ago!
I was “talking” to another blogger today about iron skillets and how we use ours to bake cakes in…she baked Pineapple Upside Down cake in her’s. I always use mine for layer cakes!
Tipper you are right,you do not put sugar in cornbread.Your recipe is much like mine except I always use evaporated milk and my cast iron pan is the one my Grandmother used many many years ago.
You should try milk and cornbread togeather, even my Grandaughters (that were not raised in the south) love it.
Mary
We used to always sit out on the porch eating cornbread and milk of a night. Mother always made ours like your recipe. She called it “Corn Pone” I have got to try your recipe…I never made it in my adult life…except for the kind that tastes like sweet cake..Mother would never approve. She always said, “We never put sugar in cornbread!”