Southern Cornbread is not sweet or cakey. It’s the way Ron likes it – with a firm crumb and a strong corn flavor. Ron cleared and prepped a new bed for corn in 2022. His patch of corn was sown from two different seed sources. Some of the corn was juicy and tasty, some of it was dry and mealy, but we had no way of knowing which was which. In any case, we had much more than we could eat, so I tossed the ears in the freezer, hoping for the best. Well, all of the corn coming out of the freezer was dry and mealy – inedible, except that it had a really pronounced corn flavor. So, not one to give up, I cut the kernels from all of the remaining cobs and dried it in the food dehydrator at 145 degrees until it was completely dry and crunchy. Then we whirred it the blender until we had beautifully pungent, coarse-ground cornmeal. Perfect for Southern Cornbread!
Southern Cornbread
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon bacon drippings (see note below)
- 1 1/2 cups coarse cornmeal
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (King Arthur Measure for Measure)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/4 cups buttermilk (or a combination of milk, half and half, and/or yogurt)
- 6 tablespoons butter
- Optional add-ins: sauteed corn kernels and/or minced jalapeno
Instructions
- Preheat cast iron pan with bacon dripping – Put 1 T bacon drippings in a well-seasoned cast iron skillet and put the skillet into the oven. Then preheat the oven to 400°F with the skillet inside.
- Melt the butter – Melt 6 T butter in the microwave and set aside to cool.
- Make the batter – Whisk together all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl (1 1/2 cups cornmeal, 1/2 AP flour, 1 t baking soda, 1 t salt, 1 T sugar). In another bowl, beat the eggs and 1 1/4 cup of milk until combined, then mix that into the bowl of dry ingredients. Stir in the melted butter, then fold in the optional add-ins.
- Pour batter into the hot skillet and bake – When the oven is hot, pull out the skillet and pour in the the cornbread batter, making sure it is evenly distributed. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the edges are beginning to brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean.
- Rest bread in skillet, then serve – Let the bread rest for at least 10 minutes in the skillet before cutting it into wedges and serving.
Notes
Southern Cornbread is great all by itself, but if you’re looking to make it extra special, try serving it with some Jalapeño Jelly! Or with whipped butter! Or with both whipped butter AND Jalapeño Jelly!