Anyone a recipe for southern cornbred?

[Bulliwig]

Hello folks,
today I got hold of a little cornmeal and would like to try cornbread, but every food made out of corn is very uncommon in germany and especially in my conservative region. It's mostly used for biogas production or as animal feed...
So im interested in a recipe for cornbread, but more an unsweetened version if this exists. I've heard that the southern version is less sweeter than the northern, but I really don't know.

Appreciating your thoughts,
Timo

[308Jeff]

I grew up in Kentucky, and this is what pretty much everyone there uses.

https://www.amazon.com/Martha-Yellow-Cornbread-Muffin-6-5-Ounce/dp/B0045T8NPG/ref=sr_1_1_s_it?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1486405276&sr=1-1&keywords=cornbread+mix&refinements=p_89%3AMartha+White%C2%AE

I can't buy this in stores in Arizona. I'd have to order from Amazon if I wanted to make it. I'm just not a big cornbread fan. :eek:

[Skinny]

True southern women folk will guard their cornbread recipes better than the govt guards nuclear codes!!
That being said, my wife makes the finest cornbread around! (Any husband worth his weight in salt has got to say that by law in Dixie)
i may be able to get her to give me a "generic" recipe for good southern cornbread...but dont hold yer breath!

The best of southern cornbread is served with blackeye peas & Vidalia onion simmered in a crock pot for about 7-9 hrs, over a bed of rice.
Oh, and use real butter on the cornbread....not substitute.

[Bob in St. Louis]

I started a cornbread thread yesterday, but if memory serves, they all have sugar in them.
Here ---> http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?326851-Bob-s-sweet-cornbread-recipe-Complete-with-photos!

[Bulliwig]

Hi all and especially Bob,
I've read your thread yesterday. That gave me the idea of it, but if I saw it right it was the more fluffy and sweet version, right?

[Nueces]

Southern cornbread was made on southern farmsteads, so they made use of what was on hand. Stone ground corn, no flour, heavy milk, bacon grease and honey for a bit of sweetness if wanted. I despise sweet, cake-like cornbread, and went about some years ago trying to reproduce the original stuff. What I arrived at is just what I wanted. I wrote it up for a buddy.

Mark’s Cornbread, makes one 9-inch wheel, 1 inch thick

2+ cups stone ground yellow cornmeal (I use Lamb’s, from Texas)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Up to 1 teaspoon sugar (optional, table bread for the ladies – not for me)

2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup half & half
1/4 cup honey

1. Place oven rack in upper third, set on convect and preheat to 375. Without convection, a longer baking time is needed to brown the top.

2. Melt 1 teaspoon bacon grease in a 10-inch cast iron skillet, on low. If no skillet, you can use an 8x10 baking dish (about the same area as a 9 inch wheel), and heat it in the oven.

3. Thoroughly whisk dry ingredients together in a bowl.

4. Whomp* the eggs first, then add the milk and whomp, finally the honey and whomp until smooth. Thoroughly stir this into the dry ingredients, adding cornmeal as necessary to stiffen the batter, about like pancake batter. Let the bubbles rise while the skillet heats. Don’t worry about over mixing. I work on it until it’s thoroughly mixed. If the batter is too thin, it’ll have moist areas when taken out of the oven. It took a bit of trial to get mine right.

5. Turn up the skillet heat ‘til the fat smokes (can be hard to see).

6. When skillet and oven are hot, pour batter into the skillet (should sizzle immediately). Bake until top is browned and sides have pulled away from the iron, about 22-23 minutes; a toothpick inserted into the center will come out clean.

7. Upon removal from the oven, a shake of the skillet will loosen the bread, which can be flipped onto a plate.

Serve hot, with butter and honey, or as a side with beans (complete protein!).

Notes:
I think the stone ground meal is important. It yields a more coarse and gritty bread, in keeping with it’s historical origins in the Old South. Many modern recipes call for more or less general purpose flour and quite a lot of sugar, to make a cake-like bread. Fui.

To substitute for buttermilk, warm 1 cup sweet milk (whole or 2%) and stir in 1 tsp vinegar, let curdle for 5 minutes. The whompin' takes out the lumps. More cornmeal may be needed to reach the right consistency and mixing should be very thorough. Bake for the full 23-minute baking time to eliminate soft bits. The bread comes out of the oven a little thinner. Higher temperature might help.

If fresh milk and H&H are unavailable, substitute as follows: warm 1 1/4 cup water and stir in 5 heaping tbsp Nido powdered whole milk. Add 1 tsp vinegar and let sit for 5 minutes. Cautions above apply.

*Glossary:
Whomp – Family term, ‘to thoroughly homogenize’. I use a commercial tool, a coiled spring plunger, sometimes called a French whisk. The stuff to be whomped is poured into a tall drinking glass, just larger inside than the diameter of the coil spring. Pumping the whomper up and down forces the egg yolks and whatever through the coils and does a great job of mixing and homogenizing. Vigorous whomping will actually homogenize the honey with the milk. Works a treat for omelets.

[Bulliwig]

Man Nueces,
youre great!
That's one of the recipes I meant. But one question, what is half and half?

[Nueces]

Sorry, Mate, half and half is a commercial mixture of whole milk and heavy cream, often used as a coffee additive. I now use heavy whipping cream in my strong coffee, so I quit stocking H&H. I now use whole milk and cream to arrive at what is wanted in the recipe.

[Bulliwig]

So, do you think I can substitute the half and half with coffee cream?

[Bob in St. Louis]

Hi all and especially Bob,
I've read your thread yesterday. That gave me the idea of it, but if I saw it right it was the more fluffy and sweet version, right?Mine is yes, but "DougGuy" posted one with no sugar at all. "Reverend Al" posted with with 4 tablespoons (less than mine) and "Rockrat" posted one with barely any sugar.

[texasnative46]

Bulliwig,

Fwiw, the folks in our family have been making essentially the same recipe for cornbread, at least since the family FLED Holly Springs, Mississippi (about 2 steps ahead of the vengeful DAMNyankees) in July 1865.
(Is that Southern enough for you?)

Recipe:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees, preheat cast iron skillet until "nearly smoking" OR heat 1/4-3/8 inches of grease in a cast iron skillet/baking dish to the point that the grease "shimmers".
(This recipe works FINE indoors/outdoors & either fried or baked.)

To a mixing bowl add:
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
(STIR the dry ingredients together.)

Add milk & one beaten egg to the dry ingredients & mix well to make a "runny batter" about like what you would use for pancakes.
(I cannot tell you how much milk to use, as the sort of cornmeal/flour used & altitude will vary to some degree. = What "looks right" & will pour easily from the bowl is about the right amount.)

For baked: Pour the whole recipe into the skillet, put skillet in oven & bake 25 minutes.
For fried: Spoon batter into hot grease & cook each side until the "cakes" are as brown as you want them. Turn over, brown the other side & DRAIN onto paper towels.

In both cases, this recipe is GOOD either HOT from the oven/skillet, warm or even at room temperature.
Note: When I was a child in Northeast TX, "country folks" served hot cornbread, topped with butter & ribbon-cane syrup, as "dessert" and/or for breakfast as "folks other than in Rebel areas" would serve pancakes.

ENJOY.

A Historical note: This recipe is VERY old, as it is known that rebel soldier boys from our family "scrounged up" enough ingredients to make "cornbread to share around" to their fellows in the trenches at Petersburg at Christmas of 1864, when our brave lads were out of just about everything.
(It was said then that the only things that the CS troops always had was "white likker" & tobacco.)

yours, tex

[texasnative46]

Bob in St Louis,

In the vast majority of The Southland, cornbread that includes any sugar at all is called: YANKEE CORNBREAD & it's usually served for breakfast with butter/syrup.

yours, tex

[Bob in St. Louis]

Bob in St Louis,

In the vast majority of The Southland, cornbread that includes any sugar at all is called: YANKEE CORNBREAD & it's usually served for breakfast with butter/syrup.

yours, tex
Roger that!
It's also called "Cake" by the cornbread purists!

[Nueces]

So, do you think I can substitute the half and half with coffee cream?

I think you should try what you have and adjust. That is what worked for me.

[DougGuy]

Buttermilk makes the good cornbread. I posted a recipe for true southern cornbread in Bob in St. Loius' thread. No sugar, no flour.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?326851-Bob-s-sweet-cornbread-recipe-Complete-with-photos!&p=3939476&viewfull=1#post3939476

Here is the recipe I use:


Chef Sean Brock’s Cast Iron Cornbread Recipe


Ingredients

4 ounces bacon
2 cups whole grain yellow cornmeal, coarse grind
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups whole milk buttermilk
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450°F.

Put a 9-inch cast-iron skillet in the oven to preheat for at least 10 minutes.

Finely chop the bacon.

Put the bacon in a skillet large enough to hold it in one layer and cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently so that it doesn’t burn, until the fat is
rendered and the bits of bacon are crispy, 4 to 5 minutes.

Remove the bits of bacon to a paper towel to drain, reserving the fat. You need 5 tablespoons bacon fat for this recipe.

Combine the cornmeal, salt, baking soda, baking powder and bits of bacon in a medium bowl.

Reserve 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat and combine the remaining 4 tablespoons fat, the buttermilk and egg in a small bowl.

Move the skillet from the oven to the stove, placing it over high heat.

Add the reserved tablespoon of bacon fat and swirl to coat the skillet.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just to combine; do not overmix. Batter should be thick but easily pourable. If batter is too thin, add
more cornbread. If batter is too thick, add more buttermilk.

Pour in the batter, distributing it evenly. It should sizzle.

Bake the cornbread for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Using oven mitts, remove skillet from oven and place plate on top of cornbread, holding tightly together, flip skillet and turn cornbread out on the plate,
slide cornbread back into the skillet, gently slice so as to not scratch the seasoning on the skillet, serve warm from skillet.

187442

[texasnative46]

DougGuy,

THANKS for the recipe!!! = That one I'll definitely try SOON with a pot of Congressional Bean Soup.

yours, tex

[Houndog]

DougGuy's recipe is real close to the one that's been used in my family for at least 6 generations except our recipe uses white corn meal. I like to use corn meal made from Dent corn myself, or for a natural sweet corn meal you can use Hickory Cane corn. There are still a few mills around here that stone grind corn for cornmeal and wheat for flour.

[DougGuy]

DougGuy's recipe is real close to the one that's been used in my family for at least 6 generations except our recipe uses white corn meal. I like to use corn meal made from Dent corn myself, or for a natural sweet corn meal you can use Hickory Cane corn. There are still a few mills around here that stone grind corn for cornmeal and wheat for flour.


I think you are talking about Hickory King? Hickory King is white dent corn, you can get some of the BEST GRITS in the world from Barkley's Mill, they hand pick and hand sort Hickory King corn, pick off all the dark kernels, then they stone grind coarse into grits. I get one bag of bolted, and one bag of unbolted and mix them. I don't know if they make cornmeal, but their grits are outta this world good. AND priced accordingly!!

https://www.barkleysmill.com/

[Finster101]

Absolutely no sugar and buttermilk works well.

[DougGuy]

DougGuy,

THANKS for the recipe!!! = That one I'll definitely try SOON with a pot of Congressional Bean Soup.

yours, tex

Now.. You want the bacon that Chef Sean Brock uses in his recipe? The same bacon that a number of noted chefs are touting as the best bacon in the US? I ordered some, and I have to admit there is NOTHING on store shelves that comes anywhere close to this stuff, it is INTENSELY smoky flavored, it is smoked to the point they can send it via usps mail without refrigeration. I first tried it by ordering two packages in a flat rate padded envelope, then I ordered a medium flat rate box full, and put it in the freezer. This stuff, IS the HOLY FREAKIN' GRAIL of country style hardwood smoked bacon......

When you make cornbread in cast iron with this bacon, and you lift that first slice out, steaming hot, and you stick your nose down close to the pan and you inhale slow and deep, you get the most heavenly aroma, this bacon, and that "almost burned flour" smell of the cast iron, OMG.... There is no other bacon that compares to Allen Benton's......

http://bentonscountryhams2.com/

[pworley1]

We have never had a recipe that I know of, we just make it. Which ever one of us is doing the cooking adds their own personality. When it is my turn, I start by covering the bottom of a 9 inch cast iron skillit with oil and get it preheating with the oven set at 425. While it is heating I mix about 2 cups of self-rising white corn meal with 1 or 2 eggs depending on the size of the eggs with enough buttermilk to make the mixture pour easily. Then I pour it into the hot skillit and cook until brown. Once you get your skillit seasoned don't wash it unless you let something stick in it just give it a good wiping out and put it away.

[Houndog]

I think you are talking about Hickory King? Hickory King is white dent corn, you can get some of the BEST GRITS in the world from Barkley's Mill, they hand pick and hand sort Hickory King corn, pick off all the dark kernels, then they stone grind coarse into grits. I get one bag of bolted, and one bag of unbolted and mix them. I don't know if they make cornmeal, but their grits are outta this world good. AND priced accordingly!!



https://www.barkleysmill.com/

Hickory Cane corn is different than Hickory King corn. The Hickory Cane corn kernels are almost as wide as a dime and there are fewer rows of corn on the cob.

Tell me a little more about Barkley's mill! Weaverville is about the right distance for a day motorcycle ride from my house and when it gets a little warmer I'd like to see that place. There's an excellent stone grinding mill in Union Grove NC we visited last year that does Corn meal and I think it's open year around. The three stone grinding mills near me are only open during the summer.

[DougGuy]

Tell me a little more about Barkley's mill! Weaverville is about the right distance for a day motorcycle ride from my house and when it gets a little warmer I'd like to see that place.

If you go to the link I posted, they pretty much tell the whole story. Really good grits. High on the hog good.. Pricey! Just awesome goodness along with some of that Benton's bacon.

[Bulliwig]

I tried DougGuys recipe yesterday and everything went well (except I burned my hand badly on the hot handle of my frying pan after I took it out of the oven...).
I only made the big mistake that I only had back bacon on hand, so I had much too much grease and much less taste in it...
But it wasn't bad at all and I think if I use smoked bacon next time it will be great!
I really thanl you for your long hidden-in-family recipes!

[Bob in St. Louis]

I don't know how many times I've grabbed a skillet handle when it's still hot.
You'd think I'd learn by now........[smilie=b:

[Bulliwig]

Took it out of the 230°C hot oven, put the tablespoon of grease in it abd wanted to swirl the fat around.
One of those damn moments I say to myself: You damn idiot, watch what youre doing, you knew that damn thing is terribly hot!

[Skinny]

My wife has one cast iron skillet just for cornbread.
If you know what is good for you, dont touch that skillet or dare cook anything in it except cornbread !!

[oldskeetshooter]

Washing cornbread skillet, with soap and water, is a hanging offense.....

[Bulliwig]

Nothing of my cast or forged iron cookware does ever see water...

[Bob in St. Louis]

I've recently discovered "Crisbee".
Good stuff.

[rockrat]

I only started adding a bit of sugar to get my then young daughter to eat it. She makes it now without sugar.

[Reverend Al]

This is a another recipe I had saved that doesn't use sugar ...

Make Cornbread, Not War!
A true Southern Cast Iron Cornbread Recipe with no flour and no sugar


Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Serving Size: 9 - inch round loaf

Ingredients


4 ounces bacon, preferably Benton's
2 cups cornmeal, preferably Anson Mill's Antebellum Coarse Yellow Cornmeal
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups whole milk buttermilk
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Directions


Preheat the oven to 450°F.
Put a 9-inch cast-iron skillet in the oven to preheat for at least 10 minutes.
Run the bacon through a meat grinder or very finely mince it.
Put the bacon in a skillet large enough to hold it in one layer and cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently so that it doesn’t burn, until the fat is rendered and the bits of bacon are crispy, 4 to 5 minutes.
Remove the bits of bacon to a paper towel to drain, reserving the fat. You need 5 tablespoons bacon fat for this recipe.
Combine the cornmeal, salt, baking soda, baking powder and bits of bacon in a medium bowl.
Reserve 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat and combine the remaining 4 tablespoons fat, the buttermilk and egg in a small bowl.
Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just to combine; do not overmix.
Move the skillet from the oven to the stove, placing it over high heat.
Add the reserved tablespoon of bacon fat and swirl to coat the skillet.
Pour in the batter, distributing it evenly. It should sizzle.
Bake the cornbread for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm from the skillet.

[texasnative46]

oldskeetshooter,

TRUE. - Fwiw, I have my G-G-G-Aunt's 12" cast iron skillet that she got for a wedding present at Christmas of 1874. - It has NEVER been washed in over a Century.
After it use it (as I did last night for cornbread), it gets wiped out, re-oiled & put back up.

yours, tex

[Lloyd Smale]

not much of a fan of yellow corn bread or corn bread cake. When I was in the service I used to go home with a buddy from NC. His mother was hands down the best cook ive ever had the privilege of sitting at the table of (don't tell my mother). She made fried chicken, black eyed peas, and white fried cornbread nuggets (for lack of better words) and sweet tea to wash it all down. Now they were good. Ive tried about every recipe ive found on the internet to find something similar but never even came close. I would honestly walk 20 miles and pay 200 bucks if she was still alive to have here fried chicken dinner.

[DougGuy]

This is the same Chef Sean Brock's recipe that I posted.


This is a another recipe I had saved that doesn't use sugar ...

Make Cornbread, Not War!
A true Southern Cast Iron Cornbread Recipe with no flour and no sugar


Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Serving Size: 9 - inch round loaf

Ingredients


4 ounces bacon, preferably Benton's
2 cups cornmeal, preferably Anson Mill's Antebellum Coarse Yellow Cornmeal
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups whole milk buttermilk
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Directions


Preheat the oven to 450°F.
Put a 9-inch cast-iron skillet in the oven to preheat for at least 10 minutes.
Run the bacon through a meat grinder or very finely mince it.
Put the bacon in a skillet large enough to hold it in one layer and cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently so that it doesn’t burn, until the fat is rendered and the bits of bacon are crispy, 4 to 5 minutes.
Remove the bits of bacon to a paper towel to drain, reserving the fat. You need 5 tablespoons bacon fat for this recipe.
Combine the cornmeal, salt, baking soda, baking powder and bits of bacon in a medium bowl.
Reserve 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat and combine the remaining 4 tablespoons fat, the buttermilk and egg in a small bowl.
Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just to combine; do not overmix.
Move the skillet from the oven to the stove, placing it over high heat.
Add the reserved tablespoon of bacon fat and swirl to coat the skillet.
Pour in the batter, distributing it evenly. It should sizzle.
Bake the cornbread for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm from the skillet.

[DougGuy]

BTW fellas, washing seasoned cast iron does it no harm. The "taboo" about washing cast iron in soapy water is a MYTH. You can't wash off cooked on seasoning.

In the old days when they had lye soap, it was a no no to wash cast iron in soapy water. We use a lye bath to STRIP cast iron in the refinishing/restoring/re-seasoning process so this is likely where the "myth" began, because if you wash it in lye soap? Yes, it will begin to strip off that wonderful cooked on seasoning but plain dish soap, will not hurt it at all.

I only wash in soap once every great while when and if I can't wipe the pan clean with a paper towel. Warm water in a warmed pan will loosen stuck burned on bits in very short order, if I fry something and it sticks a little, I usually put 1/4" of hot tap water in the pan and swish it around, let it sit 5mins and then those bits come right off with a wooden spatula. Wipe dry and wipe on a thin coating of bacon fat or butter or oil.

The BEST ways to clean cast iron, are by using a bit of liquid from soup or beans or whatever, instead of hot water, then dump them pan drippings and bits right back into the soup. Another way is after you brown meat like brats or kielbasa or pork chops, is to simply throw in a big handful of chopped onion, this will take those stuck bits off the pan and leave it smooth in no time.

More harm will be done to a good egg skillet by cooking other things in it! Same with a cornbread skillet! I have lots of cast, I have ones dedicated to ONLY the job I chose them for, I have others in the same sizes for when I am tempted to use a favorite for something different than what it is a favorite for!

[Bob in St. Louis]

..... white fried cornbread nuggets (for lack of better words) .....
"Hushpuppies"??

[MaryB]

My 8" cast iron skillet is dedicated to searing steak and chicken breast, get the best crust then turn the heat down to cook to temp needed. Similar to cast iron is my carbon steel wok. The inside is like teflon. I made a stir fry yesterday with a sweet sauce and nothing stuck bad. Little salt and a wet paper towel and it was clean. Rinsed in hot water, dried it, put it on the burner and brought it just to smoking and wiped with oil. Wiped off excess oil once cooled and hung it back up.

[texasnative46]

MaryB,

Fwiw, my "treasured" 18" steel wok cost me the "princely sum" of 4.99 plus tax at a Goodwill Store. = NOTHING sticks to it, either AND I cook all sorts of things in it. - NOT limited to stir-fry & Asian things, either.

yours, tex

[Lloyd Smale]

yes sir!
"Hushpuppies"??

[Rick N Bama]

In my opinion "Real" Southern Cornbread is made with white cornmeal, milk & eggs. On occasion we might add some onion for additional flavor.

[Houndog]

not much of a fan of yellow corn bread or corn bread cake. When I was in the service I used to go home with a buddy from NC. His mother was hands down the best cook ive ever had the privilege of sitting at the table of (don't tell my mother). She made fried chicken, black eyed peas, and white fried cornbread nuggets (for lack of better words) and sweet tea to wash it all down. Now they were good. Ive tried about every recipe ive found on the internet to find something similar but never even came close. I would honestly walk 20 miles and pay 200 bucks if she was still alive to have here fried chicken dinner.

Lloyd, There's a world of difference in the Chicken you buy in the store and what old time butcher shops sold or what was grown at home. The company I used to work for had a contract to haul Chicken feed and feed additives for one of the big name grower/processers.. They would take baby chicks, feed them ally chloride, cholene chloride and growth harmones mixed in with their feed and in SIX WEEKS had a 2lb fryer! If you take a close look at the chicken you buy in the store and see white fat and the meat has a bluish tint that was fed the concoction above! REAL chicken will have yellow fat and the meat won't have the bluish tint. It will take the better part of a year to get that same 2 lb frier, but the difference in the meat is striking!