Old-fashioned cornbread recipe wanted

[trooperdan]

I'm 74 and I am longing for cornbread like my grandmother used to make. It wasn't sweet for sure and it wasn't crumbly; it had a firm and I must say, greasy texture. I am sure it was made with lard and was not at all healthy but I'd like to experience it once more. Gram was from the hills of North Georgia if the region helps any! Anyone have a recipe that sounds like it might be what I am looking for?

[opos]

I'm 79 and can't help with the cornbread recipe but I do love corn bread...but I have a warning....you might get more than you bargain for...about 2 years ago I told my Wife I wanted to sort of relive my youth...My Mother was not the very best cook but we all did fine...one of her favorites was fried SPAM and fried corn meal mush with maple syrup on the mush...her "breakfast" special..

My Wife got some mush and got a can of SPAM and told me to "have a ball"..I could just taste my old breakfast regular "special" so I fried up the SPAM..then fried a slap of the mush in the grease..just like Mom used to do...put syrup on the mush and sat down to really enjoy a bit of the old days....2 or 3 bites...almost gagged...dumped the concoction and had a bowl of bran flakes and a banana...I can't believe how bad that stuff was...another "favorite" as a kid was digging the marrow out of a round bone on a slab of ham and eating that gelled blob...I have not been able to step up to that one again...I just chalk that up to being very young and inexperienced....

If you do find a recipe I hope it works out for you better than the mush and SPAM worked for me...we have cornbread all the time but it's the boxed variety and baked like muffins...tasty!

[gwpercle]

I'm going to give you two, the first one is from my South East Texas grandmother and the second from my mother, she added a Louisiana flair to her's.

Recipe I
1 cup cornmeal
2 cup flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
sugar to taste , from 2 teaspoons to 1/2 cup , use as little as you like.
1 egg
1/2 cup melted lard or bacon grease.
Milk, sweet or buttermilk as needed

Mix up the dry ingredients, add egg and melted lard, add enough milk to make a medium batter.
Pour batter into a greased 8 x 8 pan.
Bake @ 350 to 375 for 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Recipe II
1 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs , slightly beaten
1/4 cup melted lard or veg. oil + enough to coat the bottom of skillet.(2 tab.)
1 cup milk
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
3 jalapeno peppers , cleaned and chopped.
Mom used a small cast iron skillet (9" I think, not real big ), oil or lard was poured in the bottom and heated in the 425 degree oven, she mixed the dry ingredients, added wet ingredients and onion and peppers, mixed well with a big whisk. Removed hot skillet from oven, poured in batter ( it would sizzle ) return to oven and bake about 20 minutes.

Both are good , the first is more rustic , old school cornbread.
Gary

[oldblinddog]

Here is the real thing:

1 1/2 cup of cornmeal
1 heaping tablespoon of flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cup (fresh) buttermilk
1 large egg
3 tbs lard

Preheat oven to 400*
mix dry ingredients
add egg and buttermilk; beat with a fork or whisk.
melt lard in a 10" skillet; mix into batter and return skillet to range top; pour batter into skillet and brown bottom of bread (about a minute will do). Move skillet to oven, bake about 20 minutes.

Cornbread does not have more flour than cornmeal nor does it have sugar. That makes cake!!!

[trooperdan]

Thanks guys! I see some possibilities here already, I'll try each one and see if any come close to my "perfect" memory! Opos, your warning is also noted! Sure can see how our tastes have changed or memory has been edited over the years. Granny was up before dawn every day making a corn pone or a baskets of biscuits . There was always one or the other to grab on the way through the kitchen any hour of the day.

[gwpercle]

Biscuits....Oh how grandmothers could make those wonderful things !

Oldblinddog's recipe is another old school one , buttermilk, lard and only 1 Tablespoon of flour. Mamma told me that in the south cornmeal was cheap and plentiful, they grew corn and ground their own meal. Flour and sugar were store boughts item, and that cost money. Everybody raised a hog or two = free lard. Cows were milked, the sweet milk churned into butter which was sold along with chicken eggs for money or traded for flour and white sugar . Not much wheat grown around here at that time. Buttermilk was what's left over from making butter , so that's what they cooked with and drank. Richer folks used more flour, sweet milk and sugar, they could afford them. Poorer folks used less of those items. I asked her why they made and sold the butter, she said a lack of refrigeration in those days, butter kept longer. Keeping air from getting to it is the secrete. Sweet milk would spoil before they could bring it into town...no car , they had a mule and wagon.
The stories she tells of growing up in the 1930's ...makes me real glad I don't live in them "good old days"....it sounded like some rough times and a lot of hard work.
Gary

[Fishman]

Oldblinddog that recipe looks really good. I'm going to try it. Never really cared for flour and sugar in my cornbread.

[DougGuy]

There are currently two more active cornbread threads in the Cookin' Recipes child forum, there are recipes with both sugar and flour, and recipes with none of either. Bacon grease, which is lard more or less, is a prominent factor in southern style and old fashioned cornbread. Lots of us can remember Granny's ever present can of bacon grease on the side of the stove.

[oldblinddog]

I'm sure you will like it.

[Jeff Michel]

Use white corn meal.

[Fishman]

Alright so I tried two new cornbread recipes tonight and Oldblindog's recipe won the taste test by far. Unfortunately it was very crumbly. I think it might be because I didn't brown the bottom of the cornbread on the stovetop, I just heated the pan up in the oven before adding the mix. It was also more runny than most I've tried which may be due to the cornmeal I used I don't know. Definitely going to try again. It had a very rich corn taste you don't get with flour and sugar.

[oldblinddog]

Adjust your buttermilk slightly to reduce runnyness of the batter. Make sure the skillet is hot when you pour the batter in. You will get it adjusted the more you try it.

[M-Tecs]

I am sure it was made with lard and was not at all healthy

Lard is making a comeback.

http://empoweredsustenance.com/lard-is-healthy/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/28/cooking-with-lard-baking_n_5212804.html

http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/lard-the-new-health-food

[Bob in St. Louis]

Regarding lard, here's some interesting information about the "right kind" of lard to use.
This is a tortilla recipe, but in it, she explains what kind of lard to use, and why;

http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/04/how-to-make-flour-tortillas-from-scratch.html

[Multigunner]

I use melted butter instead of lard, shortening or oil.
Butter is far more digestible and healthier than oil or lard, and has better flavor than shortening. As for margarine , I can believe its not butter.

I use only two tablespoons of butter. I set the medium size skillet on the stove eye over the oven exhaust vent while the oven heats up the gentle heat melts the butter. I then pour as much of the melted butter out into the batter as doesn't want to coat the skillet.
I bake at 400 F for 25 minutes or so. So long as the surface gets golden brown I know its well done because the skillet was preheated before I poured the batter in.
I used to add flour but found it unnecessary. I do add a fair amount of salt. One egg and a few ounces of milk and good quality bottled water.

The butter improves the flavor of whatever I serve with the cornbread. I use cornbread for beef stew and boiled cabbage and potatoes with polish sausage, carrots and onions. The texture of the cornbread makes it easier to chew most foods.

[oldblinddog]

Butter is not healthier than lard, however, butter is healthy, whereas margarine is not.

http://empoweredsustenance.com/lard-is-healthy/ already posted above, but deserves a read.

[DougGuy]

READ the labels.. Avoid ANYTHING that says hydrogenated or hydrolyzed. This is one of the worst things you can cook with or put in your body. This all started with the food industry back in the 1950s trying to find something to do with corn oil and other left over vegetable oils so they could turn it in to cash. They lobbied our politicians and bought legislators, and permeated the markets with margarine which to this day has caused millions of deaths from heart disease.

What they do is hydrogenate oil so it turns into a substance they can color and then add salt to, so you have a butter substitute. In the human body, it bonds to arterial walls and tissues throughout the circulatory system and later in life you pay for this dearly with congestive heart disease. You can lose the fat that it bonds to when it enters the body but you can't unbond the buildup and plaque it leaves behind.

Crisco = totally hydrogenated fat. Nasty nasty stuff only good for seasoning cast iron where it plasticizes into a non stick coating on the surface of the iron. Harmless in this way, very harmful to cook in it or make biscuits, bread, pie crust, etc...

[Fishman]

Adjust your buttermilk slightly to reduce runnyness of the batter. Make sure the skillet is hot when you pour the batter in. You will get it adjusted the more you try it.

I will do that.The leftovers were excellent reheated in the microwave!

[oldblinddog]

I will do that.The leftovers were excellent reheated in the microwave!
Yes, especially if you have leftover beans and rice or stew! I have a Navy bean, potato, cabbage and pork shoulder stew that I'm making a new skillet of cornbread for tonight.

One thing that I sometimes add to my recipe is a 8.5 oz can of creamed corn and a 4 oz can of green chiles. This will also add some liquid so I only put in one cup of buttermilk when I do this. Remember that baking is science and is all about ratios of the ingredients.

188636

Also, I will some times put a couple strips of thick cut bacon criss crossed in the bottom of the skillet before pouring in the batter. It will cook perfectly while baking the bread and become part of the "crust".

[Dancing Bear]

I"d like to add that if you don't want to buy a container of buttermilk you can add one tablespoon of white vinegar to one cup whole milk as a substitute. Hey! Do try the creamed corn in the batter. I've done that at deer camp and it went over great. Batter seems awfully watery when dumping into that that hot cast iron skillet but the end product is just fine.
Oldblinddog, I will try that bacon on the bottom thing for sure.

[oldblinddog]

Just get a pint of buttermilk instead of a quart or half gallon. The soda placed in regular milk can sub for buttermilk, but that isn't necessary in this day. That was a depression era trick.