Oct 25 2008
Cornbread, But Not Exactly My Momma’s Cornbread
My Momma never used yellow cornmeal or sugar in her cornbread, but everytime I’ve tried to make cornbread the way she did, it’s been bitter and inedible. Apparently I missed something important…
The closest I’ve ever come to making Momma’s cornbread is using Martha White’s White Cornbread Mix. Dextrose is in the ingredients list of the mix, so maybe Momma was sneaking some sugar in there while I wasn’t looking. It’s still not the same, but close.
My Dad’s family makes a slightly different cornbread which is almost as good as Momma’s. (sorry Aunt Juanita — you are wonderful, but I still crave Momma’s cornbread.)
As taught to me by my father, who was taught by his sister, Juanita:
1/2 cup white cornmeal
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
2/3 cup flour
1 heaping tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar (you can add more if you like it sweeter)
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (you can use plain milk + 1 tablespoon cider vinegar, but might need 1/2 teaspoon more salt)
1 egg
1/4 cup oil (I generally use canola, but most any fat, except butter, can be used. Butter burns too quickly.)Heat oven to 425 (I don’t how this would work in a dutch oven, I’ve never tried that) Place oil in your favorite cast iron skillet (10″ or there abouts) and put it in pre-heated oven. (Or you can pre-heat oven and place skillet on burner to heat it quicker.)Mix all dry ingredients in bowl. Whisk egg and buttermilk together.
After the skillet and oil is hot enough – it should be hot enough that the batter will sizzle when poured into the pan – pour the milk and egg into the dry mixture and mix well.
From the hot skillet, pour about 1/2 the oil into the batter and quickly mix it in. The addition of the hot oil will start the batter rising immediately. Pour the batter quickly into hot skillet and bake for 20 minutes.
Do not allow the batter to stand after it’s mixed. You can use cold oil, but it is still best not to let the batter stand after mixing. Mix the oil with the egg and buttermilk if you use cold oil. What you cannot do is pour the batter into a cold pan and expect it not to stick.
For use in a dutch oven – RonF, frequent commenter at Grim’s Hall, recommends:
Make up a double recipe, put 10 coals underneath the oven, 20 coals on top, leave for 20 minutes. Just wonderful.
I suppose this could be made with all yellow meal or all white meal, but I’m pretty sure the sugar amount would need adjusting for all white meal. The two meals have a different texture, I think, and definitely a different flavor.
My pantry holds a container with the mixed cornmeal. I buy two small bags of each and mix them together for every use of cornmeal.
