Recipe: Southern Corn Bread

Southern Corn Bread
Alt.cooking/Sean Mantooth (1998)

Growing up in the South, I was weened on white corn meal corn bread, baked in a cast iron skillet. In my teens, I moved to the PNW and found...much to my dismay...that what passes for corn bread east of the Mason-Dixon line is the sweet, cake-like corn bread made with yellow cornmeal. This seems to be the most popular style nowadays, but for those of you who want a change...or have never tried this style of corn bread...here is the skinny....straight from my grandma's kitchen.

As with most Southern cooking, there are no real exact measurements. What
I've listed here are approximations.....

You'll need.....

* Cast iron skillet...I use a 9" diameter, but any size will do.
* White corn meal....believe it or not, this is hard to find in some areas, especially on the west coast. If you can, get the self-rising variety (which is sold almost exclusively in the south), so you don't have to mess with baking soda.
* Baking soda...(if you couldn't find self-rising white corn meal)
* Bacon drippings or oil of your choice.
* Buttermilk (If you don't have buttermilk, use regular and add 1/4 tsp. of vinegar to it.)

% Preheat oven to 400. Pour enough bacon drippings or oil (bacon grease really makes the corn bread, though!) to cover the bottom of your skillet and put it in the oven to heat.

% For a 9" skillet, combine two cups corn meal and two cups buttermilk.
The mixture should be just slightly thicker than cake batter. For larger skillets, just continue to add small amounts of corn meal/buttermilk until desired consistency is achieved.

% Add 1/8 cup bacon grease or oil.

% If you're not using self-rising corn meal, add about two teaspoons of
baking powder and one teaspoon of salt.

% Heat skillet until grease will bubble around a small dollop of the
batter.

% Add batter to skillet and return to oven. Bake for 14-20 min. or until top of corn bread is golden brown.

% When done, remove skillet and on a sturdy surface (large cutting board or pizza stone, etc.) rap top of skillet until corn bread falls free.

Heating the oil in the skillet forms a crispy crust around the corn bread that is DEE-LICIOUS! Just try and go back to "yellow" corn meal after
this!

P.S. If your corn bread sticks to the bottom of the skillet, you are not letting it cook long enough.

Serve with butter, jam, honey...or throw a big hunk in a bowl of beans, greens, chili, or glass of buttermilk.