Lacy Cornbread

alliedawn_98 doesn't care for the thick, oven-baked slabs most Northerners think of as cornbread. "Where I grew up, cornbread wasn't supposed to be sweet," she says. "I guess to some it would be considered quite bland. Just cornmeal, salt, and water for hoecakes.....a really thin batter makes the best lacy, crunchy cakes."

meatn3 agrees—the best cornbread is "like a thin pancake, but very crisp with lots of 'lacy' holes." "My mother in law just used cornmeal & water to make a loose slurry," says meatn3. "She used a cast iron skillet and probably corn oil. Her recipes were about as simple as can be but always full of the purest flavor. That woman could cook!"

"The hoecakes I grew up with (and still make) have white corn meal & sweet milk," says Boudleaux. "Fried on a cast iron griddle or in a cast iron skillet in hot grease. Great stuff."

Discuss: Why is White Cornmeal a Southern Thing?