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The Basics: How to Make Skillet Cornbread
From the store to the kitchen to the table: We outline the steps that get you from raw ingredients to your dinner tonight, free of measurements and complicated techniques. It’s a method you’ll remember and whip out whenever you like. It is the most basic way to make the thing you’re making.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
- • a large (12-inch) cast iron skillet, pie pan, cake pan, or large baking dish
- • a whisk or fork
- • two large mixing bowls
- • a rubber spatula or wooden spoon
- • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick)
- • 1 1/4 cups finely ground cornmeal
- • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- • 2 tablespoons sugar
- • 1 teaspoon baking powder
- • 1 teaspoon baking soda
- • 1 teaspoon salt
- • 2 eggs
- • 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
Two tablespoons of sugar? Nothing to get upset over. At Allrecipes 2/3 cup is the norm.
Obviously, "Southern" cornbread means different things to different people. I know, for a fact, that it is in some authentic recipes, and not in others. There is no absolute #1 truly authentic recipe. Recipes developed in many families, microregions, and restaurants, and "Southern" (or any other region) has many differences that are all authentic. If people realized this, the comments could be...+READ
Obviously, "Southern" cornbread means different things to different people. I know, for a fact, that it is in some authentic recipes, and not in others. There is no absolute #1 truly authentic recipe. Recipes developed in many families, microregions, and restaurants, and "Southern" (or any other region) has many differences that are all authentic. If people realized this, the comments could be about the taste, the mechanics of the preparation, or some other angle, and not petty bickering that will never result in anything positive.-COLLAPSE
I love the southern snobbery that emerges whenever people mention cornbread with sugar. I had three close friends in grade school and college, from Georgia, Alabama and Kentucky, and all three of their mothers insisted on sugar being a part of their cornbread tradition growing up.
Yep, sugar in cornbread isn't Southern. Just like cooking greens with vinegar in the pot isn't Southern either...at least not where I was raised.
CrackerBarrel cornbread!
I hate to break it to twistyguru, but my self-rising corn meal mix contains flour. I don't know whether or not all brands do, but Sunflower definitely does.
I agree that sugar in cornbread is not a true Southern thing. Those who have eaten sweet cornbread in the South probably ate it at a chain restaurant or prepared by someone who did not originally come from the Deep South. That also goes for yellow corn meal -- that is more a Southwest thing. True Southern cornbread is made with white cornmeal -- no flour, no sugar -- plus buttermilk, soda, salt,...+READ
I agree that sugar in cornbread is not a true Southern thing. Those who have eaten sweet cornbread in the South probably ate it at a chain restaurant or prepared by someone who did not originally come from the Deep South. That also goes for yellow corn meal -- that is more a Southwest thing. True Southern cornbread is made with white cornmeal -- no flour, no sugar -- plus buttermilk, soda, salt, egg and bacon drippings in a black skillet which has been preheated in a hot oven with grease. When the batter hits the skillet, it "fries" on contact and bakes quickly. I have eaten sweet cornbread I thought tasted good, but it is like dessert.-COLLAPSE
I started out making skillet cornbread more yankee style when I was about 13, starting out with the well known recipe found on Quaker Cornmeal boxes. Since then, I've gravitated between that and more typical southern recipes with buttermilk and no sugar. If you want a happy medium of subtle sweetness, you can put a few tablespoons of brown sugar in it instead of white sugar. And, if you want some...+READ
I started out making skillet cornbread more yankee style when I was about 13, starting out with the well known recipe found on Quaker Cornmeal boxes. Since then, I've gravitated between that and more typical southern recipes with buttermilk and no sugar. If you want a happy medium of subtle sweetness, you can put a few tablespoons of brown sugar in it instead of white sugar. And, if you want some really good flavor, grease the cast iron skillet with bacon fat. Depending on the crowd I'm serving, I have been known to throw in crisp bacon chunks and cheddar cheese, though having it plain is quite good enough. Also, definitely try to get your hands on some good stone-ground cornmeal--yellow, white, blue or red. Shoot, cornbread with popcorn meal isn't half bad either.-COLLAPSE
I agree with Cgiraffe...my family's recipe for decades has been 1 cup of self-rising corn meal mix, 1 egg, and 'enough' buttermilk to reach the proper consistency. This is poured into a pre-heated small cast-iron skillet (the 'little corn bread skillet' as it is known in my house), greased with a scoop of bacon/ham grease from the grease crock. Bake at 450 until done. For the 'big corn break...+READ
I agree with Cgiraffe...my family's recipe for decades has been 1 cup of self-rising corn meal mix, 1 egg, and 'enough' buttermilk to reach the proper consistency. This is poured into a pre-heated small cast-iron skillet (the 'little corn bread skillet' as it is known in my house), greased with a scoop of bacon/ham grease from the grease crock. Bake at 450 until done. For the 'big corn break skillet', double the recipe.
Only heathens, damnyankees and other malcontents put sugar and flour into their corn bread, or so I was taught. Sadly, since Mr. Lincoln's war of Yankee Rapine and Pillage, this has become widespread in the South.-COLLAPSE
Yeah the whole "southerners don't put sugar in their cornbread" thing is a bit of an ongoing myth. I have traveled EXTENSIVELY in the Deep South and often found VERY SWEET cornbread in AL, AR, MS, GA, FL, SC, etc.
I thought only yankees ate sugar in cornbread too, but found out different. My mom (and her mom, and... well you get the idea) made it without sugar and without flour - just cormeal, leavening, eggs and milk - the only shortening was quite a bit of Crisco or lard in the pan, heated til it smoked. This makes a course, hearty CB which is delicious as a bread, but also good the next day eaten with a...+READ
I thought only yankees ate sugar in cornbread too, but found out different. My mom (and her mom, and... well you get the idea) made it without sugar and without flour - just cormeal, leavening, eggs and milk - the only shortening was quite a bit of Crisco or lard in the pan, heated til it smoked. This makes a course, hearty CB which is delicious as a bread, but also good the next day eaten with a spoon - broken up in pieces and dumped in a glass of milk (old-time poor people's food, and yummy).-COLLAPSE
we call cornbread with sugar in it "yankee bread" or "yankee cake." never put sugar in cornbread if you want the real deal.
My most-southern friend makes cornbread so sweet it's too much for dessert. And when I lived in Mississippi, my favorite restaurant made a version easily this sweet.
I like both varieties, and this recipe looks good to me.
Cornbread doesn't have sugar in it. Cake has sugar in it.
Sugar?? Who puts sugar in cornbread?? Must not have been someone from the South writing this recipe.
Corbread is like religion, we all prefer our own variety. That said, yes, it's a "yankee" versus southern sweetness level but a fairly good compromise, I've seen yankee versions with 1/4-1/3 cups of sugar!!
Use whatever fat to grease the pan that rocks your world, butter is probably the least optimal choice as you want the pan to be rocket hot and the low smoke temp on butter is likely to lead...+READ
Corbread is like religion, we all prefer our own variety. That said, yes, it's a "yankee" versus southern sweetness level but a fairly good compromise, I've seen yankee versions with 1/4-1/3 cups of sugar!!
Use whatever fat to grease the pan that rocks your world, butter is probably the least optimal choice as you want the pan to be rocket hot and the low smoke temp on butter is likely to lead to burning. Butter is best left to be slathered on right when it comes out of the oven. Yummmmm. But I'd probably cut the oil bak to something a little less, just because I want to add it after not during cooking. Again, watching for overbrowning.
As far as the leavening, that's a try and experiment item as your results may vary based on the freshness of your ingredients, the grind of your cornmeal, what kind of flour you're using etc.
But those ratios look about right to me, given the buttermilk. they are fiarly typical of any other kind of buttermilk/muffin mix approach.
JonParker is dead-on about the lightening w/beaten egg white, but for me, that's way too much work for cornbread. And I'm not sure I want it that light and fluffy. There's plenty of leavening and that much air might just result in a drier CB than I want.
Probably have to make cornbread tomight. Just thinking about it is making my mouth water.-COLLAPSE
Too much sugar. This is, as we say in my family, yankee cornbread.
Sort of an odd recipe to call basic- thats a he** of a lot of butter, too much sugar, probably more leavening than the batter will support-- JP's suggestions sound good.
Don't grease the skillet with butter. Use bacon fat. That's the way to make cornbread.
Also, if you want a lighter cornbread, consider adding the eggs in two steps. Add the yolks first, then beat the whites until stiff, then fold them in.