Our education in Southern cooking took a major leap forward this past week.
While She Who Must Be Obeyed was off in Vermont enjoying what appears to have been a very well done Orvis meeting, I was invited to a birthday party for a remarkably spry neighbor celebrating his 90th. (The party had to be held mid-week so as not to conflict with college football games on the weekend…)
The obligatory pork shoulder was picked up at Saws BBQ (still the best I’ve ever tasted) but a veritable army of southern grandmothers (maybe even some great-grandmothers) cooked everything else and laid the spread out in the shaded backyard for the party.
I offered to bring something and was assigned a ‘plate of cornbread’; we have a killer southwestern corn muffin recipe that I whipped up and brought along.
The southern matron in charge of the food line (Marla) graciously received my covered offering, though when she uncovered the corn muffins she simply said, “Oh my dear, that’s not cornbread”.
She quickly explained that “real southern cornbread doesn’t have sugar or fixin’s, honey” and offered to “teach me the right way later”.
About an hour later Marla tracked me down with two other bespectacled grandmothers in tow and a) asked for the recipe to my “that’s not cornbread” muffins as the 3 dozen I’d brought had already vanished, and b) offered up a nearly 70 minute long discourse on some of the historic roots of classic southern dishes, including a blow by blow (from memory, of course) recitation of the true southern cornbread recipe below.
Turns out Marla is a retired executive chef (Savannah mostly) and long time caterer; she eventually suggested reading this – Why Southern Cornbread Shouldn’t Have Sugar – on the Serious Eat’s site (a site all foodies should have bookmarked). Turns out there’s some genuine science behind some old biases and habits when it comes to recipes…
We’re of the school that believes you should cook what makes you happy and cook it the way you like it. If that means a bit of sugar in your cornbread, or adding crumbled bacon, corn, chopped green chiles, pimentos, a bit of chopped onion, some grated cheese or even beans (seen in Texas occasionally), go to it.
I do heartily agree with Marla – cornbread should always be cooked in a cast iron skillet and should always use buttermilk – there’s no other way to get the crispy goodness on the bottom of that cornbread round. Try this one on for size with some good southern comfort food…
2 cups stone-ground cornmeal (yellow or white)
1/4 cup sifted AP flour
1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups buttermilk
1 beaten egg
2 tbsp. melted bacon drippings
1 tbsp. melted bacon drippings for the pan
A sprinkle of a nice sea salt
Get stuff hot. Preheat the oven to 450 and melt all the drippings in a 10-inch cast iron skillet on the stove over medium heat until sizzling.
Mix the dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
Get it wet. Whisk together the egg and buttermilk, then pour into the dry mixture along with 2 tbsp of melted bacon drippings and stir until just combined. Stir in whatever other fixin’s you feel moved to incorporate.
Sizzle and bake. Pour the batter into the cast iron skillet and leave on the stovetop for a minute or two; you want to see the upper edge of the crust begin to brown a bit in the pan. Dust with a sprinkle of the sea salt and pop into the oven for 20-23 minutes until done.
Serve hot with a big dollop of butter and perhaps a drizzle of honey.
Enjoy.
