Yup. It's winter time again. Time for pulling out the heavy coats and gloves. Time for lighting fires in the fireplace. Time for making big steaming pots of soups and stews. And time for my favorite accompaniment to such foods -- corn bread. I've decided to share with you, my Vox friends, my time honored recipe and technique for making basic [1] cornbread [2] from scratch. No silly box mixes for me. This stuff is super easy to make!
Let's begin with the recipe just as my mother gave it to me.
That's right. She only gives lists of ingredients. I'm surprised she was able to come up with measurements for any of the stuff. She hardly ever measures anything. And that's how she taught me to cook. Just put it together and adjust the amounts until it looks and/or tastes right. I will kindly fill in the gaps for you here.
Begin by choosing the pan you are going to cook in. There are those who swear you cannot get good cornbread without using an iron skillet but, like my mother, I use an 8" Pyrex pie plate. We prepare it in the same fashion as an iron skillet and get the same results.
Pour a couple of tablespoons vegetable oil, or olive oil for the health conscious, in the bottom of the pan. Or do as I've done here. Use bacon grease! Place the pan with the oil or grease into the oven and turn it on to 400 degrees. Let the oven and pan preheat while you mix up the batter. This is the source of the "magic" touch those iron skillet folks swear by.
Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together in your mixing bowl. Measure out the milk and then drop the egg into it. Beat the egg into the milk [3] with a fork. Pour this mixture into the flour and mix just until moistened. Don't worry about those lumps. Over mixing flour and liquid mixtures develops the gluten in the flour and makes your baked goods tough.
Now it's time to add the cornmeal. Mother doesn't say how much, she just knows what it's supposed to look like. And the same was true for me until I mixed up this particular batch. I went to all the trouble of measuring it and I used 1 1/2 cups. This is about what it should look like after you mix it in. You can adjust the amount to suit yourself.
Now it's time to pour this into the hot pan. Be very careful that you don't burn yourself! As you pour the batter in you will notice some of it climbing up the side of the pan and can even hear it sizzling. This is what creates that lovely crunchy bottom crust those iron skillet folks love.
Yes, that's bacon grease floating on top of the batter. Let this bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. [4] I have a bad habit of taking mine out a couple of minutes earlier than I should because I can't wait to eat it.
Try to let it stand about 5 or 10 minutes before you cut into it. I rarely last longer than 30 seconds. This batch was enjoyed with a big pot of venison stew.
[1] I did say basic. Once you've mastered the basic technique feel free to jazz it up with chopped jalepeno, chopped onion, grated cheese, corn, or anything else your little heart desires. I have lots of fun coming up with new options.
[2] WARNING: This is not light, sweet, fluffy cornbread that looks and tastes like cake. This is serious cornbread designed to stand up to the soups and stews it's served with and not go soggy.
[3] Sure you could beat the egg separately, but this saves time.
[4] There are also those who swear you need sugar to make the crust brown. Clearly, you don't.