How to Make Southern Style Cornbread

You can bake Southern cornbread in a pan, in muffin tins or in cornstick pans.

Hot and buttery cornbread is a savory accompaniment to down-home meals and is a treasured comfort food among Southerners. To make authentic Southern cornbread, you will need specific ingredients, but if you ask a Southern cook, you may even be told to use certain brands of ingredients. All Southern cooks have a preferred method of making cornbread, and ingredients do vary among them. But most people will agree that cornbread is at its Southern best when it is made with bacon grease for the fat, buttermilk for the liquid and a well-seasoned cast iron skillet for baking.

Things You'll Need

• 8-inch cast iron skilled, well seasoned
• 1/4 cup bacon drippings
• 1 1/2 cups self-rising cornmeal
• 1/2 cup self-rising flour
• 1 egg
• 1 cup buttermilk
• Mixing bowl
• Spoon
• Thick potholder

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Place the bacon drippings in the cast iron skillet and put it in the oven to melt and heat the drippings.

3. Measure the self-rising cornmeal and the self-rising flour into the mixing bowl.

4. Crack the egg into a small cup and then add it to the cornmeal mixture. Pour in the cup of buttermilk and stir until all ingredients are well blended.

5. Remove the skillet from the oven with a thick potholder. Pour the melted bacon drippings into the cornbread batter and stir until it is distributed throughout the batter.

6. Pour the batter into the hot skillet and return it to the oven.

7. Bake the cornbread for 25 minutes and then check for doneness with a toothpick. When the toothpick comes out clean from the center, the cornbread is done.

Tips & Warnings

• Serve this cornbread while still hot from the oven. Supply real butter to dress the cornbread.

• To make sweet cornbread, add a tablespoon of table sugar to the batter before baking.

• Have leftover cornbread at breakfast. Butter the cornbread and heat it in the microwave for about 15 seconds. Drizzle honey over the heated cornbread.

References

• AllRecipes.com: Real Southern Cornbread
• Food.com: Cast Iron Cornbread
• Simply Recipes: Southern Corn Bread

Resources

• My Recipes: Corn Sticks
• Food Network: Honey Cornbread Muffins