Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Cast Iron Skillet Corn Bread

I just realized that it's probably pretty cruel of me to have BREAD as my first posting of the year. With all the New Year's resolutions to loose weight, this will do nothing but tempt you. But it's COLD outside. Not chilly, it's freakin' bitter a$$ cold. I did not leave my house this past weekend it was too cold. I dug deep into my freezer, and found all kinds of stuff to cook, including cornmeal. I've somehow inheirited this trait from my mother that when I open my freezer, it's so full, stuff falls out. I don't know where it all comes from, and I don't know how it got there. But what I do know is that when I'm stuck inside my house for three straight days (because I'm too much of a wimp to go outside in ten degree weather) I will not starve, and neither will you. Also, if you don't own a well-seasoned iron skillet, don't even bother making this because you WILL be disappointed. Where can you get one you ask? Go buy one today, cook everything you eat in it for the next 20 years, then make this cornbread. My iron skillet belonged to my grandmother. It was the ONE thing she owned that I had to have. This is her recipe. This is my mother's recipe. This is my recipe.
1 cup cornmeal (I prefer yellow, but white works also)
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs
1 and 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/3 cup Crisco (the solid kind, not the liquid...I know, I know, but it's the only way to do it RIGHT and make Granny proud)
Put the Crisco in the CAST IRON SKILLET, put it in the oven, and turn the oven to 375 degrees.
Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.
In another bowl, mix eggs and buttermilk, then add to the dry ingredients, stir well.
Once the crisco is melted and your pan is HOT, dump half into the batter, leave the other half in the skillet.
Stir the batter until all ingredients are mixed well, and dump into the HOT skillet.
Bake 30-45 minutes depending on how big your skillet is until lightly browned and crispy.
Yum.

2 comments:

  1. it's gorgeous...you know, Carroll's grandmother would insist on LARD, not Crisco!

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  2. Wow, that looks so much like country kitchen cooking using a cast iron to make cornbread. Yum. I bet it smelled fantastic. I wish I could make that but my cholesterol will shoot over the moon if I ate the whole thing, and I probably would if it looked (and smelled) so good like yours!

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