Southern Cornbread

How to do it right!

You know what you like. I know what I like. And I like a hearty, crunchy, grainy, UN-sweet cornbread. Rustic. Toothsome. Therefore, when I made Brunswick Stew, I started looking for a decent corn bread recipe. Since my mother is not on this plane anymore, I couldn't ask her. But I drew upon my Alabama genes and this is what I came up with:

I have my momma's square iron skillet - ha! And it is actually designed for cornbread. If you don't have a square iron skillet, you can use a round one. If you don't have any iron skillet, you shouldn't be cooking. Wait - what?

Of course you have heard of using bacon grease in corn bread - and yes, that's yummy. But I came up with a slightly different slant. Not to say you can't use bacon grease, though!

Use coarse or stone ground cornmeal. Supposedly, Southerners only use white cornmeal, but frankly, I've never had white cornbread in my life. So just use the yellow, because otherwise it will look weird. OR... use BLUE cornmeal - yes! It's awesome, and apparently has some pretty nifty nutritional advantages (like non-GMO, no pesticides, etc.)

And finally, you will see I used semolina instead of flour. (If you are in the Daytona area, you can get it at Bravo Market in the Middle Eastern section) I have the medium grind semolina. If you get Bob's Red Mill, it will be fine grind, which is generally used for pasta. The fine stuff will be okay too, if you can't get medium. And in a pinch, you can just use the flour - but it won't be as awesome.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups coarse cornmeal
3 tbsp semolina
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda (make sure it is fresh)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter
2 tbsp oil (I use olive)
1 egg
1 3/4 cups buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 450 F.

Directions

Place butter and oil into your square or round skillet (and remember, no skillet... ) ;o) and place it in the hot oven.

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and stir them around with a whisk.

Beat the egg in another bowl and then stir in the buttermilk.

When the butter in the skillet is browning (watch that it doesn't burn), take the skillet out of the oven. Swirl the fat around to grease the sides and pour the rest into the dry ingredients. Stir immediately - don't worry that it is clumpy.

Now add the egg/buttermilk mixture and fold it in with a fork. Stir only long enough to incorporate the wet with the dry.

Do not:

• Beat the batter
• Overmix the batter

Pour the perfectly mixed batter into the hot skillet and pop it in the oven. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the cornbread is brown and pulling away from the sides.

Serve immediately with butter and cane sugar syrup, maple syrup, honey, Lyle's Golden Syrup, or molasses! Yum Yum Yum!