# Give me some cornbread pointers, please **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 26, 2006, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-some-cornbread-pointers-please/374250 "2006-09-26T19:24:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2006, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-some-cornbread-pointers-please/374250/21 "2006-09-27T04:06:17Z")
No sugar, no flour, no baking powder. ::folds arms formidably and sits and scowls in front of stove:: We have standards to be defended here. ::looks around:: ::notices self-assigned location:: Umm, I’m somewhat relocated, culinary-wise. I’m Georgia southern by culinary. I don’t claim 'em otherwise but they cook right. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2006, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-some-cornbread-pointers-please/374250/22 "2006-09-27T04:54:09Z")
[QUOTE=AHunter3] No sugar, no flour, no baking powder. ::folds arms formidably and sits and scowls in front of stove:: We have standards to be defended here. ::looks around:: ::notices self-assigned location:: Umm, I’m somewhat relocated, culinary-wise. I’m Georgia southern by culinary. I don’t claim 'em otherwise but they cook right. [/QUOTE] Come to dinner. I’ll change your mind. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2006, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-some-cornbread-pointers-please/374250/23 "2006-09-27T15:02:04Z")
Well, my husband’s from Louisiana, his parents are from Louisiana and all his ancestors were there since God was a boy and HE loves his cornbread sweet! I, however, am a Kentuckian by birth raised by a Pennsylvania mother, and SHE makes it without sugar. Make of that what you will. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2006, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-some-cornbread-pointers-please/374250/24 "2006-09-27T15:07:50Z")
[QUOTE=Ellen Cherry] I, however, am a Kentuckian by birth raised by a Pennsylvania mother, and SHE makes it without sugar. Make of that what you will. 😉 [/QUOTE] Just because y’all ain’t from around here don’t mean ya’ll are dumb. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2006, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-some-cornbread-pointers-please/374250/25 "2006-09-27T15:57:39Z")
There’s a discussion in one of John Thorne’s books about the differences between Southern and Northern cornbread- Southern being flour-free and unsweetened, and Northern being a cakey, sweet, fluffy quick bread. I think it’s in _American Pig: A Cook in Search of His Roots_. He’s got three or four different recipes for the different types. I also recommend [The Cornbread Book](http://www.amazon.com/Cornbread-Book-Love-Story-Recipes/dp/0060096799), although it’s more quirky and has less history of cornbread stuff. An Arkansas friend of mine makes his unsweetened, but with a cup of sour cream and a lot of oil in it. It’s not traditional, but it is divine. Oh, and I find preheating my skillet on high on the stovetop works well. I wish my husband ate cornbread. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-some-cornbread-pointers-please/374250/26 "2006-09-27T22:31:19Z")
Thanks for all the tips, guys. Unless the weather turns roasting hot this weekend, I think we’ll do a chili ‘n’ cornbread thing for dinner. I’ll let you know how it turns out. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2006, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-some-cornbread-pointers-please/374250/27 "2006-09-27T23:15:43Z")
> [@](#): > > There’s a discussion in one of John Thorne’s books about the differences between Southern and Northern cornbread- Southern being flour-free and unsweetened, and Northern being a cakey, sweet, fluffy quick bread. Huh… The cornbread I’m familiar with has some wheat flour, but it’s still unsweetened and much more crumbly than fluffy. Matter of fact, I can’t picture any cornbread, including the sweet stuff, being described as “fluffy”. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2006, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-some-cornbread-pointers-please/374250/28 "2006-09-27T23:16:47Z")
Marie Callender’s cornbread is borderline “fluffy.” It’s also crap, but there you go. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-some-cornbread-pointers-please/374250/29 "2006-09-28T00:48:14Z")
[QUOTE=Lissla Lissar] There’s a discussion in one of John Thorne’s books about the differences between Southern and Northern cornbread- Southern being flour-free and unsweetened, and Northern being a cakey, sweet, fluffy quick bread. I think it’s in _American Pig: A Cook in Search of His Roots_. He’s got three or four different recipes for the different types. [/QUOTE] It is. The book is open in front of me. His recipe for basic skillet cornbread: (yields one 8" cornbread) 1 cup stone-ground cornmeal 1/2 tsp cream of tartar 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp sea salt 1 large egg 3/4 cup buttermilk 1 tbsp lard, bacon fat or peanut oil Whisk dry ingredients, add liquid ingredients, whisk gently. Preheat skillet in a 425° oven. Grease pan with bacon fat. Swirl batter into skillet and bake for 20 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![JustAnotherGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/58f4c7/32.png) [@JustAnotherGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustAnotherGeek)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-some-cornbread-pointers-please/374250/30 "2006-09-28T01:52:51Z")
Cast iron, absolutely. Crisco? Nah baby, nah! Bacon grease! I love to take two srips of bacon and cut them into ~1cm wide mini strips, cook the strips in the skillet until they’re done, pull out the crunchy bits, let 'em cool for a couple of secs, then crunch 'em some more and add to the mix. If there happens to be some chopped jalepenos in the corn bread mix, all the better! Cheers! ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-some-cornbread-pointers-please/374250/31 "2006-09-28T02:11:46Z")
Am I crazy, or is stone-ground cornmeal just slightly below diamond on the Rockwell scale? ( Note: may not be mutally exclusive) Every time I have made cornbread with that stuff it feels like you are going to chip a tooth! P.s. Add me to the non-sweet camp, even though I am decidedly Northern. I f I want it sweey I drizzle honey on it and eat it for dessert. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-some-cornbread-pointers-please/374250/32 "2006-09-28T02:14:10Z")
God how I pray for a 5 minute ‘edit’ function, especially after a couple-three manhattans. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-some-cornbread-pointers-please/374250/33 "2006-09-28T02:20:12Z")
All right, I got you all beat. Grandmother made it as described in a cast iron skillet, Crisco as I recall, buttermilk and some baking powder. But here’s the important part. Grandfather ate it crumbled into a glass of buttermilk while munching on hot banana peppers he grew. I begged for one once (I was just a pup) and gingerly bit the tip off. I thought I was going to die. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-some-cornbread-pointers-please/374250/34 "2006-09-28T05:41:03Z")
My grandpa had these peppers he grew that were mostly white with vivid purple streaks. Viciously hot by childhood standards. (Hotter than jalapeño, I think). I always crumble my leftover cornbread up into a bowl and drown it in buttermilk. It’s what it’s for. Food of the gods, especially if you can get buttermilk that isn’t nonfat or lowfat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-some-cornbread-pointers-please/374250.md?page=1)