Here’s hoping he stops in…
Ike, I seem to remember you mentioning a recipe you had for making cornbread with jalapenos in it (or quite possibly a variation of your normal recipe). I was wondering if you might see fit to post it here, or, if you’d rather everyone not see it, mail it to flypsyde3@home.com.
And I promise to make it in a cast iron skillet…
Hey, Flyp!
The normal recipe is…lessee…
1 cup stoneground cornmeal (white, if possible)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
3/4 cup buttermilk
1-2 tblsp lard, bacon fat, or peanut oil
Preheat oven to 425.
Sift dry ingredients together. Beat the egg and add to buttermilk.
Five minutes before you’re ready to bake, put the fat into your 8-inch skillet, and shove it into the oven. About four minutes later, briskly stir the wet and dry ingredients together.
Take out the HOT skillet, and pour the fat into the batter (it will sizzle). Give the batter a few stirs to incorporate the fat, then pour it quickly back into the pan, spatula-ing out the stuff that sticks.
Bake in the skillet for about 25 minutes, until the top is nice and golden.
Now, my usual variant is to use a full teaspoon of Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning in place of the salt…it adds a certain piquancy. If you’re using bacon fat, you can crumble the reserved bacon into the batter at any point in the process. Same with chopped pickled jalapeno. If you want to use fresh, I’d suggest sauteeing it briefly, maybe with a little onion, before putting it in the batter.
YUM! When my grandpa was alive, he used to love cornbread! He would leave it in the oven until it got a little stale and then crumble it into a tall glass with a little salt and buttermilk over the top. I like it with “sweet” milk. Don’t make those faces! It’s good!!!
Many, many thanks, Ike.