Back in Texas good cornbread was easy to find although it needed to be homemade. Out here in California what they call cornbread tastes more like cake it’s so sweet and moist. I’m looking for a non-sweet recipe. Something I can let set on the counter after the first serving and get hard then crumble it up in milk… Yummy!
I know I could google it, but I was hoping for some recipes that my fellow dopers have actually used or tasted.
I don’t really have a recipe, per se. I just know when the ratios look right. But I’ll try and estimate as best I can.
First, cornbread must be cooked in a cast-iron skillet. It’s the only way to get a good crust. I use a small, 6 inch skillet.
Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of vegetable oil to the skillet. Place skillet and oil in 375* oven to heat while mixing other ingredients.
Mix together 1.5 to 2 cups of self-rising cornmeal, one egg and 1.5 to 2 cups of milk. I think of it as enough cornmeal to fill the skillet about half full, one egg and enough milk to make a porridge consistency.
Carefully remove skillet from oven and swirl to coat edges with oil. Pour remaining oil into the cornbread mix. Mix well to incorporate and pour into hot skillet. Bake until golden brown, usually about 20 to 30 minutes.
You can also substitute buttermilk for regular milk for a slightly richer cornbread.
For a lighter cornbread, use two eggs.
For a softer cornbread, use lots of milk. My husband likes his so soft that the batter is very runny (I don’t like it like that).
For a crunchier cornbread, use a little more oil/shortening and a bit higher oven temp.
You can use cooking oil, shortening, lard, even olive oil for the oil part. My family likes the butter flavor Crisco.
Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Spray a well-seasoned cast iron skilled with cooking spray and put it in the hot oven.
Mix:
1 1/4 c. corn meal (stone-ground is the best!)
3/4 c. flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 egg
1 c. milk
1/4 c. oil or melted butter or margarine
Pour batter into hot skillet and bake 20-25 minutes.
Here is a non-fat recipe that my family really likes. Bake it the same way as the above recipe.
1 3/4 c. stone-ground corn meal
1/4 c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp. salt
This yields a dense cornbread that is perfect for crumbling into soup. I guess it would be great in milk, too.
Thanks, these look great. I’m headed out to the store first thing in the morning for ingredients - I even have the cast iron skillet!
Get out your copy of Joy of Cooking
Turn to Southern Cornbread.
Follow and enjoy.
SOLIDS:
2 cups stone ground corn meal
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
LIQUIDS
1 egg, not beaten
2 cups buttermilk
4 tbsp vegetable oil
PREP
take a standard 8-inch baking pan and lightly coat the inside surface with solid vegetable shortening (Crisco) or butter or margarine. Preheat oven to 425° F
MIX
Sift the solids together so they are mixed pretty evenly. When they are, and the oven is ready to go, crack the egg and toss it in, add the buttermilk and the 4 tablespoons of veg oil and stir them together; do not work at it trying to create an absolutely even mixture, just eliminate unmoistened clumps of corn meal etc. Then pour it all into the pan and stick pan in oven. Cook for 50 minutes, then take out, and invert (it should just pop out without requiring prying or encouragement).
The most flawless recipe I ever tried, and now I won’t make it any other way, is the one from Cook’s Illustrated (natch), the Best Recipe. I don’t have time to transcribe it, but I’m sure you can scrounge it up somewhere. It’s the perfect balance of ingredients.
And I HATE sweet cornbread…gross.
If you took Freckafree’s 1st recipe and used buttermilk, you’d have my grandma from Roanoke basic recipe, except she used bacon fat instead of oil.
I use masa harina most of the time, 'cause I like that corn flavour. Usually needs a touch more liquid.
Looks like you’ve got plenty to go on, but my husband’s jalapeno cornbread is tough to beat (it’s got buttermilk and cheese in it, too!) If anyone’s interested, just say so and I’ll post it for you.
Jiffy
(d&r)
I’d love it!
Hey Stoid, I came in here to post that one, but I thought from the OP’s description it would be too sweet. Anyway, here’s my text-reduced version of that recipe. Find the original to get all of Ms. Bruce’s instructions:
Rethinking Cornbread by Erika Bruce from Cook’s Illustrated, Jan&February 2005, pages 10-11.
8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly.
1 ½ cups (7 ½ ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup (5 ½ ounces) Quaker Yellow Cornmeal
2 tesp baking powder
¼ tesp baking soda
¾ tesp salt
¼ cup (1 ¾ ounces) packed light brown sugar
¾ cup (3 ½ ounces) frozen corn kernels, thawed
1 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 pat butter
Preheat oven to 400F, and while preheating, place a clean 9 inch pan in oven to warm.
Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Process corn, brown sugar and eggs in food processor. Add buttermilk and wet ingredients to dry. Mix. Add cooled butter and mix gently. With an oven-mitt(!) remove hot pan from oven and hold slightly sideways, put the pat of butter on the side wall of the pan, and twist your wrist around to make it slide along the walls. Continue to move the pat of melting butter around to cover the bottom of the pan too. Set the pan down. Pour batter into pan and bake 25-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted at center comes out clean. Cool in pan 5-10 minutes, invert onto rack and cool another 10 minutes.
Sounds like that Cook’s Illustrated recipe is not what the OP is interested in.
(I don’t care to have sweetstuffs in my cornbread either.)
I’m going to bump hoping Hazle Weatherfield will drop back in with her recipe.
Certainly, but it will be Tuesday before I go back to the apartment. I’ll post it as soon as I can get my hands on it. It is SO good!
Actually, I just had that tonight and it was really, surprisingly GOOD.
A little bit sweeter than I prefer, but I like sweet cornbread anyway. Crispy texture on the outside, fluffy inside. I was pleasantly surprised.
This is my recipe from the Aunt Jemima Corn Meal package. I’ve had it memorized since I was 12 years old, 38 years ago. :eek:
Preheat oven to 425°
1 tbs shortening
1 cup yellow corn meal
1 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar (leave it out if you don’t like it sweet)
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 egg
Place pan with shortening (preferably a cast iron skillet) in cold oven while preheating.
Mix dry ingredients together. Add milk and egg. Stir until combined. Pour into hot skillet, and bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown on top.
I like it sweet though. Sue me. 
Damn, you beat me to the punch.
My mom used to say “I add a little sugar to Jiffy Cornbread to make it taste a little sweeter!” :eek::eek::eek::eek:
…although, it DID taste pretty good!
Erp… no, that’s not the same recipe. That’s something from the magazine. I’m talking about the recipe that is in the Cook’s Illustrated book “The Best Recipe” - it’s got, I think, 2 or 3 teaspoons of white sugar.
I’ll have to post it, it’s absolutely perfect.