Not everything in society has changed for the better during my lifetime (Understatement of the Year Award, anybody?), but the fact that we can now refer matter-of-factly to “lots of local brands in your area” when discussing beer, grains, produce, etc., sure AF counts as one such change.
I won’t post my exact cornbread recipe because then there would be more than one person who can rightfully claim World’s Best Cornbread, and that wouldn’t do. But, I will say that jalapenos, bacon fat, whole kernels and creamed shoe-peg corn, and an iron fry-pan are involved…and yes, just a smidgen of saccharine (I like a mere whiff of sweetness, but I’m diabetic. Sue me).
I agree with this. My cornbread took a leap in quality when i discovered Indian Head and stopped using Quaker. I prefer the yellow cornmeal. I may be the outlier here, but the best cornbread is cornbread, it’s not cornbread with stuff dotted through it. No bits or corn or bacon. (And of course no peppers, as they ruin every food they touch.) I also prefer butter to lard or bacon fat, but cornbread with bacon fat or goose fat are still excellent, just not as good as cornbread with butter.
I waffle between no sugar and a tablespoon or two. I rather like it with no sugar, but my husband and daughter (who share my table) like a touch of sweetness, so i often add that.
The cast iron frying pan is key.
As an aside, the Jiffy mix makes a decent batch of corn pancakes, or waffles.
I make cornbread from the recipe on the Alber’s Corn Meal box, and bake it in a cast-iron frying pan that’s been slathered with Crisco shortening. The Alber’s recipe does include sugar. I’d omit the sugar, but my wife likes sugar in it. She doesn’t make cornbread from scratch. If she makes it, it’s Jiffy mix.
My mom raised seven kids, in-between tending the garden and milking the cows. Jiffy was a timesaver, and we loved it.
We only had four kids (all born within six years), and the only cows I ever saw were those oil cows mentioned in another thread.
I like and respect you, so I’ll just say “more for me!”
-mutters quietly about people with no appreciation for the finer things 
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I use Bob’s Red Mill medium ground, which gives a good result. And there’s nothing better than cornmeal pancakes.
Has anyone tried Kodiak’s cornbread mix? All their other mixes I have tried are great. See this awesome thread about Kodiak:
People put sugar in cornbread?
Eh, i suspect we all have different personal chemistry, that makes different foods taste good or bad. I realize that peppers are very popular. I find that if the lime wedge sat next to the jalepeno slice, it gives an unpleasant off-flavor to my pho.
In the “what do you do when served food you don’t like?” poll, i said i wouldn’t eat it. But in fact, I’ll say, “no thank you, i don’t eat peppers” before that dish touches my plate.
Oh, please.
Don’t point at them and make fun of them. It isn’t polite and they probably don’t know any better.
I’ve never seen a cornbread recipe that called for sugar.
I sat down for breakfast with some folks who were soon to be my in-laws and right there next to the biscuits was bowl of what looked steaming pudding. I asked why we were being served hot pudding for breakfast and they explained to me what chocolate gravy was like I was an idiot. So I guess sugar in cornbread doesn’t seem so farfetched.
I see. I always put sugar in mine. It’s just personal preference, much like beans in chili.
I am not going to look down my nose at anyone. It’s likely I’ve had cornbread someone put sugar in without even realizing it. If you made me some cornbread I’m not too proud to eat it!
Chocolate gravy?
It’s a thing. A thing I never heard of until I was 25, but a thing.
Bob has a coarse ground also. There are a variety of companies offering different grinds in yellow and white, but I don’t see them at the grocery store often. I can get some very coarse grind at a local shop serving the Hispanic and Portuguese marker where you can weigh out what you want, or buy a 50 lb. bag. I haven’t tried it yet, it’s so coarse i think it will require soaking to make bread, but I think it will produce fantastic flavor and texture.