I rarely meet a cornbread I don’t like, but I definitely have a favorite. Some cornbreads are more like cake — sweet, fluffy, and very mild. Those are good, but real cornbread, at least to this Southerner, is not sweet at all but rather is nuanced with the savory flavor of bacon and it’s texture is granular — not at all cake-like. My favorite is my mom’s. It ranks among my favorite comfort foods. It is a reminder of home and family.
There are a couple of things about this cornbread that are important to know. 1. It’s good no matter what but it’s brilliant if you use the recommended bacon grease. Bacon grease? Disgusting! Not at all, my friends. Trust me on this one. The next time you make bacon, don’t throw that liquid gold away-save it and use it. You’ll be blown away by how it transforms soup, stews, potatoes, and cornbread.
2. You can fry this cornbread like pancakes, or you can bake it in a cast iron pan. I love my cornbread-shaped cast iron pan. I got it from my grandmother, and it’s black and well-seasoned from years of use. The cornbread comes out looking like little cornsticks that make the perfect accompaniment to any fall soup or stew.
Mom’s Cornbread
2 cups self-rising cornmeal (I always use Martha White)
2 teaspoons sugar
1 large egg
2 tablespoons AP flour
1 1/2 cups milk
Bacon Grease
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place about one tablespoon of bacon grease into each mold in the cast iron pan (if you aren’t using a cast iron pan like the one shown above, you can use a regular muffin pan. Put approximately 1 tablespoon of grease into each muffin cup). Place the cast iron pan in the preheated oven to allow the grease to heat. Leave the pan in the oven for about 10 to 15 minutes.
In a large bowl combine cornmeal, sugar, egg, flour, and milk. Mix thoroughly. Allow batter to sit while the cast iron pan heats in the oven. Once the pan is heated, remove it from the oven and pour batter into each mold filling to nearly the top.
Bake until golden brown (about 10 to 15 minutes). Serve immediately.
October 13, 2008 at 8:53 am
wow these are making my mouth water!! they look fantastic!
October 13, 2008 at 9:56 am
“For the fiiiinest cornbread you can baaaake…” Sorry, Martha White Cornmeal nostalgia just popped out, there.
My dad’s mom had a corn stick pan, the requisite corn muffin pan, and a fish cake pan – shaped like little bluegill. Yours look similar to hers, which is blessedly good – I never got her cornbread recipe before she died, so I’m gonna use your mom’s.
October 13, 2008 at 10:37 am
first of all, i love the pan. i want one for myself immediately. secondly, great results–not too sweet, but sweet enough.
October 15, 2008 at 8:23 am
Yum. That’s what I call real cornbread.
October 16, 2008 at 9:54 am
ok, so first off – is that another ‘Aimee’ in the comments? I thought we were pretty rare…
Also, the cornbread – I will have to try this. I’ve never much liked the stuff but I wonder if that is growing up in CA where no one knew how to make it? It always seems too dense and not flavored enough to me. What am I doing wrong?
November 25, 2008 at 11:22 am
I also grew up in Southern California. My mom, oldest sister and older brother were born in Oklahoma. We came to California when I was 4, around 1947. A family of mom, dad, and 5 young kids.
My mom always made cornbread. Way before any “self-rising” cornmeal was on the grocery shelf. My mom never used it and she never made any of her cornbread sweet. Sweet cornbread, which is called “Johnny Cake” to most Oklahomans, just wasn’t cooked in our family (grandparents, great grandparents, etc.). I came to like “Johnny Cake” with butter (sometimes) but if I’m making cornbread for my family, friends, or my Thanksgiving cornbread dressing, I use very little sugar in it, if at all.
My husband bought a bag of White Self-Rising Cornmeal by mistake and that is why I am looking for a recipe to use this and that is why I have came to this website to see how to use it.
In the early days, before oils and shortenings were available, my family always used bacon greese to season foods and use in breads and cornbreads. I’m sure everyone across this nation and elsewhere, used bacon greese or pork fat greese to fry or season or make breads with before oils/shortenings. For a fact, bacon greese is #1 in breads, cornbreads and most green veggies (Turnup Greens, Collard Greens, Beet Greens, Green Beans, etc.).
My brothers and sisters and myself, have always made homebaked cornbreads.
As far as I’m concerned, the younger generations do not know what they are missing in not using bacon greese. Lots of great cooking and eating.
December 26, 2008 at 10:49 pm
I agree. this is the best recipe for cornbread. I also learned from my mom & nanny. but I can not find self-rising corn meal in the chicago area. can anyone help without me spending an arm & a leg for shipping? thank you