Cornbread

[gregintenn]

On 3/11/2023 at 5:57 PM, Garufa said:

I’ve been on a cornbread kick lately.  Ready to move on from mixes to something truly homemade.

How do y’all or your moms and them make it?  

Well, did you have any luck?

[Garufa]

12 hours ago, gregintenn said:

Well, did you have any luck?

Haven't done anything yet.  Gotta get the fixins and apparently I sinned when last using the iron skillet many years ago; didn't put it away correctly and it's gonna need some work.

[7thinning]

Had no idea a thread about cornbread could bring me this much enjoyment but it has.  Thanks for helping me remember some past times!

 

[Erich]

Its great that you gentlemen have such a variety of skills to share. This is one of my favorite posts of all time. 

The flourless recipes have inspired me to pull out our skillet to see just what trouble I can manage.

While I have loved traditional cornbread forever, years ago I found one my wife would eat (she doesn't like traditional) at Trader Joe's. It combined another thing I love, Pumpkin. Hopefully not considered sacrilege since its a squash,  it definitely aligns to a dessert option not all would enjoy.

I'll give one of the standard flourless' a try first to gauge texture and moisture for additions. LIke I needed an excuse

Appreciate the inspiration!

[BigK]

One of the forums I frequent (I think it was an ADV motorcycle forum) had a good recipe thread going for a long time. One day we were talking about squirrel dumplins and venison recipes and what not and this one fella asked if we'd every had crawdad cornbread. I am a sucker for some cajun/creole food, so I begged the recipe off of him and tried it. My kids begged me to make it every week for months after we tried it, but crawdads are hard to come by here, so started using mini cocktail shrimp instead. If you like cornbread and you like cajun food, I'd be surprised if you don't like cajun crawfish cornbread casserole. Don't it look good?
 

[Garufa]

15 hours ago, BigK said:

One of the forums I frequent (I think it was an ADV motorcycle forum) had a good recipe thread going for a long time. One day we were talking about squirrel dumplins and venison recipes and what not and this one fella asked if we'd every had crawdad cornbread. I am a sucker for some cajun/creole food, so I begged the recipe off of him and tried it. My kids begged me to make it every week for months after we tried it, but crawdads are hard to come by here, so started using mini cocktail shrimp instead. If you like cornbread and you like cajun food, I'd be surprised if you don't like cajun crawfish cornbread casserole. Don't it look good?
 

I can see how that would be might tasty.

[FUJIMO]

On 3/16/2023 at 10:52 AM, Garufa said:

Haven't done anything yet.  Gotta get the fixins and apparently I sinned when last using the iron skillet many years ago; didn't put it away correctly and it's gonna need some work.

Rust get ahold of it?

[Garufa]

22 minutes ago, FUJIMO said:

Rust get ahold of it?

Not too bad, just on the bottom.  Never properly cleaned it before putting it away and forgetting about it.  That has been rectified.  It’s ready for business now.

[seez52]

My mother almost always cooked her cornbread on the top of the stove in a cast iron skillet rather than in the oven. In summer it was too hot to turn the oven on and in general it cost more to heat the oven if cornbread is all you're cooking. 

she would cover the skillet for the first part of the cook, then use a dinner plate to slip under the half baked bread and quickly flip the bread over to cook on the other side leaving the lid off from this point on. Doing the flip is a bit tricky and I've never been able to master it. I know she always did it over the sink, just in case. The best thing about it was that you got two crunchy sides!

The recipe on the back of the corn meal mix works fine if you leave out that damn sugar! 

[BigK]

Anybody else like chopped up onions in their cornbread?

[gregintenn]

10 hours ago, BigK said:

Anybody else like chopped up onions in their cornbread?

No.

[Erich]

11 hours ago, BigK said:

Anybody else like chopped up onions in their cornbread?

hush puppies yes, cornbread not so much

I can see one would think it should since hush puppies are kinda fried cornbread balls.

[bersaguy]

I just made a pan of cornbread this week to go with a pot of White beans I made. I made it like my mother use to make it. She was never one to make fancy bread but it all got eaten. She used yellow Corn Meal, spoon of yeast, 4 eggs, quart of buttermilk and a table spoon of lard in the skillet. Got the skillet hot in the oven then poured the lard in the mix, stirred and put it in the hot skillet. The only thing I did that was different was I used Self rising cornmeal so didn't need the yeast. I guess it was pretty good cause my son-in-law ate 3 pieces of bread and 2 bowls of beans since my daughter had to pull a double at work so he ate with me.

[Moped]

On 3/17/2023 at 12:43 AM, BigK said:

One of the forums I frequent (I think it was an ADV motorcycle forum) had a good recipe thread going for a long time. One day we were talking about squirrel dumplins and venison recipes and what not and this one fella asked if we'd every had crawdad cornbread. I am a sucker for some cajun/creole food, so I begged the recipe off of him and tried it. My kids begged me to make it every week for months after we tried it, but crawdads are hard to come by here, so started using mini cocktail shrimp instead. If you like cornbread and you like cajun food, I'd be surprised if you don't like cajun crawfish cornbread casserole. Don't it look good?
 

 

Saved this! Going to try it!!!

[RED333]

My wife learned how from her mom and my mom, best I have ever had.

[Garufa]

3 minutes ago, RED333 said:

My wife learned how from her mom and my mom, best I have ever had.

I don’t recall my mom and mine ever making cornbread and we are true southerners.  Just never was on the menu.

[Moped]

My grandmothers both made cornbread. One made it every Sunday for lunch, after church. Mom made it every time we had soup beans or vegetable soup. I do the same.

[Cottonmouth]

1 cup self-rising cornmeal
1 heaping tablespoon flour
1 large egg
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1 cup milk

1. grease a seasoned cast-iron skillet with vegetable shortening or lard and preheat it in the oven to 425 degrees.

2. to a cup of milk, add about a tablespoon of cider vinegar, stir and let sit. it will take about ten minutes to sour and curdle as the oven and skillet heat up.

3. use two bowls: mix the 'dry' ingredients, cornmeal and flour, in a separate bowl from the 'wet' ingredients: the egg, oil, and soured milk.

4. when the milk is soured and the oven is up to the right temperature and the skillet is heated and ready to go, mix the 'wet' ingredients together with the 'dry' ingredients. break up the big dry lumps of corn meal but don't worry about getting it all completely liquefied and homogeneous. if you mix it too much your cornbread will end up tough.

5. take the hot skillet from the oven and pour the batter into it. it should immediately start to sizzle and cook. do not stir at this point.

6. put the skillet back in the oven and bake until the top is slightly golden-brown, has started to crack a bit, and the cornbread has begun to pull away from the sides. how long this takes depends on the size of your skillet, about 15-20 minutes usually.

7. remove the cornbread by inverting the skillet onto a plate or cooling rack so the cornbread does not continue to cook. if your skillet is well-seasoned it should not stick or tear but come out cleanly.

notes:

- if you are not using self-rising cornmeal you will also have to add 1-2 tsp of baking powder to the 'dry' ingredients to make the cornbread rise. also, self-rising cornmeal comes with a bit of salt, so if you are not using self-rising cornmeal you will need to add half a teaspoon or so of salt.

- the reaction in the self-rising cornmeal doesn't take place until liquid is added to it which is why you mix the wet and dry ingredients together as the last step immediately before dumping them in the hot skillet.

Edited Friday at 04:41 AM by Cottonmouth

[Jamie Jackson]

Great thread!

I and my bride (RIP) are from SW MS. All of our "people" are from the "Free State of Jones" ,

Cornbread has always been a staple in our house.

I'm 69 and was given a cast iron cornbread skillet by my father that he said he'd had since he was 8 years old. That would have been 1936.

My Mother was a terrible cook! Loved her, but she lacked skill. WTH?

My Mother in law (Winnie Sue), as was Rhonda (my Bride), were/are great cooks. I learned from the best.

I'm gonna list our family's standard cornbread recipe and our "Mexican cornbread" recipe below.

The real key is preheating the cast iron skillet. The initial pour will rise and start browning as you pour. That's when you know you're doing it right.

FWIW we use Martha White SR flour and SR Cornmeal.

We, the People of the Free State of Jones, believe recipes are merely suggestions and open to experimentation and tweaking to suit your taste buds. At least that's my excuse in case I forget something that isn't critical.

 

Winnie Sue's Cornbread

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with greased skillet in the oven, 30 minutes.

Mix in large bowl:

2 cups SR cornmeal

1 cup SR flour

2 eggs

I put 2 tablespoons of sugar in it 'cause I can!

Enough buttermilk to thin. That'd be a bit less than a pint. We really don't do exact measurements back home LOL

Bake for 35-40 minutes, depending on your oven.

As soon as you remove the baked cornbread from the oven, turn it onto a plate...otherwise the castiron skillet will overcook it.

 

I make Hamburger soup or French Market soup at least once a month. It would be sacrilege to eat either without Winnie Sue's cornbread! I'd lose my "Southern Card" for certain!

 

"Mama’s Mexican Cornbread"     Winnie Sue

Brown one (1) pound of lean ground beef with a cut up onion – Drain

Mix the cornmeal batter:

2 cups of self rising cornmeal

1 cup of self rising flour

2 eggs

2 tlbs “Wesson” oil

Jalapeños to taste… make it real tasty. If you don't sweat a little under your eyes you aren't adding enough peppers.

Open can of cream style corn and pour 1/2 into batter mix

Add buttermilk to right consistency. It doesn't take much due to the liquid in the cream style corn...beware!

Grease pan...preheat as above. 30 minutes.

Pour ½ batter in the hot greased pan/skillet

Layer with shredded cheese

Add ground beef mixture on top of that

Add the other ½ cream corn – spread on top of meat mixture

Add a layer of shredded cheese

Add other ½ of batter for next layer

 

Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes or until brown

I use a 9 inch cast iron skillet for the Mexican cornbread. It's relatively new and only about 60 years old.

Leave the Mexican cornbread in the cast iron skillet. Slice and serve after it's "rested" about 30 minutes. It'll still be hot, I promise.

 

Rhonda and I complied a folder of recipes I copied from hand written notes, envelopes, etc we collected over the 33 years of marriage( with which God Blessed me). That folder is pretty thick by now.

 

 

Jamie

 

Regular cornbread pic

 

 

 

                              

Edited Friday at 11:01 AM by Jamie Jackson

[Jamie Jackson]

Jiffy Cornbread mix.

I totally agree it makes great quick muffins. It ain't cornbread imho, but it makes darn tasty muffins.

[peejman]

2 hours ago, Jamie Jackson said:

Great thread!

I and my bride (RIP) are from SW MS. All of our "people" are from the "Free State of Jones" ,

Cornbread has always been a staple in our house.

I'm 69 and was given a cast iron cornbread skillet by my father that he said he'd had since he was 8 years old. That would have been 1936.

My Mother was a terrible cook! Loved her, but she lacked skill. WTH?

My Mother in law (Winnie Sue), as was Rhonda (my Bride), were/are great cooks. I learned from the best.

I'm gonna list our family's standard cornbread recipe and our "Mexican cornbread" recipe below.

The real key is preheating the cast iron skillet. The initial pour will rise and start browning as you pour. That's when you know you're doing it right.

FWIW we use Martha White SR flour and SR Cornmeal.

We, the People of the Free State of Jones, believe recipes are merely suggestions and open to experimentation and tweaking to suit your taste buds. At least that's my excuse in case I forget something that isn't critical.

 

Winnie Sue's Cornbread

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with greased skillet in the oven, 30 minutes.

Mix in large bowl:

2 cups SR cornmeal

1 cup SR flour

2 eggs

I put 2 tablespoons of sugar in it 'cause I can!

Enough buttermilk to thin. That'd be a bit less than a pint. We really don't do exact measurements back home LOL

Bake for 35-40 minutes, depending on your oven.

As soon as you remove the baked cornbread from the oven, turn it onto a plate...otherwise the castiron skillet will overcook it.

 

I make Hamburger soup or French Market soup at least once a month. It would be sacrilege to eat either without Winnie Sue's cornbread! I'd lose my "Southern Card" for certain!

 

"Mama’s Mexican Cornbread"     Winnie Sue

Brown one (1) pound of lean ground beef with a cut up onion – Drain

Mix the cornmeal batter:

2 cups of self rising cornmeal

1 cup of self rising flour

2 eggs

2 tlbs “Wesson” oil

Jalapeños to taste… make it real tasty. If you don't sweat a little under your eyes you aren't adding enough peppers.

Open can of cream style corn and pour 1/2 into batter mix

Add buttermilk to right consistency. It doesn't take much due to the liquid in the cream style corn...beware!

Grease pan...preheat as above. 30 minutes.

Pour ½ batter in the hot greased pan/skillet

Layer with shredded cheese

Add ground beef mixture on top of that

Add the other ½ cream corn – spread on top of meat mixture

Add a layer of shredded cheese

Add other ½ of batter for next layer

 

Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes or until brown

I use a 9 inch cast iron skillet for the Mexican cornbread. It's relatively new and only about 60 years old.

Leave the Mexican cornbread in the cast iron skillet. Slice and serve after it's "rested" about 30 minutes. It'll still be hot, I promise.

 

Rhonda and I complied a folder of recipes I copied from hand written notes, envelopes, etc we collected over the 33 years of marriage( with which God Blessed me). That folder is pretty thick by now.

 

 

Jamie

 

Regular cornbread pic

 

 

 

                              

I've never seen cornbread rise that much.  I guess both self-rising flour and cornmeal will do that. 

And "Free State of Jones" is a good movie. 

[Jamie Jackson]

21 hours ago, peejman said:

I've never seen cornbread rise that much.  I guess both self-rising flour and cornmeal will do that. 

And "Free State of Jones" is a good movie. 

It's what I thought cornbread should look like LOL. Never knew any different.

My father and his family are from Soso,MS.  His father was named "Boss Jackson". Mean old ####!

Ethel Knight was my great aunt. She wrote "The Echo of the Black Horn"...one of the many versions of my mongrel heritage. I enjoyed the movie as well.

Jones County is it's own kind of special. My MIL, Winnie Sue, has a 12 foot gator in the finger lake in her back yard. Fish and Game have removed a couple like that for her. I personally never cared for gator, but I do love some mudbugs! They're easier to manage.

Edited Saturday at 10:44 AM by Jamie Jackson
needed it

[Luckyforward]

Sunday - a H U G E vat of vegetable beef soup and cakes of cornbread!

[RED333]

Wife made a pot roast Thursday with corn bread was a bit dark, the best I have had. She made the roast into stew for the weekend, sitting fat and happy all weekend!!!