To order Rhode Island-style white flint jonnycake meal (which makes the best Southern-style cornbread), try Gray’s Grist Mill or Kenyon’s Grist Mill. For northern-style cornbread, we recommend Arrowhead Mills.
East Coast Grill Cornbread (via the New York Times)
Southern-Style Skillet Cornbread
From Serious Pig
4 ounces (about 1 cup) stone ground cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 large egg
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon lard, rendered bacon fat, or peanut oil
1. Preheat oven 425°F. Add the fat to an 8-inch cast iron skillet and place in the preheating oven.
2. Combine the cornmeal, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk together the egg and buttermilk in a liquid measuring cup. When the oven is ready, dump the wet ingredients all at once into the dry ingredients, whisk until just combined, and let sit one minute. Remove the skillet from the oven, carefully pour the batter into the skillet, and return to the oven. Bake 20 minutes, then immediately flip the cornbread out onto a plate and serve.
Yield: 2 to 4 servings, depending whether you’re serving it as a main or side dish.
I just made the Southern style cornbread and it was delicious but very different from any other cornbread I’ve had before. Should I mention I grew up in the South – well, north Florida. The fact that there is no flour and little fat in this recipe gave me pause but I trusted. I slide the hot skillet into the oven and the batter was nestled beneath that thin coating of melted butter I remember so well from my childhood and I knew everything would be OK. And it was more than OK. This preparation won’t be everyone’s preference but I’m hooked for a while at least and it will definitely accompany my black eyed peas this New Years!
Yeah, the “northern-style” cornbread is, as I understand it, pretty popular in the south, too. Maybe more so than what we’re calling “southern-style.” And yeah, if you haven’t had the southern-style before, it will be nothing like what you know as cornbread.
I’m so glad you guys mentioned Jiffy Cornbread! A few months ago I wrote a little about it on my sleepy blog: http://heyyouboo.tumblr.com/post/25439950540/every-now-and-then-i-will-pass-the-timeless-jiffy There is a link there to a great video about Howdy Holmes and his famous Jiffy Cornbread
Okay, Southerner, born and raised, down here in Georgia. As I type this, I have “Southern style” cornbread in the oven. It is pretty much the exact recipe that you posted, Matthew, so I will vouch for the authenticity. I just use a huge hunk of butter in the skillet, and I personally always use whole milk buttermilk but that’s me.
This is great with parmesan cheese and parsley mixed in, pour on top of chili and bake until the cornbread is cooked.