Posted by Suzanne McMinn on February 23, 2008 @ 5:05 am
Tags: cornmeal, quick breads
Breads, The Farmhouse Table
Sometimes people ask me why I haven’t posted a recipe for cornbread since I wax obnoxiously about cornmeal at times. The reason I haven’t posted a recipe for cornbread is because I figure everyone has their own cornbread recipe and there isn’t any need, but since people do ask, I’m going to post it. In West Virginia, cornbread is practically an art. Here on a farm that specializes in grinding fresh cornmeal to make that cornbread, it’s almost a religion. When my cousin, the cornmeal grinder, started letting ME make the cornbread for family suppers, I knew I’d made it. I was Georgia’s equal! I could make the cornbread! (Okay, I’m not Georgia’s equal. You haven’t seen this woman work in the garden…..) But anyone can make great cornbread. First you have to throw out your Jiffy boxes. That is cardboard cornbread. You need the real thing.
Start with great cornmeal. At the very least, real cornmeal, not a Jiffy mix. Cornbread is easy to make, but if you want a mix, you can make your own mix. (I’ll tell you how.) If you can, get fresh cornmeal from a local farmers’ market, organic/health food market, or local fairs and festivals. The fresher the cornmeal, the better. **Fresh cornmeal won’t contain preservatives. Keep it in the freezer for longterm use.
If you’re in this area, my cousin sells his fresh-ground cornmeal at the Black Walnut Festival in Spencer every October and the Mountain State Arts & Crafts Fair in Ripley every July. (He’s been grinding cornmeal there for so many years, last year he was inducted into their Hall of Fame.) I like to get my cornmeal right off his grinder.
How to make cornbread:
2 slices peppered bacon
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk (or milk, but I like to use buttermilk if I have it, you can be all healthy and use skim milk if you want, I LIKE FAT)
1/4 vegetable oil or 1/4 cup cut-up butter (what do you think I prefer?)
Using a large iron skillet, fry the two slices of bacon. Remove the bacon and drain to use for another purpose OR crumble and stir into your cornbread mixture before baking.
In a mixing bowl, stir together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add eggs, milk, and oil or butter. Stir to combine. Do not overstir! (Sometimes more or less milk is required, depending on slight variations in measuring dry ingredients-add what you need to get a nice, thick almost pourable consistency.)
Variations: More sugar, if you want really sweet cornbread, or less sugar if you plan to add vegetables to the mixture-you can add 1/2 cup or so diced, sauteed onions, peppers, anything that appeals to you. Add shredded cheese, or corn, or even chopped pecans. (I like it with pecans especially with a sweet, sweet cornbread mixture.)
Pour cornbread mixture into the iron skillet you used to cook the bacon in to season it with the bacon drippings. (First tip the pan all the way around, spreading the bacon drippings to grease the pan.) Bake in a 425-oven for 20-25 minutes.
To prepare your own cornbread mix:
4 cups flour
4 cups cornmeal
1 cup sugar (or less if you don’t plan to make sweet cornbread)
4 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
Mix well. Store in the freezer in a large plastic freezer bag. To use, scoop out about 2-1/4 cups mix, add your eggs, milk, oil/butter, and you’re all set. Just like a Jiffy mix. Only SO MUCH BETTER. This keeps well in the freezer a long time, so make duplicate bags if you know you like to use mixes to fix cornbread quickly and if this will STOP YOU FROM USING JIFFY MIXES. I’m here to help. I’m a helper. 
How do you make cornbread?
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6:06
am
I *love* cornbread! I have a couple of recipes I make once in a while, but the best cornbread I’ve ever had was in Juneau, Alaska, at a salmon bake (one of the tours offered on the cruise my dad took me on for my 40th b-day). Best salmon, best cornbread.
I’m looking forward to trying this one! (Can’t print till I get to work on Monday, so I hope the recipe still will be available.)
-Kim
8:01
am
To me - the use of the cast iron skillet is what makes the cornbread sooooo good!
8:03
am
8:03
am
Sorry, I hit something and it posted too soon.
Sour milk, about 1 tablespoon vinegar per cup of milk. Let it sit for a couple of minutes to thicken a bit. I don’t know if it gives a buttermilk taste, but it’s a handy substitute for recipes that need it to activate the leveners.
Lovely site…Cindy
8:12
am
Kim, my recipes always stay available-after they’re posted on the blog, they go to the archives and can be found easily by going to the Farmhouse Table page (there’s a link toward the top of the sidebar, or click on the How to do stuff button in the menu to get to the Farmhouse Table page that way). On Monday, the post will actually still be listed at the very bottom of the main blog page under Recent Posts, where all the posts from the past week are always linked.
8:15
am
Let me see if I can put a link here to the Farmhouse Table page without messing it up….
The Farmhouse Table
8:52
am
The iron skillet is the key. I put it in the oven while it pre-heats, and then pour the batter in the sizzling oil. It makes for an incredible crunchy bottom. Oh dear, I may have to make some for lunch.
9:38
am
I love cornbread. My dad hated it so we didn’t eat it as a child, but my husband’s family were big on it, so I had to learn to make it.
Yes, it is the iron skillet that makes it wonderful. The ladies from peanut butter etouffe had a picture of some delish looking cornbread, but didn’t add the recipe.
Thanks for sharing yours.
9:47
am
Okay so you caught me. I’m a Jiffy corn-breader maker . . .
10:13
am
I love the site. I’ve always been Jiffy mixer because I love the sweet flavor, now I’ll try yours and see what happens.
We used to grind our own wheat and corn, maybe I should drag the grinder out again and play with it.
10:19
am
Jiffy Mix… hahaha! I’m a pacific-northern girl. Is there any other mix?
Seriously, when I moved south (for my DH’s job)I was shocked to find an entire three foot section in the grocery store just for corn bread mixes. In Seattle I was used to the Jiffy and maybe one or two other choices. And then to find out people actually make it from scratch, WOW! I really did feel I needed a passport when I ventured into The South.
10:36
am
That looks delicious! I get awesome whole-grain, stone ground cornmeal from an antique grist mill and museum about an hour from my house. I’ll definitely try my cornmeal with your yummy-looking recipe. Bacon makes everything better! Thanks!
10:57
am
One of the GOOD things I learned in the 60’s is that you can use honey instead of sugar in any recipe, just cut the amount in half. I use it in cornbread. When the bread is done baking, I rub butter all over the top while it’s still hot, then drizzle more honey over it.
Love your blog!
Sooz
11:49
am
Give up Jiffy mix? lol. My friend buys your cousin’s cornmeal and loves it.
12:37
pm
My name is jeanne and I’ve never made cornbread
12:46
pm
Jeanne I will stand up beside you and confess that I have never made cornbread either.
It’s not something we do up here in Canada. Sound yummy though. I’ll have to try it. 
12:58
pm
I… err…. I don’t make cornbread.
But I think Aaron would like it if I start. But, alas, I’m a vegetarian so I can’t make your cornbread. :\
1:06
pm
Jen, you can just use Crisco or an oil spray to grease the skillet and that will be fine!
1:10
pm
We LOVE cornbread. I make it almost on a daily basis. Each year on vacation to the Smoky Mountains we buy two 23-lb. bags of white stone-ground cornmeal from The Old Mill in Pigeon Forge, TN. Suzanne, I totally agree with the stone-ground meal and with others on the use of a cast-iron skillet. I have a skillet that is only used for the baking of our cornbread.
Suzanne, I love your blog and your books! I look forward daily to reading your blog-I, too, live the country life!
1:20
pm
I’ve used my maternal Grandmother’s recipe since I was 12 - she never measured anything, just used the ‘dump’ method, so one day I caught & measured each ingredient and wrote it on an old greeting card envelope. I still have that 49 year old envelope today, it’s stained, well worn and now laminated to protect it for posterity.
The only difference between your recipe and hers is that she used 2 parts cornmeal to 1 part flour and it’s just a little coarse and crumbly. Think I’ll try even amounts next time just to see.
Thanks Suzanne, I love your blog and even ordered a couple of your books and am looking forward to reading them.
2:06
pm
That cornbread looks delicious!
Your recipe is very similar to the one we use. 
2:22
pm
Hey do me a favor and ask Mark around how much corn it takes to make 5#s I’d like to get some ground next fall. And you do need to get your own chickens you haven’t lived till you have your own. Get some Buff Orphingtons so you will have a few setters too.
3:03
pm
Cornbread, fried potaotes and brown beans…and the world is a better place! I think the iron skillet is the key…use an old well seasoned one. I am the proud owner of three different sizes…complimants of my father-in-law who had 10 brothers ans sister that all grew up on cornbread.
3:30
pm
Cornbread and beans—yum!
3:45
pm
I anxiously anticipate trying your yummy looking recipe!
Right after reading your prior post about the great advantage of using fresh ground cornmeal in lieu of Jiffy, I noticed a bag of stone ground cornmeal on my grocer’s shelf. I realize it’s not “fresh” per se, but I figured it was closer than Jiffy, so I bought a bag. I have one word. YUM! It was the first time I ever made cornbread that we didn’t end up throwing some of it out to the birds later.
I thoroughly enjoyed what little was leftover of it in a glass of cold buttermilk. Mmmm…
7:34
pm
Funny day for that post….I logged on while the corn meal, sour cream biscuits, I got from your recipes, were in the oven.
I agree about the cast iron skillet, but I lost mine, and when I try to make loaves in my oven they never cook in the middle, so I just make biscuits and muffins.
anna
PS I’m addicted to your blog.
4:59
am
Well, cr*p, I don’t have a cast iron skillet. And I’m not buying one. LOL.
No, cornbread isn’t traditionally made here in Canada, at least not in my culture. I’ve only had it sweet, love it that way. Think the next time I make some I’ll try it with honey, as one of the posters mentioned.
-Kim
1:34
pm
Cornbread isn’t traditionally made here in Finland, either. We have plenty of of other stuff we make here, like pulla (sweet bun).
2:54
pm
Gosh, Kim, how do you LIVE without a cast iron skillet? I use mine every single day! I make cornbread EXACTLY like you do, Suzanne, except for~ I put more bacon grease in my skillet that is preheating in the oven, and then when all the ingredients are mixed together, I pour the hot bacon grease in my cornbread. I leave plenty in the skillet to make a really crunchy crust. I grind my own yellow cornmeal in my electric grain mill. ONLY freshly ground will do, I agree.
4:03
pm
Hmmm, that looks like Walnut Festival cornmeal!
3:12
pm
Actually, I was curious about the mention of Buttermilk and fat, so I looked it up. Buttermilk has less fat than 1% milk. So….not that bad. I don’t know if I can say the same about the bacon though…
7:04
pm
I made this tonight and it is the best cornbread I’ve ever had! Thanks for the recipe, this one is a keeper.
12:03
pm
YOU KNOW THE ELDERLY PREFER WHITE MEAL BECQAUSE THAT WAS UNAVAILABLE DURING THE WAR AND THEY WERE FORCED TO USE YELLOW CORN FROM THE FIELD. THIS WAS GROWN AS ANIMAL FOOD NOT FIT FOR HUMANS, SIMILAR TO THE STIGMA OATS EXPERIENCED AT IT’S INTRODUCTION AS A BREAKFAST GRAIN, MIKE
7:31
pm
I just stumbled upon your site and am enjoying it So much. I love this cornbread recipe, as it reminds me of my late mothers. She would get fresh stone ground corn meal too. It appears to be just like her recipe!
I am loving your site, so far…back to reading.