There’s something that divides the North and the South besides the Mason-Dixie Line – Cornbread! I love moist, sweet Northern cornbread, but sometimes you gotta have a have a real deal Southern Skillet Cornbread.
Southern Skillet Cornbread
Peeps are passionate about Cornbread in the South. It’s personal and a point of pride. It doesn’t matter if it’s the family matriarch with her fave White Lily or a farm-to-table chef grinding heirloom corn.
About Southern Skillet Cornbread:
For me, a real deal Southern Skillet Cornbread is savory, with crispy-crunchy edges from baking in a screaming hot cast-iron skillet. It has substance and just the tiniest bit of “bite” from real deal whole grain, stone ground cornmeal. And of course, a deep rich flavor that only comes from bacon grease. (You can go healthier.)
A golden brown color is the hallmark of Southern Cornbread but two things come into play: the cornmeal used and whether or not the bacon grease is clearer or darker, maybe even with a few bacon bits here and there. My batches vary in color but the most important thing? It should taste great.
Southern Skillet Cornbread
Does Sugar Go in Cornbread?
Sugar is a bone of contention: there’s a divide whether sugar be used or not and if flour should be added.
- Southern Living is said to have polled readers and the result was almost 50/50 on the sugar. I haven’t been able to verify this poll! Please drop a comment with a link if you have one.
- If you’re a geek like me, check this Serious Eats article. It’s about how corn and milling have changed over time – and why traditional recipes changed to adapt.
Bottom line: Modern milling (steel rollers) brought about a change in the type of corn grown, changing the flavor. The heat from the rollers destroys flavor and much of corn’s natural sweetness has been eliminated by removing the germ. The particle size of cornmeal, important for leavening, is also reduced.
By the 1930s most of the old mills were gone, priced out, and cornbread was never the same. To compromise, Southern cooks began adding a faint touch of sugar and a bit of flour. The famed White Lily Cornmeal Mixes contain flour.
Instant Pot Southern Collard Greens
Serving Cornbread:
Serve cornbread anytime with almost anything, especially Sunday dinner, but it’s so especially good with anything liquidy. Think chili and soup, particularly bean soups! It’s ideal served with greens and you’ll want to use it to sop up the pot likker – try with my Instant Pot Southern Collards.
Don’t forget fried chicken and anything barbecue. Serve whenever you’re serving corn, creamed corn, or corn pudding – after all too much corn is never a thing.
Depending on what else we’re making, especially if there isn’t anything to sop up, we love ours with honey butter or hot honey butter.
Spicy Pinto Beans
Using the Cornbread:
There are times when no substitute will do. Luckily it’s quick and easy to make Southern Skillet Cornbread with a minimum of ingredients.
You need it for Cornbread Salad. And gosh, if you haven’t had it, you might want to remedy that. It’s like 10 odd ingredients that meld into a glorious medley of flavors. Only Southern cornbread will stand up to this!
And it has to be Southern Style Cornbread for Cornbread Dressing, whether it’s a treasured family recipe or this bomb Chorizo & Cranberry Stuffing. A lesser cornbread dissolves into mush.
A Northern cornbread will never do if you want to crumble your cornbread into a plate of Spicy Pintos or Smoked Sausage & White Bean Soup. It’s just not gonna be the same if you try to use a soft, cakelike cornbread.
The Secret to Crispy Southern Skillet Cornbread:
The crispy cornbread comes from the hot cast iron skillet, well lubricated with bacon grease. The slightly smoky flavor from those drippings “makes” this cornbread. Feel free to sub equal amounts of oil or other fat.
While you’re mixing the cornbread, pause and rub the bacon grease across the bottom and up the sides of the skillet and preheat it for five minutes. If you’re slow or don’t multi task well, preheat the skillet after you’ve mixed. If that skillet goes too long, the drippings will burn, you’ll smoke out your house, and you’ll have to clean the skillet and start over.
As the cornbread is poured into the center of the skillet, the fat is pushed away from the center and up the sides. The cornbread gets a jump start and edges basially fry! To preserve that crust, let the cornbread sit no longer than five minutes when finished and before turning it out of the pan. Those crisp edges are so prized, some serve the cornbread upside down.
This is the standard mix the dry, mix the wet, than pour the wet into the dry, recipe but how you mix the cornbread is important: use room temperature ingredients and do not overmix.
Southern Skillet Cornbread
No Cast Iron Skillet? No problem:
An 8×8″ pyrex casserole will work. Just lightly oil it, don’t preheat, and be careful: Never set hot Pyrex directly on a cool or moist surface; it can shatter. Always use a DRY hot pad.
Buttermilk Substitute:
The standard buttermilk substitute (our modern “buttermilk” is another change from the old days. It’s no longer liquid left from churning butter) must be started ahead. It takes a good 10 to 15 minutes to “clabber” or thicken.
Place two tablespoons of vinegar in a two cup measure and then fill with milk (preferably whole) to the two cup measure. Don’t measure the milk and then add the vinegar – it throws off the amount.
The BEST Way to Reheat Cornbread:
Wrap cornbread tightly and keep on the counter for two to three days or in the fridge up to five.
Reheat in foil, at 350 degrees F. in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes or the air fryer for about five. If the cornbread is dry, spritz with a little water or add pats of butter on top before wrapping in foil.
Refashion Leftover Cornbread:
Southern Cornbread was served in my Iowa school lunches back in the 1960s. When it made a comeback the second day, we took advantage of the pitchers of syrup.
A revered Southern treat is Cornbread and Milk. Southern Living describes it as leftover cornbread served in a glass, then topped with milk. Chef Damaris Phillips drizzles hers with honey.
Saving Money on Southern Skillet Cornbread:
This is not a pricey recipe, especially if the buttermilk substitute is used, so splurge on the good cornmeal.
Stock up on baking items during your holiday sales when many items are up to half off. To see what’s on sale before the major food holidays, see Win at the Grocer.
Discount stores like Aldi or Lidl have great pricing on baking items year-round, as does your buyer’s club.
Southern Skillet Cornbread
Southern Skillet Cornbread
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Breads
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 2 cups stone-ground cornmeal
- 3/4 cup of flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar (optional)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 2 large eggs
- 2 to 3 tablespoons plus 1/4 cup bacon drippings (may substitute oil)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of drippings to a 10-inch cast-iron skillet or cake pan; rub it over the sides and bottom, and place in preheated oven to heat for five minutes.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, add the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and whisk together. Set aside.
In a smaller bowl, mix the eggs, buttermilk, and remaining 1/4 cup drippings; slightly heat the drippings if not pourable. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir to combine, just until the batter is moistened. Do not overmix.
Carefully remove the heated skillet from the oven and pour in the batter. Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until the cornbread is golden brown, and the center springs back when pressed. Cool on a baking rack and let stand 5 minutes. Remove the cornbread from the skillet and serve immediately.
Notes: If you are making the cornbread to make cornbread dressing, let it cool completely and wrap tightly until ready to use, or freeze up to 30 days.
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I’ll be posting Southern Skillet Cornbread at Fiesta Friday, hosted by Laurena @ Life Diet Health and Trupti @ My Culinary Saga.
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