Southern Skillet Cornbread

I have taken a nine month leave from my blog while my family moved from urban Charlotte, NC, and got settled in rural east Tennessee. The food culture, traditions and available ingredients are more foreign than I had anticipated. The cast iron skillet is now my most relied upon kitchen utensil, and dried beans my largest pantry item. I have also realized a true necessity to rely on a well-stocked pantry, living in a one-stop-light town that only offers an IGA and a general store as grocery options. Being an hour's drive from the next big city (Knoxville), growing and preserving your own food is the best way to enjoy quality meals. And when you do venture into town, you'd better stock up on things that last!

What better recipe to christen this new genre of cuisine than skillet cornbread. In the Appalachian South, this is every family's staple and each recipe is slightly different. In the past month, we have had two Cornbread festivals in east Tennessee, if that gives you any indication of the status of cornbread here. If the first thing that comes to mind is the white and robin blue box of Jiffy, you have no idea what I'm talking about. But you're about to learn!


Southern Skillet Cornbread
This recipe is for a 12-inch cast-iron skillet, serving 6-8 folks. But if you make it every day and for every occasion like my country cook mentors, you don't measure. You just know how to fix it for any sized skillet. You never know when you'll have drop ins...


Required kitchen gadget
A well-seasoned cast-iron skillet. Most come seasoned, but be sure to always use grease when cooking in it. And never wash with soap. Just wipe it out with a dry paper towel. Wet if absolutely necessary.

Ingredients
4 T. salted butter
1 cup self-rising flour
3/4 cup self-rising cornmeal
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Add butter to 12-inch cast iron skillet and set in preheating oven just until melted. Mix flour, cornmeal and soda. Add in just enough buttermilk until all dry ingredients are moistened. Add water, enough to make the mixture into a thick batter. Pour batter into skillet with melted butter. 

Bake for 25 minutes or until cornbread is brown on top and has pulled away from edges of skillet.

The fancy way to serve it is to flip it onto a plate with the bottom crust facing up. You also won't run the risk of burning your dining table!

Variation - Mexican Cornbread!

Yes, this heading needs an exclamation point, because Mexican Cornbread is just that good! It makes cornbread a main dish with the addition of a few ingredients.

• 1 8 oz can of creamed corn
• 1 lb. ground beef or sausage
• 1/2 cup yellow onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped sweet or hot pepper
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese

Before making cornbread, saute you meat, onions and peppers, season with salt at the end. Preheat your oven to 425. Add 4 T. salted butter to a 12-inch cast iron skillet and set skillet in the oven until melted. Make cornbread by combining a heaping cup of flour, heaping 3/4 cup of cornmeal, 1/4 tsp. soda. Add buttermilk and creamed corn and stir to combine. Add just enough water to make it the consistency of cornbread or pancake batter.

Add just under half of your cornbread batter to the skillet. Top with your meat mixture and shredded cheese. Cover with the rest of the cornbread mixture. Bake for 25 minutes or until cornbread is brown on the top. Cut it into 6 slices and serve from the skillet.