Ingredients


Serves 12 - 15.

1 1/4 cup (235g) stone-ground cornmeal
3/4 cup (135g) all-purpose wheat flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tbs. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk
3 tbs. melted butter or bacon drippings
9-inch (22.5cm) square baking pan

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425F (220C).
2. Toss all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl with a fork, mixing thoroughly.
3. Beat the egg with the milk and butter or bacon drippings. (Bacon drippings—the grease left over from making bacon—taste better.)
4. Combine all the ingredients quickly, without beating the batter too much. (It may still be a little lumpy.) Pour the batter into a greased pan and bake 22-25 minutes.
5. The best advice I've heard for making good cornbread is to grease the pan very thoroughly, preferably with bacon fat (or by lining the bottom of the pan with strips of bacon), and put it in the oven while preheating, until the pan is sizzling hot. Then pour the batter directly into the hot pan, which will give your cornbread a crispy crust on the outside.
6. Serve hot and steaming with honey and butter.
7. A tasty variant: corn dogs. Impale beef hot dogs on skewers and dip them in the corn bread batter described above (use less milk if the batter is too thin), then fry immediately in plenty of hot oil until crispy and brown. Serve with yellow mustard.
8. Another tasty variant: muffins. Just use the batter above in a muffin tin; bake 18-20 minutes. Makes a dozen large muffins.

Note: I made atrocious corn bread until I found this recipe. Corn bread of different kinds is traditional to much of the Americas—this recipe, a specialty of the southern US, combines some wheat flour to give it a lighter texture. Use fine stone-ground cornmeal if you can find it; the coarser stuff gives it a much grainier texture that I personally find unpleasant.