I'm sure this topic will generate a lot of comments.... Cornbread is such a personal thing due to personal preferences. -Grainlady

1. It starts with the cornmeal. The finer the grind, the more cake-like you can expect the crumb of the cornbread. A coarse grind will get a coarse-textured cornbread. For a lighter, cake-like cornbread use a combination of a fine-grind cornmeal and flour, as well as an additional egg and a mix of buttermilk and regular (sweet) milk is suggested by some "experts" on the subject. For coarse cornbread, skip recipes that include flour. The gluten in the flour helps bind the cornbread together and lighten the texture, while flour-free cornbread is great for crumbling.

2. Do you like a crisp, crunchy, slightly gritty, golden crust? Bake it in a well-greased, pre-heated cast-iron skillet. For a cake-like cornbread - bake it in a cold prepared pan in a pre-heated oven.

3. Fat-of choice, sour cream, yogurt and even creamed corn in recipes will make it moist.

4. Traditionally, buttermilk (the real stuff left from making butter) was used, and it has little in common with cultured commercial buttermilk available today. The dairy product, as well as the fat-of-choice help to tenderize the crumb along with the sweetener used. There will be some flavor differences between commercial buttermilk and sweet milk, as well as yogurt or sour cream.

5. Low-fat recipes will tend to stale quickly. Oil tenderizes the crumb while butter tenderizes it AND also adds a richer flavor. Bacon grease and lard were traditional fats used. Too much fat will also make the cornbread fall apart because it's too tender.

6. Personal note... If you've never had cornbread made with freshly-milled cornmeal, you are missing out on a real taste treat. And that smell - oh my - just can't be duplicated using commercial cornmeal.

I like cornbread, nearly all of it. If it's too dry I crumble it into my beans. I like it with white cornmeal and yellow, sweet or not sweet. I have been told with great authority by my sister in law in Tennessee that if it's made with anything except white cornmeal and if it has any sugar at all, it's not cornbread, it's cake. (shrug) I like it that way too. I even like Jiffy Mix cornbread!

As Grainlady mentioned, I always bake it in a hot cast iron skillet because I like the crunchy crust, but I won't turn down a corn muffin baked in a paper wrapper either.

I like the flavor that butter gives cornbread, but the right oil will lower your saturated fat level in the finished product. I can't see much of a difference in texture and most recipes call for melting the butter. I do think the butter makes the crust a bit crunchier.

I think the buttermilk lends a moister texture than sweet milk does, and I like the slight "tang" that buttermilk adds. As I've mentioned before, taste is subjective, not objective, and so it all depends on what YOU like.

Annie

Cornbread must be made with corn meal only, no sugar and no wheat flour. It's the law!

Buttermilk is good.

I hope this helps.

Jim

The law according to Jim. (grin) What is the penalty for completely ignoring "Jim's Law"?

As I said, I like white cornbread with no sugar just fine. I add butter, let it melt and drizzle the stuff with honey. Works for me and makes the cornbread ever so much sweeter, LOL.

Actually, Ann T's sweet breakfast cornbread is one of my favorites just for eating and it's magnificent with a cup of coffee. Sometimes I add blueberries.....

If I'm having it with chili or with beans, I want the unsweetened variety.

Annie

Can't stand the stuff.....sweet,savory, dry, moist...simply can't abide it. Right up there, or rather down there, with grits for me.

Annie, those would be Johnny cakes, not cornbread. But I am sacrilegious and I love it any way there is to eat cornbread. Cakes, pancakes with jalapenos added, muffins, with sugar, without, with broccoli and cheddar cheese added. Mmm.

My grandmother always melted the shortening and then added that as the fat. She'd put the pan in the oven with the measured shortening to melt it and heat up the pan. Then pour the shortening into the mix. Seems like the Martha White packaging also says to do this.

rob, Grandma always called the sweetened stuff johnnycake too. She also melted the fat in the cast iron skillet, heating the skillet in the oven as it preheated, then poured the hot fat into the batter. Yup, we're related. (grin) I'm glad to know I'm not the only one breaking "the law"...

elery likes his cornbread with jalapenos, cheese and bacon, and he was born in Kentucky, raised in Tennessee, I guess he's sacriligious too, when it comes to cornbread.

I won't eat grits though, or polenta. It's all cornmeal mush to me, as is the masa mixture that tamales are made of. It's the texture, it's just too......mushy.

Annie

I think buttermilk is used in cornbread because it reacts with baking soda to help it rise.

Sharon, I guess you do not like polenta either, as it is essentially the same as grits. I love all cornbread except for the sweet ones, and I only make savory grits, usually with garlic, jalapeno, cheese, and sometimes hot Italian sausage. It is one of my standard breakfast meals. My mother used to make hamburger corn pone pie, which was made with spiced hamburger that was sauteed in an iron skillet, tomatoes added, and the topped with cornbread batter before being baked. It was one of my favorite meals that she made, but I haven't made it myself.

I switch between using oil and butter in cornbread. For grits I use butter, but for plain cornbread I tend to use oil - butter can be added later.

Lars

Grainlady - What kind of corn do you grind? I usually have a hard time finding corn and my husband wants to leave home when I put it in the grinder because it is so loud, but his favorite cornbread is fresh ground with no flour and no sugar. LOL

The soda is used IF you use buttermilk because it reduces the sour taste of the buttermilk. If you sub regular milk, eliminate the soda.

soonergrandmom-

I use yellow dent corn, although I would use yellow popcorn in a pinch. I just added a 40# pail of organic yellow dent corn to storage from Pleasant Hill Grain. And check out Honeyville Grain if you can use a 50# bag - shipping is still $4.49 for your entire order.

Get your hubby a pair of ear plugs. I always wear ear plugs when milling; and I send anyone else out of the room when using the NutriMill. Noise isn't a problem using the hand-powered Corona Corn Mill, in which case I'm glad for some (ahem) assistance (LOL).

-Grainlady

Miss Chase... You know how I feel about you. It hurts my heart to hear you say you don't like cornbread OR grits! lol

Sorry cook.... and here's the kicker don't like collard greens either!

Oh dear, Sharon, at least I like two out of the three, even if I do put sugar in my cornbread and usually use yellow cornmeal.

I love collard greens, so maybe that'll save me from the grits!

Annie