Next batch, swab the areas with lots of bacon fat.

You have touched on a topic which people will debate with theological zeal, i.e., should corn bread have sugar and/or flour. The farther removed from the Deep South you are, the more acceptable such 'adulterants' (grin) become. Here's a post I posted on the topic a while back:

I will grant a point to those who use 'adulterants' :) like sugar and flour: unless the quality of the corn meal is very good, cornbread made with just corn meal can be bitter. Meal can go rancid and stale pretty quickly. But cornbread made with fresh cornmeal, preferably stone-ground locally, is plenty sweet on its own.

I generally only buy small quantities of cornmeal--just enough to make whatever recipe I'm making, and I buy it at a store that seems to have a good turnover of product. (That means not buying it at a gourmet store. No telling how long that stuff has been on the shelf.)

Fortunately in my area of South Carolina there are a few grist mills not too far away that supply the local stores.

Bernard Clayton's 'New Complete Book of Breads' actually has a listing for 2 different breads. One he calls "Yankee Corn Bread" (sugar, flour, yellow corn meal) and the other is Southern Corn Bread (white corn meal, no sugar or flour.)

I find, though, that the freshness of the meal is more important than whether it's white or yellow.

For those with access to good fresh meal I recommend this recipe for Southern Corn Bread, from Clayton:

2 eggs, room temp
2 cups buttermilk, room temp
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups white cornmeal (but yellow is okay, too)
1 1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven and baking utensil (skillet or 9 x 9 pan) to 450 while mixing batter.

In a small bowl beat the eggs and mix in the buttermilk. In a mixer bowl, mix the baking soda, cornmeal and salt. Pour in the egg-buttermilk mixture and mix well until smooth.

Pour batter into the preheated pan, return to oven for 20 to 25 minutes. It's done when a knife inserted into the center of the pan comes out clean & dry.

I use this recipe when I make cornbread dressing for Thanksgiving; a quadruple recipe just barely fits into a 5 quart KitchenAid mixer bowl, and into an 11 x 14 pan. Absolutely delicious.

This is what you use to soak up the pot juices from cooking black-eyed peas or greens. I always called those juices 'pot liquor' but my wife wondered what the heck I was talking about when I used that term. I guess that's southern as well.

If I seem to go on & on, please forgive me: I'm on Adkins and can't have any cornbread right now. When I lose another 20 pounds, though, I'm going on a carbo bender which will most definitely include a batch of this cornbread.

When I was able to get whole corn, I'd grind my own and just add a little honey. It never lasted long! The stores haven't had whole corn for a couple of years now, so we haven't had any. There must be too much going to cat litter and bio fuel.

I like both kinds of cornbread. Elery's sister Susan insists that cornbread MUST be made with white corn meal and no sugar. I make mine with yellow cornmeal and a bit of sugar, but Grandma always called my recipe "Johnny Cake", cornbread wasn't sweet and Johnny Cake was.

As for that corn stick mold, I agree, brush it with some bacon grease. Lacking that, use some melted shortening and put the mold in the oven until it's hot, then add your batter. Be careful, cast iron holds the heat, so don't burn yourself. Pouring the batter into a hot greased cast iron pan makes a lovely crunchy crust and mine seldom sticks.

I hope it helps yours.

Here is the recipe I use for a slightly sweet "Johnny Cake". I'd shorten the baking time if using those corn stick molds, they won't take nearly as long as a 9 inch skillet.

Johnny Cake

3/4 c all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups cornmeal
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup melted shortening

Sift together flour, baking soda, sugar and salt; stir in cornmeal. Whisk together eggs, vinegar, and shortening; add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened.
Heat a well-greased 9-inch cast iron skillet in a 400° oven for 3 to 4 minutes or until very hot. Spoon batter into hot skillet. Bake at 400° for 30 minutes or until lightly browned.

Annie

Annie, vinegar? Is that just for flavor or does it provide some sort of reaction? That's a new ingredient for me. I'm not knockin' it... just curious if it 'does' something, lol.

I can see how the corn bread would get stuck in that pan. Have you greased it up inside and out and baked it empty for an hour or two at 250 to season it? Maybe you should do it again. You might also consider baking little meat loaves or some other greasy type thing to help the seasoning along.

Here's what I consider a traditional corn bread recipe. 'Course, tradition is all in where you come from. I've only done this in a cast iron skillet. I don't know if it would work in your corn pan. The texture of this bread is not cake like, as some are. It has a denser texture than cake with a slight grittiness but not too much. This recipe makes a thinnish end product with a crunchy crust.

1/2 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup yellow corn meal
1 large pinch of sugar, probably a teaspoon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/8 cup oil
Milk - start with half a cup and add enough so that the consistency is a little thicker than cake batter. Not too runny, not so thick you can't pour it.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix dry ingredients then add wet. Pour into a generously greased cast iron skillet. Bake until sides pull away from pan. At this point I turn on the broiler to brown the top and make it crunchy. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes before cutting. That lets it sweat a bit so it doesn't stick. If you let it sit for longer than that you will begin to lose the crisp bottoms crust. Serve with lots of butter.

Note: If you are in the no sugar camp, just leave it out. I do sometimes but my hubby likes a good 2 tablespoons of sugar in it - YUK. So, I compromise with just a bit of sugar.

I love cornbread, almost any kind. The less sweet is better with meals, but since I usually make cornbread to serve more as a breakfast than with a meal, I usually make one on the sweeter side. Here are three of my favourite Cornbread recipes. I make these all of these in loaf pans, springform pans, muffin tins, etc...

Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Cornbread Muffins
=================

I have a number of cornbread recipes
that I make but this is the most
tender,
melt in your mouth cornbread recipe
You can make it in muffin tins, loaf
pan
or a springform pan
1 egg
1/2 Cup melted butter
1/4 Cup vegetable oil
1 Cup milk, warmed
1 Cup cake flour
2/3 Cup yellow cornmeal
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 Teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Beat the egg, melted butter and the oil
until well blended. Stir in the milk. In a separate bowl, blend the
cake flour with the cornmeal, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add to the
egg mixture and stir until just blended. This is a very light, loose
batter. Spoon into desired pan and bake until golden. If making muffins
this will take 15 to 20 minutes to bake. It will take longer in a loaf
pan or a springform pan.

Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Cornbread Loaf
==============

1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 eggs
6 tablespoons melted and cooled butter
8 tablespoons melted and cooled vegetable shortening
1 1/2 cups milk

preheat the oven to 400°. sift into a mixing bowl the cornmeal, flour,
sugar, salt and baking powder. Beat the eggs lightly, add the melted
butter and shortening, and stir in the 1 1/2 cups of milk. Pour into
the bowl of dry ingredients and beat together for about a minute, or
until smooth. Do not over beat. Lightly butter an 8 x 12 inch shallow
baking pan and pour in the batter. Bake in the center of the oven for
about 30 minutes, or until the bread comes slightly away from the edge
of the pan and is golden brown. If you wish you make bake the
cornbread in a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan. increase the baking time to 45
minutes.

Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Cheddar Cornbread with kernels and Chives
=========================================

Source: Newspaper recipe

1 ear of corn, roasted (I used canned corn)
1 cup cornmeal
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs separated
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup snipped chives
1 cup grated Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 425°F

If using fresh corn, but the kernels off the cob.

Grease a 9 inch square pan.

Mix the cornmeal and milk together. Stir in egg yolks.

Beat Egg whites to soft peak stag.

Mix flour, sugar, salt and baking powder together.

Add flour mixture to the cornmeal mixture and stir in the butter. Add the chives and the corn. Fold the egg whites into the batter. Pour mixture into prepared pan and top with cheddar cheese. Bake for approximately 20 to 25 minutes until golden and cake pulls away from the sides of the pan. Serve warm.

Oh I am so glad you started this thread! I just got one of those corn shaped cornbread pans and haven't tried it yet. I will definitely have to season it well before giving it a try.

THanks for all the great sounding recipes too - there is cornbread in my future!

Alexa

trsinc, I have no idea, that's just the way Grandma's recipe is. At first I thought it was like the vinegar you put in milk when you are out of buttermilk, but there's no milk in the recipe so I'm sure I don't know. I don't taste it in the cornbread anyway....

Annie

In that recipe, the vinegar is probably there to react with the baking soda to make a chemical leaven. In the recipe I posted, the acidity of the buttermilk does that.

Interesting. I'm going to try a splash of vinegar next time and see what happens. Thanks Anney and Arley.

arley, thats too funny-I'm in "southern" ohio and I think anything goes here as I've had it adulterated and unadulterated from the locals here, just never made it myself without using a mix. I will try the recipe from Bernard Clayton when I come across a source for fresh cornmeal. I use his egg braid bread recipe from The Complete Book of Breads and love it, I make cinnamon rolls with that recipe too. Oh and the bacon grease you and annie were right about that, and pre heating the pan.

annie, when I got home I tried your recipe for Johnny cake.
I halved the recipe and the batter seemed kind of stiff to me but I went ahead and made them, just tamped the batter down, didn't think to add a drop or two of milk or anything. So they are a bit dry and crumbly, but they taste good and came out of the pan. I'm sure I miscalculated some of the measurements in my rush to retry the corn pan. Here is a pic, though I hate to show it after ann t's. lol

{{gwi:2068819}}

trsinc, I wondered about the vinegar too, but I can't taste it. Cute about baking little meatloaves, my daughter would have loved it when she was little, but now would question the portion control! They are small. Thanks for the recipe

Thanks for the recipes ann, lots of cool weather ahead and time to try all these beautiful recipes.

caliloo, I got my pan from my MIL when she moved into an apartment after years on the farm. I like the cute factor.

Di

diinohio, I do everything by "how it looks". I think all breads, even cornbread, varies depending on the humidity, the flour, the freshness of the cornmeal, the brand, a lot of things.

If it looks dry, it is. Maybe my eggs are bigger, or my cornmeal "wetter", if it looks dry I'd just add a bit of milk, a bit at a time until it looks "cornbread batter like", if that's truly a description, LOL.

Funny about how you can't taste that vinegar, isn't it? At least they didn't stick and weren't too sweet, LOL, now it's just a matter of consistency. (grin)

Hey, my pictures NEVER look like Ann T's.....

Annie

Just wanted to report back. Tonight I made my regular recipe, listed above using baking powder - not soda. Anyway, I added a splash of vinegar and it did change the 'crumb' somewhat. I like the end product so now I'll use just a tablespoon or so of vinegar each time.

Try arley's recipe for Southern Corn Bread. It is the gold standard. I agree with Ann T (and who could resist her gorgeous photos) when it comes to sweet breakfast breads eaten with coffee. But for corn bread to accompany savory foods, Southern Corn Bread is what you want.

Jim

But no one has mentioned good old fashioned Southern Spoon Bread....

There was a cornbread thread quite a while ago in which I think I posted the recipe I always used. It came from the package of Lamb's Stone Ground Yellow Cornmeal. Anyway, I thought I'd post that recipe again, but I could swear the recipe on the package has changed. I think they must have been bought out. I wish I could remember that recipe, because I really liked it. It was very basic.

An integral part of the method of baking Southern cornbread is to heat the oil in the baking pan, or preferably, cast iron skillet, before adding to the batter. I measure the oil into the pan, and place it into the oven while the oven is pre-heating. When the oil and pan are piping hot, take the pan out of the oven, pour the oil into the batter, stir until just mixed, and then pour the batter into the hot pan, and bake. You have to be very careful, of course, in doing this, but it really makes for a good texture.

The current packaging for this brand of cornmeal doesn't have this method on it, but I could have sworn the old package did. I guess maybe someone got hurt and complained.

Sally