Another Resource for the Pantry
After that lengthy discussion on why cornbread should not have sugar in it, I went hunting for the reasons behind not putting sugar into cornbread batter. The author of the article below is as serious about his food as are all of the rest of us.
This Real Southern Cornbread recipe comes from Serious Eats.
https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/11/southern-unsweetened-cornbread-recipe.html
YIELD: Makes 1 (12-inch) skillet bread (about 2 1/2 pounds)
ACTIVE TIME: 20 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 1 hour
RATED: SAVE
Ingredients
15 ounces (3 cups) stone-ground cornmeal (see note)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons sugar (optional; see note below)
2 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 eggs
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted, divided
Directions
- Place a well-seasoned 12-inch cast iron skillet on the center rack of the oven and preheat oven to 375°F.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk cornmeal with salt, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar (if using).
- In a separate bowl, whisk buttermilk with eggs until homogenous. Whisking constantly, drizzle in all but 1 tablespoon melted butter.
- Whisk liquid ingredients into dry ingredients just until thoroughly mixed; avoid over-mixing.
- Pour remaining 1 tablespoon melted butter into preheated skillet and carefully swirl to coat bottom and sides. Scrape batter into prepared skillet, smoothing the top gently with a rubber spatula. Bake until cornbread is lightly browned on top and a skewer inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.
- Let cool for about 15 minutes in skillet, then serve warm. (Cornbread does not keep well and will lose its texture as it cools, so it’s best to eat it while it’s still fresh.)
Special Equipment: 12-inch cast iron skillet There are several brands, but I have a fondness for Lodge cast iron stuff.
Notes from Serious Eats: A lot of industrial cornmeal is made from under-ripe corn and then ground using modern methods for a very consistent grind. That kind of cornmeal does not make a good Southern-style unsweetened cornbread.
For best results here, use a high-quality, fresh stone-ground cornmeal, such as from Anson Mills, Old Mill of Guilford, or Nora Mill. These cornmeals do not need additional sugar. If you use a more mass-market source, consider adding the optional sugar to help balance the flavor.
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I checked Anson Mills’ site. They use organic old-fashioned grains for milling rather than the mass-produced hybrid varieties. They also have a section of their website devoted to recipes. They are in Columbia, SC.
Old Mill of Guilford is in Oak Ridge, NC. The grains they mill are stone-ground, so it isn’t just a modern facility. It’s a grist mill. Yes, they have a variety of products and a recipes section.
Nora Mill Granary Grist Mill (established 1876) and Country Store is located in Helen, GA. They have an online store for their products, as well as a recipes section.
I suggest that we all support these small American companies. We’re all in this recession together. I will continue to search for American companies that are likely struggling like the rest of us to keep going, even when/if this crisis resolves itself. Not to go into a lecture about it, but the financial forecast is pointing more and more toward a prolonged recession, into 2023. If anything I post up will get your pantries and shelves stocked up and by doing that, it helps others people with their businesses, I will keep it going, period.
Thank You for sharing, Ex!
The Sweet/Unsweet Cornbread reminds me of Beans/No Beans Chile.
At least we all agree that one needs to use an Iron Skillet to make the cornbread and REAL Butter.
😉😎
REEALL butter is always better, in every possible way!
AMEN!!!!!!!
Thank You, again, Ex, for providing us the recipe.
👍👍👍👍
If you have been adding sugar into the batter with no problem and it tastes great so why change since it’s batter than nothing. I’m sorry Ex but as usual, I just had to ADD that in with the sugar. Why we are on the sugar subject, check out the Cleftone’s NYC uptempo song “Why Do You Do Me Like You Do” on the Gee label 1957.
My sister bought that record. I thought it was silly. Then I got into high school and everything became as clear as mud.
Puns are allowed as long as you butter them.
Why ditch the sugar? That was the discussion, because most cornbread recipes do call for sugar. However, the traditional Southern recipes leave out that ingredient. I think that sugar may act as a minor preservative in the mix, because without it, the cornbread becomes stale by the next day. (Good for cornbread stuffing, however.)
So I’ve offered the choice (with/without) and resources as well, and I will likely be shopping for cornmeal at one of those mills before Summer has started to wane. However, if the weather keeps giving us chilly weather after one or two days of something normal, I may just stock the pantry shelves sooner. We had Winter start early and end late again, this past Winter season.
Ex;
Was going to mention if your Sister heard of the song because I remember you mentioned your Sister liked Fabian. Didn’t know if the song got that far west. herbie Cox is the lead singer of the Cleftones and went to Jamaica H.S in Jamaica Queens NYC. I met him once or twice at Ronnie I’s United In Group Harmony (UGHA) shows when I used to go to Schutzen Park up in North Bergen, NJ from Long Beach LI.
She was a big fan of American Bandstand. She might have heard it played there. Otherwise, thanks to modern engineering and high ceilings in the AM band widths, we could pick up stations as far away as Baltimore, as long as the heaviside layers were high enough to bounce the transmission that far. We could pick up Canadian radio broadcasts, too.
Jeff:
Aren’t you a former New Yorker?
(Sweet Versus Unsweet Conbread).
Had someone from White Plains, NY tell me that they were going to have a BBQ at their home.
When I showed up, they were grilling hotdogs on a charcoal grill.
I asked them if they ever traveled South of the Mason/Dixon Line.
The answer was “No”.
They don’t know what they are missing. Me? I personally like North Carolina BBQ Pulled Pork (Vinegar Base).
Did not have the heart to tell them that IMHO, BBQ and Grilled Hotdogs are not the same.
😉😎
ninja, there are people whose world is so small that a charcoal grill outside or not is a BBQ.
There are many, many people who know what REAL BBQ is, and make a festival out of it. I’d just as soon fix BBQ beef or pork from scratch in a slow cooker or a Dutch oven. (Then I don’t have to stand over a hot grill on a hot, humid Summer day. 🙂 )
Nothing at all wrong with rollers and sliders (dogs and burgers for our Nautically Challenged friends) over coals. Don’t call it what it’s not- it’s a cookout, not a BBQ. True ‘Q starts the day before with a flavorful rub slathered all over the guest of honor, who spends the night wrapped up in the reefer. Cooking can and does take all day and involves low heat and hardwood smoke, an art in itself. Take a long time? Yep. Worth it?
Heh.
Ed and Ex:
Was SO tempted to tell them that they had a “Cookout” and NOT a “BBQ”, but remembered (just as you said, Ex) that their world was so small (the person was born and raised in White Plains and never stepped outside of New York State) that I did not have the heart to tell them.
I came into the Army from Roll Tide Country even though I was not raised in that State. True Story: Had others in my Basic Training Company ask me if I lived in a Southern Mansion, drinking Mint Julips while being fanned with leaves during the summertime.
I honestly thought they were kidding.
They were serious.
Then I saw the other side of the coin. While stationed in Hawaii, had folks travel to pay the ninja family a visit.
Some of them actually thought the folks on Oahu lived in grasshuts and wore grass skirts. It was a culture shock for them.
😎
P.S to AW1Ed:
The ninja family prides on making finger licking BBQ Baby Back Ribs using a teeny-tiny Weber Grill. First a Dry-Rub on those ribs that we let set ivernight. Then slather with homemade BBQ sauce the next day when grilling.
Oneday, we may invest in a Green Egg. Maybe.
😉😎
Green Egg is nice, but the cooking area is SO small.
Webers are okay for some, but try the cast iron Hibachi that Lodge makes and you’ll never want to go back, the first one I bought lasted me just about twenty years! I like to start with a small hardwood fire followed with adding charcoal and an occasional piece of wood, and THAT will do justice to a burger, steak, Bratwurst or anything else you want to grill!
I absolutely love a good, thick Polish sausage grilled properly on the grill, preferably over charcoal. Ditto for thick, juicy beef patties that get introduced to the coals and then become acquainted with The Fixins.
But as AW1Ed knows, a grill over charcoal is not BBQ, which is a sauce that is a challenge to make.
Usually, the commercial kind is overloaded with sugar when it should be tangy and have just a hint of cider vinegar as part of its “nose”. Some day, I’ll take the time to mix up a small batch and give it a shot.
ninja;
I’d like to say that the word BBQ is used like Assault rifle is used to describe any weapon that is black but that isn’t the case since most people think that BBQing is grilling so that is why they use the BBQ word. I was always aware of the two different ways of pre pairing meats. I used to watch a lot of the Travel channel’s BBQ shows where they travel all over the place to those BBQing contests using different wood and some of those BBQ rigs that they use are awesome. A friend of mine whom used to work in American Airlines cargo which was away from the JFK terminal used to go out on his lunch break to an old over grown ball field across from the freight building with a .22 rifle using BB or CB .22 caps when it was raining and bad visibility and cap numerious rabbits and then smoke them in his homemade smoker next to his garage. The top the walls in his living room had mounted antlered buck heads all around the walls.was a long bow hunter.
Only a weenie calls a hot dog/hamburger cookout a “BBQ”. I had to ‘splain the difference to some of the troops from the other side of the M/D Line myself back yonder. Got a nephew in NE that was a big time BBQ Grillmaster/Smoker that is now a Nationally Accredited Judge for the contests. Myself, well, I know enough about it all to be dangerous.
’bout this time next week, if not before, I’ll be using my K Roger discounted grill/smoker to prepare various and assorted beasts for consumption during out very scaled back Family Reunion (another casualty of the Chinesecommunist Originated Virus Infecting Disease of 2019). Not sure what all I will do yet, but it will include beef, pork, and chicken beasts.
Homeboy pard up the street has a porked beast that was put on during evening last. Been percurlating lowly over hickory and pecan coals. You can smell it all over town. The pig pickin’ is gonna start just before dark thirty.
According to my Mrs., my FIL’s favorite breakfast is cornbread in a bowl with milk poured over it!
He probably misses corn meal grits. Just guessing.
API:
Cornbread with buttermilk…good eating!
Bless you Mi’Lady. Put some South in yo mouth! It is good that Kitchen Warriors such as we are, meet in the Galleys of Honor to do Battle against the heathens that would profane the Almighty Southern Buttermilk Cornbread. Amen and pass the butter.
The last original grist mill in my AO that ‘Cump Sherman’s Boys DIDN’T BURN (and they burned most of them) just closed down in the last year or so. Up until then, you could take your grains there and have them ground for whatever purpose and you could buy the finished product in the 5, 10, 25, or 50 lbs bags. The crushing amount of grubmint regulations forced a family run business that had been around since 1818 had to lock the doors. The mill building and all the equipment is/was (?) still there. No idea of plans for the property. Another one that’s about 50 miles in the other direction had the same problem. It is now an “event center” for weddings, parties ect.
Most of my cast iron is very old Griswold with some Erie pieces thrown in. There may be a lodge or two in the mix. Next step is to give our folks a lesson in making Johnny Cakes or Hoe Cakes. For the sure ’nuff challenge we’ll see if they can make the Lacy Style.
DO NOT Blaspheme a skillet of real buttermilk cornbread with sugar. That’s for cupcakes, cookies, or maybe muffins. It’s bad enough that pistols have plastic and wings/engines are installed upside down and backwards on some aircraft. God will only let you get away with so much.
I must admit, to succumbing to the sexy wiles of a Lodge pan with ceramic coating. I know, blasphemy. But it is a joy to know that I have ONE pan that will not rust!
I have lots of cast iron, most with ceramic coating. Tastes great, lasts almost forever. Pass it along to my g’children.
Lots of LeCreuset, some Lodge, many “off brands” (can’t even read the markings).
Ex;
Was going to mention if your Sister heard of the song because I remember you mentioned your Sister liked Fabian. Didn’t know if the song got that far west. herbie Cox is the lead singer of the Cleftones and went to Jamaica H.S in Jamaica Queens NYC. I met him once or twice at Ronnie I’s United In Group Harmony (UGHA) shows when I used to go to Schutzen Park up in North Bergen, NJ from Long Beach LI.
It’s -bread- not -cake-