The Pone of Life

March 3rd, 2011

Better Cornbread

I decided I was too hidebound in my approach to cornbread, so I made the changes I knew had to be made. The result is beyond wonderful, but still your basic Appalachian non-sweet, white-meal cornbread.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups self-rising white corn meal
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups milk
1/4 cup bacon grease
3 tbsp. butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. sugar

Heat a seasoned #6 cast iron skillet in your oven at 450. Pour the bacon grease in and give it five minutes or so. You want it hot enough to smoke. Mix all the other stuff (except the butter, which you should melt) in a heat-safe bowl.

Pour the hot grease into the batter. Pour the butter in. Stir thoroughly. Pour into the hot skillet and bake at 450 for around 22 minutes. Make sure it’s low enough in the oven to keep the bottom of the skillet hot. This will brown the bread.

Flip the pone out, right it, and eat!

This is less crumbly and more flavorful than the version with no butter and only 1 egg.

There is no reason why you can’t add even more of the good stuff (butter, grease, sugar, salt, eggs) or use different fats, but this will make you very, very happy.

4 Responses to “The Pone of Life”

  1. greg zywicki Says:

    Are additions like cracklins or cheese or corn kernals or chopped chiles considered apostate, or do they go without saying, or neither?

    Granted, I’m a yankee who uses wheat flour, sugar, and paking powder in “corn bread” and who is likely to put them in paper cups.

    Not really. I do use buttermilk and baking soda, and a bit of sugar, but i do bake it in a skillet and I do use bacon fat/lard when availlable.

  2. Steve H. Says:

    Anything goes, but wheat flour is not a choice I would make.

  3. Steve H. Says:

    I have put cracklings in my cornbread, but it’s much better without them.

  4. Ric Locke Says:

    What I like: add to the recipe, 4 slices thick-cut bacon and 1/4 lb. of the cheese of your choice, sliced or crumbled.

    Get the bacon grease by cooking the bacon just to the annoying, rubbery, not-quite-cooked stage bad cafes serve. Set the bacon aside, and save any excess grease. This also has the advantage of partially preheating the skillet.

    When the mix is finished, pour half of it in the pan. Lay the partially-cooked bacon on top, then cover that with a layer of cheese. Pour in the rest of the mix, being careful to cover the cheese/bacon layer. Bake normally, as above.

    Inspired by Russian/Ukrainian “tchadi”, which is water-and-cornmeal pone with a cheese layer to take the edge off. Call it Capitalist Oppressor Tchadi.

    Regards,
    Ric