“Perhaps no bread in the world is quite as good as Southern cornbread, and perhaps no bread in the world is quite so bad as the Northern imitation of it.” – Mark Twain
True Southern Cornbread
2 cups cornmeal
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 1/2 cup buttermilk*
4 Tablespoons bacon drippings**, divided use
Preheat oven to 450°. Sift together cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg, buttermilk and 2 Tablespoons bacon drippings. Add 2 Tablespoons of bacon drippings to a 10-12″ well seasoned cast iron skillet and place in oven. Slowly add wet ingredients to dry and stir until dry ingredients are just moistened. (Do not over mix!) Carefully remove the hot skillet from the oven and swirl around to coat with drippings. Pour batter into skillet and return to oven for 20-25 minutes.
True Southern cornbread does not have sugar or flour and will have a crumbly texture. It is best served hot with a generous slab of butter, or crumbled into a bowl and covered with chili or pinto beans.
*You can make your own buttermilk by adding 1 1/2 Tablespoons of lemon juice or white vinegar to your milk and allowing it to stand for 5 minutes.
**You may substitute vegetable oil for bacon drippings, but…well, you should try it at least once with bacon drippings!
