Best Cornbread—-

I really like cornbread, especially with beans or peas. As with everything that we commonly eat, most are “good”, but some are GREAT. That’s the recipe I want, the great ones.

I want to know what you consider the best cornbread mix available in stores, an actual recipe from scratch, or even tips for adding ingredients to standard recipes.


If someone has a homemade recipe that they’d rather not share openly, I’ll gladly trade you one or more of my own food recipes through PM.


I have been cooking the Jiffy mix cornbread. I double the eggs in the recipe and add a pinch of salt and sugar. It’s good, but I know there is better out there.




Let’s talk cornbread

Cornbread doesn't come in a mix cake does.

I'm a purist making cornbread the way it has been for generations.

1 1/2 cup PLAIN corn meal
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

1 1/3 buttermilk or clabbered sweet milk
1 egg

2 T bacon grease

Heat a 8-9 inch well seasoned cast iron skillet in a 425° oven with the bacon grease. (Every Southern kitchen should have a dedicated corn bread only skillet that gets almost daily use)

Mix dry

Mix wet

When grease just reaches the smoke point quickly combine wet and dry mix well, pour in hot grease mix well. Quickly pour into hot skillet and bake 25 minutes at 425°

You can add 1/2 cup cracklins or diced onions. Chopped bacon fried until clear can sub for cracklins.

Sugar in grits or cornbread is abhorrent and one shouldn't associate with folks who do that sort of thing.

Sugar is for cake & tea; cast iron is king for corn bread and most everything else. Cast iron is what all other utensils are trying to be.

Also, people who have ruined their taste buds with bad food, etc. will add corn, jalapenos, etc. Don't be fooled into this by the seared palates. Keep it pure.

Didn't we just have a long thread on this from Spotted Owl - "Cornbread, any good recipes #7152950 on 01/24/21" ?

I love jalapenos in cornbread

Jiffy Mix.

Ingredients-
2 cup Yellow Corn Meal
2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cup milk
2 egg, beaten
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup finely diced onions - optional
1/3 cup diced jalapeno peppers - optional
1 teaspoon garlic salt - optional

Topping-
1/3 cup melted butter
1/3 cup honey

Cooking Instructions
Preheat oven to 400° F. Grease 9x13 glass pan with non-stick cooking spray. In large bowl, combine corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add milk, onion, jalapenos, egg and oil. Beat until fairly smooth, about 1 minute. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Drizzle the top with melted butter and honey.

Or be a purest and get bland tasteless cornbread that you have to smother in gravy to choke it down,,,, but it'll look cool in your cast iron. lol

Here

Tried Zatarans mix the other day....Cooked in a pre heated cast iron skillet with about 2 Tbsp butter melted then right into Oven.

My recipe is like Warriors. The best recipes use buttermilk and have 1 teaspoon or less of sugar.

Finally, raise some good indian corn or blue corn and fresh grind half of your corn meal just prior to using.

As for the best store bought corn bread mix for me is, Famous Dave's Corn Bread Mix. I had Corn muffins and coffee this morning, yummy!

Yeah that jiffy mix is good with ham and beans.

No honey in the mix....or is that only a topping? I clearly know nothing about corn bread. Great post either way.

https://kentrollins.com/mexican-cornbread/

This one is very good.

Gravy? Shows just what you know.

Cornbread gets butter or you can soak it in pot likker or crumble it in clabber.

Love me a country milk shake. Cornbread and clabber for those not in the know.

Warrior,

That bacon may be the ticket. Sounds great. I’m going to try it. Thank you



Grousewit,


If that recipe sounds like it’s going to be delicious. Thank you!

Calvin, cornbread is delicious. Is it possibly called Johnny cake where you are?



I had Mexican cornbread for lunch today. It was good, but I think I prefer American cornbread more


Crawfish cornbread is very good too. I’ll share the recipe I have for Mexican cornbread. I’ll have to find the crawfish cornbread recipe.

Gravy on cornbread? What? That's what a biscuit or dressing is for. This thread has me starting to understand the phrase "slap yo mama" but I thought it had a different connotation. That might drive a man to do it. lol

All the recipes sound good, lt just depends on what you were raised with.

I didn't say I condoned it, I said that is all you could do to salvage it.

The recipe I gave I ate almost daily with supper when growing up. White bread rolls were for Sunday dinner and holidays.

A good variation on my recipe is to make it a little thicker to hold together and leave out the bacon grease. Instead leave it in the skillet on the stove top and drop the batter by a spoonful at a time into the hot grease. Flip and brown both sides. We called this fried cornbread but it's pretty close to true hoe cake.

1 1/4 cups coarsely ground cornmeal

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 cup whole milk

1 cup buttermilk

2 eggs, lightly beaten

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F and place a 9-inch cast iron skillet inside to heat while you make the batter.

In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk in the milk, buttermilk, and eggs. Whisk in almost all of the melted butter, reserving about 1 tablespoon for the skillet later on.

Carefully remove the hot skillet from the oven. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees F. Coat the bottom and sides of the hot skillet with the remaining butter. Pour the batter into the skillet and place it in the center of the oven. Bake until the center is firm and a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 to 15 minutes and serve.


This is a good one that I really like, very moist if you don't over-bake it.

I've never found a true southern straight cornmeal recipe I've liked, all were dry and bland.

I'm thinking a fresh ground cornmeal would make a world of difference but never had the opportunity to try it.

I also like the idea of using the colored corn to make colored cornbread. I may grow the colored corn one day, but I’m pretty sure I won’t be grinding cornmeal, so I guess I’ll have to take your word for it

You can buy blue cornmeal. Just be sure to buy a bag of sugar with it.

X2

I like mine with butter milk and jalapenos!

And what would you know. I've visited Iowa, miles and miles of corn and not a single grit or meal to be found. Folks must be starving there as I used to have send care packages of grits and collards to them poor folks. Felt so bad one time I took a few messes of collards and neckbones up on a visit. You'd have thought them Yankees had a tapeworm or something the way they ate. Every time they come down my way I'm sure they go back several pounds heavier.
Don't know just what them inlaws see in that cold frozen treeless waste but I'm glad they're up there and I'm down here. LOL

I use the Jiffy mix, I am a Yankee. I did try something different, don't laugh, ok go ahead "Larry the Cable Guy cornbread mix" from the dollar store. It wasn't bad at all. Ate it with my Great Northern bean soup cooked with a smoked hock, last time I was at my cabin. Wife won't let me eat like that at home, I would have to sleep in my workshop. I have before....That's what army cots are for.

I suspect with all the sugar in the tea down there they can afford to risk a little in their cornbread as it could be bad for their tooth.

I will put my Wife’s cornbread in any contest...any day...

Nessmuck, that right there is a work of art.

Grind your own organic corn
1.5 cups
1.5 cups unbleached flour
4 tbs honey
2. Tsp baking powder
1. Tsp. Baking soda
1. Tsp salt
2. Eggs free range
1.5 cups are milk
6. Tbs real butter



Heat pan to 400 while mixing ing. Fill pan bake 25 to 30 minutes

You can toss the rest of the recipes, you won't need them once you try this.

I cooked grousewit’s recipe today. It is different than the school cornbread I had growing up, but it’s delicious. I will definitely be saving this recipe and cooking it again. The only thing I did differently was adjusted the cook time since I didn’t have a 9x11 pan.

Here's mine Aix.....

Grousewit,


If that recipe sounds like it’s going to be delicious. Thank you! [/quote]


It was-finished last piece in pan this morning!!!!

We grind the corn into meal, right before using it, with my Diamant flour mill.



I think using fresh meal makes the flavor of cornbread better. It seems like cornmeal gets an off flavor if you've had it for a while.

Keith

My dad used to fresh grind indian corn that he grew every year and it made gray cornbread with red and blue sparkles. It was the best flavored cornbread I ever had.

Taco Soup and leftover Baby Limas with Smoked Ribs wouldn’t be complete without cornbread. Grousewit’s cornbread recipe hitting the oven again tonight

That it does. Had an aunt that grew Hickory King and hauled it to a mill for grinding. Definitely better real corn flavor fresh ground.
Matter of fact store bought meal caused a bad pelegra outbreak when it first came available. To enhance shelf life preventing it from going rancid they would degerm the kernels before grinding and use the germ for making corn oil. That took away vitamins and since so many southerners ate cornbread daily the vitamin deficiency caused pelegra. The mills had to start adding back vitamins hence all store bought meal is now labeled enriched meal.

I’ve been cooking cornbread almost every night since I started this thread. I’ve used a different recipe almost every time trying to get the one I like the most, and I think I found it.


Give this one a try and let me know what you think. It’s a keeper.


5 Tablespoons Butter, Melted
3/4 Cup White Sugar
2 Eggs
1/2 Cup Buttermilk
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1 1/4 Cup Cornmeal
1/4 Cup Flour

Mix sugar and butter well, then add remaining ingredients. Mix well.


Preheat cast iron skillet at 400 degrees with a thin layer of oil or butter then pour in batter. Bake at 350-400 degrees until done.

This one came out of my cast iron dutch oven. It was fantastic. If I stumble across the recipe among the clutter on my dining room table, I will add it to the thread.

Will try that one tonight.

Boy i tried this recipe exactly as above (butter milk) and have to say it must be an acquired taste and i love butter milk, i put butter on it, added maple syrup to it and still had trouble choking it down. it came out real nice in the cast iron pan though. maybe if i had sausage gravy or something it would be a fit.

Warrior sorry but I'm thinking i might add some sugar next time. it had a good corn flavor

LOL! I tried this one also awhile back when posted.

I had the exact same experience you did.

I'd like to try it again with fresh ground cornmeal.

Here's the recipe I used for my Dutch oven corn bread.

I thought only Okies did that, grew up watching all my relative's from Ok eat it just that way or with butter milk . For a long time I thought you could only eat cornbread with a spoon from a glass or coffee mug.

Corn bread in this house is served with a generous dollup of this!

Can't say I didn't warn you. lol

Just made it. Absolutely wonderful

This will keep you busy.

Instead of using eggs, try you a large spoon of mayo. Mom has been using some powdered buttermilk that makes a very good cake.

I baked this recipe tonight , we had tamales and corn bread

I could see this going very well with black eyed peas

It does. Any kind of beans for that matter. The missus spoons butterbeans over the top of crumbled up cornbread.

I'm sorry some of y'all found it less than ideal. Did you put enough butter on it? I cut the pone into wedges slice a wedge and stuff in as much butter as it can hold.

Same with grits, no sugar but as much butter as you like.

wife has been on the no sugar no grain thing which is good she had been struggling with getting off some extra weight and is starting to make progress now without sugar

I am still eating rice, some bread and potatoes but none of it with any sugar added

once you get away from the always more sugar you start to really taste the sweet in things like bread , fruit and vegetables.

so I guess it is an acquired taste not having sugar but once you get there it is good.

the state of things is kinda sad 2 nut butters sitting on a shelf , one costs less than the other. Why; that one has sugar because it is less expensive than more nuts.

I really don't do much sugar at all save for my tea. Tea must have two cups per gallon. Other than that my only other sources of sugar would be honey or cane syrup and that's only the weekend breakfast biscuit or pancake.

I get my son to send me several packets of this brand every so often. I can not get the Honey Sweet variety up here , regular is good as well.

http://morrisonmilling.com/products/6-oz-morrison-texas-style-honey-sweet-cornbread-mix/

Glad you enjoyed it. It is definitely the go-to in my house

I made two batches and we have had it the last two nights. Kids thought it was very good. Added a little butter and honey and was very good.

Someone get the smelling salts, I got a case of the vapors. Lady, Lady

Bless your heart

Just out of the oven, no sugar! Gonna go good with some pinto beans and hamhocks, and a thick slice of onion!!