Bacon grease, bacon bits and shredded cheddar.
Cornbread?
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Cooking4to
Senior Cook
Cornbread is real easy if you bake it ontop of 2"s of chilli, lol... Simple just make a bunch of chilli, pour it in a baking pan, make your corn bread and pour it on top of the chilli then bake it, it will be moist... 
Seriously though, I looked up my recipe { I don't make it much}...
I have this marked 10 1/2x12 1/2 pan {which is an old iron pan I bought at an antique auction, a 9x13 will work fine...} I don't know why but I prefer my cornbread cooked in cast iron...
OK, so the only thing that you may not have in your kitchen for this recipe is the Almond flour {king arthurs brand}... I also use half fine and half medium cornmeal...
First mix 1 cup cornmeal {1/2 and 1/2}, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1 cup sugar, 2 TBL baking powder, 1 tsp salt, 1 1/2 cup All purpose flour, and 1 1/2 cup almond flour in a big bowl.
Next beat 4 eggs, melt 6 TBLS of butter, and add them to the mix with 2/3 cups vegetable oil, 2 1/2 cups whole milk, and 2 TBLS Honey.
Now don't mix that to death just get it combined and uniform, mix as little as possible...
Grease your pan well with crisco or some kind of veg short. bake this in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes, don't over cook it, I start checking the center as soon as it starts to crack. I cook it in cast iron, so it will cook different in different pans, when I pull it out it is not completely cooked, I put it on the counter on top of a towel and then cover it with the towel it will continue to cook a bit in that hot pan...
Thats it, under an hour and it comes great. I entered a chili and cornbread competition {fairgrounds} and my chili came in 7th {14 entries, lol, I know its sad} but my cornbread came first, {only 8 cornbreads entered, it was a small fair, but still first!}...
So that is an award winning cornbread, I won a root beer cup, if you go to fairs you know what that is, the root beer mug you can fill at any fair in the area, I still have the cup...
I can post my 7th place chili recipe too if someone wants it, which I have also not made in a while, its an old recipe where you boil ground beef in a vacuum bag. I have had better, and I could make the recipe better, but I am not a crazy about chili guy, the kids aren't and my wife is not a meat eater. If I am making a soup its gonna be a creamy lobster, french onion, creamy wild mushroom, ect...
Seriously though, I looked up my recipe { I don't make it much}...
I have this marked 10 1/2x12 1/2 pan {which is an old iron pan I bought at an antique auction, a 9x13 will work fine...} I don't know why but I prefer my cornbread cooked in cast iron...
OK, so the only thing that you may not have in your kitchen for this recipe is the Almond flour {king arthurs brand}... I also use half fine and half medium cornmeal...
First mix 1 cup cornmeal {1/2 and 1/2}, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1 cup sugar, 2 TBL baking powder, 1 tsp salt, 1 1/2 cup All purpose flour, and 1 1/2 cup almond flour in a big bowl.
Next beat 4 eggs, melt 6 TBLS of butter, and add them to the mix with 2/3 cups vegetable oil, 2 1/2 cups whole milk, and 2 TBLS Honey.
Now don't mix that to death just get it combined and uniform, mix as little as possible...
Grease your pan well with crisco or some kind of veg short. bake this in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes, don't over cook it, I start checking the center as soon as it starts to crack. I cook it in cast iron, so it will cook different in different pans, when I pull it out it is not completely cooked, I put it on the counter on top of a towel and then cover it with the towel it will continue to cook a bit in that hot pan...
Thats it, under an hour and it comes great. I entered a chili and cornbread competition {fairgrounds} and my chili came in 7th {14 entries, lol, I know its sad} but my cornbread came first, {only 8 cornbreads entered, it was a small fair, but still first!}...
So that is an award winning cornbread, I won a root beer cup, if you go to fairs you know what that is, the root beer mug you can fill at any fair in the area, I still have the cup...
I can post my 7th place chili recipe too if someone wants it, which I have also not made in a while, its an old recipe where you boil ground beef in a vacuum bag. I have had better, and I could make the recipe better, but I am not a crazy about chili guy, the kids aren't and my wife is not a meat eater. If I am making a soup its gonna be a creamy lobster, french onion, creamy wild mushroom, ect...
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For most of my life, cornbread was prepared on the stove top. White cornmeal mixed with enough water to make a manageable dough was placed in a cast iron skillet with very short sides. It looked like a thick tortilla, somewhere around 1/2 inch or so thick. it cooked until the texture around the edges began to look dry, at which point it was turned. This was the only cornbread I ever knew until I was probably 18 or 19 tears old.
As far as cracklin's go, We used to raise and slaughter our own hogs. The lard was rendered and we would strain it and collect the pieces of meat and skin.
We never used cracklin's in cornbread. Instead, we used them in a hoe cake or johnnycake made from flour and water, cooked on the top of the stove in a similar manner of our corn bread. Mighty good and I can seem to smell it even as I type this.
As far as cracklin's go, We used to raise and slaughter our own hogs. The lard was rendered and we would strain it and collect the pieces of meat and skin.
We never used cracklin's in cornbread. Instead, we used them in a hoe cake or johnnycake made from flour and water, cooked on the top of the stove in a similar manner of our corn bread. Mighty good and I can seem to smell it even as I type this.
Roll_Bones
Master Chef
I've cut corners in a pinch and added shredded cheddar and chopped jalapenos to a box of Jiffy cornbread mix.Not bad!
The Jiffy mix is already very sweet. I would not add any more sugar unless you are intending to make dessert.
Its good, but its way to sweet for my tastes and my wife's tastes.
I need to find a happy medium as she never made sweet cornbread and i never really ate much cornbread until we met.
But we both agree we do not like it as sweet as the Jiffy. I made the mistake earlier in the thread and said it was Martha White.
Its the Jiffy that's to sweet for us and what we made.
I won't eat it unless it's sweet I do not care for cornbread.
bakechef
Executive Chef
The cornbread I make is really more like cake, I've had cake turn out more like cornbread
rob loves it!Sent from my XT1080 using Discuss Cooking mobile app
The cornbread I make is really more like cake, I've had cake turn out more like cornbread
Sent from my XT1080 using Discuss Cooking mobile app
The only thing I ever got a Purple Ribbon for at the state fair (in Wyoming) was for cornbread...that I don't like to eat...
Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
The cornbread I make is really more like cake, I've had cake turn out more like cornbread
Sent from my XT1080 using Discuss Cooking mobile app
I recall conversations with Uncle Bob about cornbread. To him, cornbread is made with corn flour, water and salt. No sugar or flour. He calls corn breads like Jiffy corn cakes that northerners eat.
Along those lines, I like northern corn cake. It's sweet and tender and I make no apologies.
Sir_Loin_of_Beef
Chef Extraordinaire
"Cornbread and iced tea took the place of pills and 90 proof." Name that song!
All My Rowdy Friends - Hank Williams Jr.
Sir_Loin_of_Beef
Chef Extraordinaire
Cast Iron Skillet Cornbread
Ingredients:
· 1¼ cups yellowcornmeal
· 1¼ cupsall-purpose flour
· 1 Tbsgranulated sugar
· 1½ tsp bakingpowder
· ½ tsp bakingsoda
· 1 tsp koshersalt
· 1¾ cupsbuttermilk
· 1 egg
· 1 cupwhole kernel corn, fresh, frozen or canned
· 4 Tbsshortening for the skillet (Some people use Crisco, some use lard and some use butter. I use bacon fat)
Instructions:
Preheat the oven and a 10-inch cast ironskillet to 425oF.
In a medium bowl, whisk the cornmeal,flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Pour the buttermilkinto a small bowl, add the egg and whisk until blended. Pour the buttermilkmixture into the dry ingredients and, using a rubber spatula, fold the dryingredients into the wet ingredients until they are completely combined. Foldin the corn.
Put the shortening in the pre-heated skilletand carefully swirl it around to coat the bottom and sides. Pour the batterinto the pan and smooth to the edges of the skillet. Bake at 425oF for 20 to 25 minutes, until atoothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cut the corn bread into 8wedges. Split each wedge in half horizontally and spread with butter, ifdesired.
OP
OP
Mad Cook
Master Chef
Thanks. I like the sound of a cornbread "lid" baked on top of chili.Cornbread is real easy if you bake it ontop of 2"s of chilli, lol... Simple just make a bunch of chilli, pour it in a baking pan, make your corn bread and pour it on top of the chilli then bake it, it will be moist...
Seriously though, I looked up my recipe { I don't make it much}...
I have this marked 10 1/2x12 1/2 pan {which is an old iron pan I bought at an antique auction, a 9x13 will work fine...} I don't know why but I prefer my cornbread cooked in cast iron...
OK, so the only thing that you may not have in your kitchen for this recipe is the Almond flour {king arthurs brand}... I also use half fine and half medium cornmeal...
First mix 1 cup cornmeal {1/2 and 1/2}, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1 cup sugar, 2 TBL baking powder, 1 tsp salt, 1 1/2 cup All purpose flour, and 1 1/2 cup almond flour in a big bowl.
Next beat 4 eggs, melt 6 TBLS of butter, and add them to the mix with 2/3 cups vegetable oil, 2 1/2 cups whole milk, and 2 TBLS Honey.
Now don't mix that to death just get it combined and uniform, mix as little as possible...
Grease your pan well with crisco or some kind of veg short. bake this in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes, don't over cook it, I start checking the center as soon as it starts to crack. I cook it in cast iron, so it will cook different in different pans, when I pull it out it is not completely cooked, I put it on the counter on top of a towel and then cover it with the towel it will continue to cook a bit in that hot pan...
Thats it, under an hour and it comes great. I entered a chili and cornbread competition {fairgrounds} and my chili came in 7th {14 entries, lol, I know its sad} but my cornbread came first, {only 8 cornbreads entered, it was a small fair, but still first!}...
So that is an award winning cornbread, I won a root beer cup, if you go to fairs you know what that is, the root beer mug you can fill at any fair in the area, I still have the cup...
I can post my 7th place chili recipe too if someone wants it, which I have also not made in a while, its an old recipe where you boil ground beef in a vacuum bag. I have had better, and I could make the recipe better, but I am not a crazy about chili guy, the kids aren't and my wife is not a meat eater. If I am making a soup its gonna be a creamy lobster, french onion, creamy wild mushroom, ect...
I had some cornbread which had sweet corn kernels in the mixture in a Jamaican restaurant years ago. I like that because the kernels gave it a bit of moisture and freshness.
Re non meat-eaters in the family. I make a veggie chili using bulghur wheat instead of meat. I think I got the idea off the ingredients list on a packet of ready-made veggie chili from Sainsburys.
Take my word for it - veggie chili made with TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein - soya to you and me) is truly disgusting. It tastes like cardboard. The odd thing is that when you make veggie lasagne bolognese with it it's fine and you can't tell it isn't made with meat.
I just remembered this and don't remember if anybody else has mentioned it (and too many pages to go back and look), but my grandmother used to use bacon grease as part of the fat for the cornbread. She always had a can of bacon grease on the stove since she fried bacon every morning for breakfast. They ran a farm so the family needed a good start to their day and always had a hearty breakfast. Of course, I'd fry the bacon, use the grease and break up the bacon to put in the cornbread.
If you need another recipe for vegetarian chili, try this one http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f20/tnt-no-meat-chili-77652.html . It's really, really good and even with the chipotle it's not spicy, though you can add more and it will be! We usually have cornbread, with corn kernels with jalapenos in half of it for Craig, with it.
Best of all, it can be a pantry/freezer meal if you roast and freeze the bell pepper when you get good buys on them.
Addie
Chef Extraordinaire
I agree, that's a lot of unnecessary sugar and naturally it can be cut way down to suit yourself. I often use pepper jack cheese, to boost the kick.
Addie, bacon makes anything better, except brussel sprouts.
Nothing can help Brussel Sprouts. Except maybe the garbage disposal.
Linda0818
Head Chef
Not really. But in the three years I lived in Texas, the cornbread I tasted was an abomination. Not fit for man or beast. Maybe I just knew lousy cooks down there.
You're not alone. The first (and only) time I tried "real Southern" cornbread, I thought it was disgusting. Way too dry and it had no flavor. I like sweet cornbread. Sweet and moist.
Addie
Chef Extraordinaire
Every month I keep telling myself, (I get a lot of those catalogs with pages filled with junk) that I am going to order one of those tins with a strainer for bacon fat. They are so inexpensive, but I hate the idea of ordering one item and then pay the shipping charges.
I once read that bacon fat and any other previously used fats should be saved in the fridge. Not on the stove. After I read that I tossed out all the bacon fat and never again made an effort to save it properly. Evert time I got to the bottom of the tin can, there would always be a pile of gunk in the bottom. Empty it out and wash the can with hot water and soap.
I once read that bacon fat and any other previously used fats should be saved in the fridge. Not on the stove. After I read that I tossed out all the bacon fat and never again made an effort to save it properly. Evert time I got to the bottom of the tin can, there would always be a pile of gunk in the bottom. Empty it out and wash the can with hot water and soap.
Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
Addie, I cook bacon in the oven then strain the bacon fat through a strainer lined with a clean men's handkerchief. Then it goes into a plastic container and into he fridge. I have nice clean fat to use for cooking.
CraigC
Master Chef
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2011
- Messages
- 6,486
Indeed! That’s exactly what I made for our Christmas dinner. It was superb!Bacon fat, chopped bacon and balsamic vinegar makes some mighty fine sprouts!
CraigC
Master Chef
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2011
- Messages
- 6,486
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