It is hard to get much simpler or more comforting than cornbread.  When it is cold and rainy out, doesn’t a big slice of hot cornbread covered in melted butter sound just perfect? … Now this is all I’m going to be able to think about for the rest of the day.

My dad always makes the most magical cornbread. I don’t know what the trick is really. Probably it is just mostly that it is made by him and that makes me happy. That and I think he always has perfectly seasoned cast iron to cook it in. I found this particular recipe for cornbread in one of those weird little collections of recipes that come in a spiral bound book from a local church or community group. Those tend to be some of my favorite recipe books because the food is always practical, simple, classic, and delicious.

I’m pretty sure my Dad’s awesome cornbread recipe comes from the back of the paper sack of cornmeal, but don’t worry, this one isn’t any more complicated than that. And that probably means that you don’t actually need a recipe for cornbread, since you can get it from the back of the sack, but on the other hand, I don’t know if that recipe uses bacon, so I think it is worth your time to keep reading.

 

I love cornbread with chili in the wintertime, slathered in butter and dunked in the soup. I like it with a big pot of beans or collard greens. Cornbread is basically a fast and easy way of making a bread item to sop up whatever delicious, soupy, juicy thing you are having for dinner.

Though some people like it fresh out of the oven slathered in butter and drizzled with honey. And you know what? That’s all right by me too.

Buttermilk Cornbread

Recipe from Betty England from the Made In Arkansas recipe collection.

• 1 1/2 cups cornmeal
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 TB sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp soda
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 4 TBs bacon drippings

Combine egg and buttermilk. In another bowl, combine all dry ingredients and mix well. Heat 4 TB bacon drippings in 8 inch iron skillet. Pour 1/2 of the bacon grease into the batter and mix well, then pour batter into the hot skillet. Bake at 400 for about 25 minutes.

Now obviously from the photos, I did not use a skillet. I had a cute little set of cast iron molds shaped like ears of corn. I followed the same plan with bacon drippings and getting the pan hot, but it takes less time to cook. If you aren’t using the skillet, keep an eye out so you don’t burn your cornbread.

If you don’t want to use bacon for some reason, you can also heat up some Crisco. It works very well for this purpose also.

Enjoy!

Photographs by Jessica Yager.