Skillet Corn Bread

This Saturday arrived cold and clear and beautiful. The forecasters have been screaming “SNOWMAGEDDON!!!” all week, so we figured if we were going to get snowed in, it was the perfect day for chili.  After breakfast, we threw together our favorite crock-pot chili recipe and set it to cook for the rest of the day.

What goes better with chili than cornbread? Not a lot. I’ve never made it from scratch before, so what better time to try than when I’ve got a blog post to write? None.  My dad just got me an awesome cast iron skillet for Christmas and I’ve yet to break it out, so I figured Skillet Corn Bread was in order.

I must be used to “Northern” corn bread, because the bread I turned out of the pan was less cakey and more savory than I’m used to in cornbread. Apparently those are characteristics of “Southern” corn bread. It was still tasty, though. Next time I’ll try and remember to save some bacon drippings or use butter – the vegetable oil did not impart any flavor to the bread at all. I will also use better cornmeal. The cornmeal really stars in this recipe and my bargain-brand, out of date meal was not very good at it’s role. The texture was really nice, though – soft and moist, but with a hearty grainy-ness.

The snow didn’t arrive until today, but it was still a great night for chili!

Skillet Cornbread

Ingredients

4 t           bacon drippings or vegetable oil

1 c           fresh yellow cornmeal, preferably stone ground

2 t           granulated sugar

½ t          table salt

1 t           baking powder

¼ t          baking soda

1/3 c        water (rapidly boiling)

¾ c          buttermilk

1 lg          egg , beaten lightly

Instructions

1. Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees.  Set cast-iron skillet with bacon fat (or vegetable oil) in heating oven.

2. Measure 1/3 cup cornmeal into medium bowl.  Mix remaining cornmeal, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in small bowl; set aside.

3. Pour boiling water all at once into the 1/3 cup cornmeal; stir to make a stiff mush. Whisk in buttermilk gradually, breaking up lumps until smooth, then whisk in egg.

4. When oven is preheated and skillet very hot, stir dry ingredients into mush mixture until just moistened. Carefully remove skillet from oven. Pour hot bacon fat (or vegetable oil) from the skillet into the batter and stir to incorporate, then quickly pour batter into heated skillet. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and turn cornbread onto wire rack; cool for 5 minutes, then serve immediately.

Source: America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook