To All,
To "save my fingers" from answering each of the GREAT members of the forum induvidually, who asked for/received Tex's old-school Mississippi-style cornbread recipe, I'm posting it here.
This recipe is at least old enough to have been prepared during the American Civil War era & may well be much older than that. - The recipe follows:
PREHEAT the oven to 450 degrees F. Find a cast iron or other 10-inch skillet or other heavy-duty baking pan that can go into a HOT oven.
While the oven is preheating, SIFT together the following dry ingredients:
One cup of YELLOW corn meal (Stone-ground meal is BEST.)
1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
1/3 teaspoon of table salt
one Tablespoon of baking powder
Place 2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil into the skillet & when the oven "comes up to 450 degrees", heat the skillet over medium-low heat for 3-5 minutes.
Mix one cup of whole milk with a single raw egg & MIX well. - ADD the milk/egg mixture to the dry ingredients & stir well.
Then ADD additional milk to make a "Pourable" batter. - I cannot tell you how much extra milk that you will need as humidity, type of cornmeal & perhaps other factors are somewhat variable.
(I use a whisk for that task.)
POUR the batter into the heated skillet to "fry" the bottom & after 2-3 minutes, BAKE the cornbread for 20-25 minutes, until the top is as browned as you wish..
(Ovens vary to some degree, so the time of baking may vary slightly.)
Note: My husband likes his cornbread BLAZING HOT, straight from the oven, well-browned on top & "swimming in butter".
By the way, in rural 19th Century Mississippi, hot cornbread was often "split into 2 pieces horizontally, buttered & served with ribbon-cane syrup on top, for dessert.
Serve HOT with butter. ENJOY.
Sincerely, DarlaG & Tex
