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.
Tex prefers buttered cornbread with what people from Northeast TX (Tex is from Camp County.) usually call: COUNTRY SUPPER, i.e., every sort of vegetables from the local seasonal gardens or farmer's market, boiled/fried/mashed/raw & served with (sometimes leftover meat of some sort) and fresh HOT cornbread. (He once made me "country supper" after a trip to the local farmer's market & fixed 8 kinds of veggies. And, yes, hot cornbread, too. - I thought that that supper was "quite a feast".)
Btw, this same recipe can also be FRIED (using less milk for a thicker batter) & served as CORN FRITTERS, that to me look rather like thick pancakes. (One of Tex's friends, who is from Athens, TX puts fresh "cut off the cob" corn kernels into about the same recipe.)
sounds good, but traditionally, Southern Corn Bread does NOT have wheat flour in it. At all. They did not HAVE wheat flour back in the day. Here is the recipe I use
1 cup stone ground white cornmeal 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 beaten egg 1 cup Buttermilk 1 tsp lard
mix the egg with the buttermilk and add in the melted lard. Pour into a greased cast iron skillet and bake for about 18 minuets in a 450F oven
The buttermilk provides the acid to react with the baking soda and give rise.
sounds good, but traditionally, Southern Corn Bread does NOT have wheat flour in it. At all. They did not HAVE wheat flour back in the day. Here is the recipe I use
1 cup stone ground white cornmeal 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 beaten egg 1 cup Buttermilk 1 tsp lard
mix the egg with the buttermilk and add in the melted lard. Pour into a greased cast iron skillet and bake for about 18 minuets in a 450F oven
The buttermilk provides the acid to react with the baking soda and give rise.
This is pretty near what both my grandmaws used. One was raised in the cotton patch other was raised in the blackjacks.
When times got real lean, it was hot water cornbread.
Founder Ancient Order of the 1895 Winchester
"Come, shall we go and kill us venison? And yet it irks me the poor dappled fools, Being native burghers of this desert city, Should in their own confines with forked heads Have their round haunches gored."
Pretty much what I do, except I use a teaspoon of soda. Back when I was a kid, it was clabbered milk that was used. After we quit milking a cow, we used bought buttermilk. miles
My poor mom was not the best of cooks. But what she did cook was good and we didn’t starve. When she was growing up, they just didn’t have the variety of different things. Very small basic garden. Chickens. Wild game was occasional squirrel or rabbit. Deer we’re nonexistent.
Both my boys have degrees in anthropology. They laughingly say that if you wanna eat real depression era cooking, go to Mimi’s house!
They still laugh about her and her Karo syrup!!!
Yesterday was her birthday. She woulda been 92.
Founder Ancient Order of the 1895 Winchester
"Come, shall we go and kill us venison? And yet it irks me the poor dappled fools, Being native burghers of this desert city, Should in their own confines with forked heads Have their round haunches gored."
Pretty much what I do, except I use a teaspoon of soda. Back when I was a kid, it was clabbered milk that was used. After we quit milking a cow, we used bought buttermilk. miles
i made your recipe the other day, was kinda stiff, bready...i can see it is an acquired appreciation taste-wise, i like the story behind it
Up in northeast Texas (where I was born & raised), HOT WATER cornbread was what most people ate with fish. - Even THE POINT, which is probably the best known catfish place "back home" still makes hot water cornbread, that was made of nothing more than cornmeal, salt & boiling water & then fried in hot grease.
Of course, we "hillbillies from way up yonder" (as a friend described NE Texans) are thought to be CRAZY anyway, since we turned a pickled/sweetened, "hot with cayenne peppers", onions & green tomatoes RELISH into a vegetable to eat with catfish, fried potatoes & cornbread. (That "relish" is called CADDO RELISH & northeast Texas natives eat it by the bowl-full.)
Some years ago, our family entertained several officers & their wives, whom I had served with OCONUS, for several days during the Thanksgiving week. = My cousin (Robert Sterling) & I took them to one of the fish-camps out on Caddo Lake to eat catfish, where most of the "locals" order "pitch till you win" (a family-style fish dinner where the wait-staff brings out big platters of fish, potatoes, hushpuppies & pitchers of iced tea AND keeps bringing more until everyone is "foundered", including bringing a medium-sized bowl of Caddo Relish for each person.)
When the platters started arriving, everyone "tucked into" the fish & "side dishes", including the visitors all copied Robert & I, spooning considerable quantities of Caddo Relish onto their plates. - All of a sudden, the conversation STOPPED and Jack Wallace (whom I had served with for 3 years in Latin America) said, "Tex, WHAT on Earth IS this stuff? My lips and mouth are ON FIRE. HOW can you even get it down?" (Before I could answer, Robert Sterling said, "Sorry Colonel, we all grew up eating this stuff & we think that it's good." He paused & said, "IF you think that this is HOT, do NOT even CONSIDER trying the GREEN stuff in those little bottles. - That sauce is nothing but fresh-grated green cayenne peppers & vinegar & even us 'local yokels' call it, GREEN FIRE.")
I plead "guilty as charged" for NOT warning our guests about trying to copy "our crazy local folks" & the foods that many of us grew-up eating. - I didn't even think to tell them what Caddo Relish is. = Mea Culpa.
Speaking of "catfish places", I truly WISH that I had a recipe for the so-called "OKLAHOMA DIP" that a lot of catfish places in OK use as a batter on their fish. (I asked for the recipe at several fish-places, before I was transferred from Ft Sill to Ft Lee & and none of the places would give me the recipe.)
IF any of our members happens to have the recipe, I would be pleased to receive it.
The recipe that I'm seeking is NOT on google or any other search engine that I looked on. - My laptop was the first place that I looked. (One fish-house in OK's manager near Lawton said, when I politely told him that I was PCS-ing out of state & asked for the recipe, "We paid good money for that recipe. Why should I give it to some soldier, just because you want it?")
Fwiw, MOST food vendors will give anyone, who asks politely for their best recipes, including their "secret"recipes. = That's how that I got some of the BEST recipes from THE COURT OF TWO SISTERS & COMMANDER'S PALACE, in New Orleans.
I have eat fish just about everywhere I've traveled to, and much prefer the catfish that is cooked from this area and to the South. The fish is pretty much all the same, but the breading and in particular the seasoning is the difference.
By the way, though I didn't like the fish out Oklahoma way, the best steak I've had was at the Cattleman's Café in OK city.
Lots of good catfish places around here. In fact my Cousin started cooking catfish way back, in His farm shop, on Saturday nights only, Dec. through March. Got real popular and now has 500-600 people every Sat. that it is open. Been going on for 20+ years and now ran by some one else as my cousin has gotten old and ill. Breaded with cornmeal is the standard around here. Salt, pepper and paprika is what most use along with yellow corn meal. miles
Tex, we poor folk just northeast of Caddo Lake, can't afford to go to them fancy eating places. We catch our own and fry them up. Yep, eat them with hot water bread. That Caddo Relish, minus the hot pepper, is called Chowchow here.
Tex, we poor folk just northeast of Caddo Lake, can't afford to go to them fancy eating places. We catch our own and fry them up. Yep, eat them with hot water bread. That Caddo Relish, minus the hot pepper, is called Chowchow here.
websterparish47,
Are you from MINDEN, perhaps??
Btw, I'm from PITTSBURG, in Camp County & when we "ignorant hillbillies" talk about "going into the city", we mean SHREVEPORT (or as people of my grandfather's era called it: Shreve's Port.) (YEP, I even know who Captain Shreve was.)
Note: Since we Northeast Texicans think of you LA folk from "just across the river" as "cousins"/"home folks", do you know what the difference in GREEN FIRE & RED FIRE is??
Btw, my "Spokane, WA raised" lady is NOT "a happy camper" if I cook fish at home. - Darla says that "It makes the whole house STINK." = "Going to Caddo" to eat fish promotes "marital harmony". (CHUCKLE)
Note to "foreigners", who don't have a clue about what "websterparish47" & I are talking about, when he says, "them fancy eating places", most of the "fish camps" in NE Texas LOOK like "a place you'd be afraid to slow down by", much less stop & go into to eat.
I always add a can of crushed pineapple, drained, and a can of or hefty handful of diced jalapenos into my cornbread. Typically just a box mix. Sweet and spicy with a little salt from the jalapenos; Turns out pretty special....
I was MOSTLY raised by my mother, 2 aunts & my Black governess, who was from central Mississippi. (My father died young & my much loved grandfather died at 87YO, when I was nearly 14YO.)
Mother was born in 1917, one aunt in 1908 & the other in 1936. "Sister Willie Mae" was born in 1927.
NOTE: The book & movie "THE HELP" is read/reread/loved by nearly all of the Southern-born kids, who were raised (or at least MOSTLY, like me cared for & raised) by a Black woman. - The ladies "of color" loved us unconditionally & we kids unreservedly loved our governesses in return. ("Sister Willie Mae" was "MY Constantine", if you've seen the movie.) Further, MANY of us kids who had governesses also met/played with & LOVED our governesses own children. (Ruthie Moore-Walls grew up & played together from when we were about 5YO & stayed "best friends" until I went to UT & she went to Southern University in LA. - We are both "old folks now" but when Ruthie & I meet in NETX, the years fall away & it "gets pretty wet" for both of us, in public or not. = We STILL love each other as "near kin", though neither Dr. Walls nor my Darla understand our feelings/tears of reunion.)
ALL of the 4 ladies were young girls or young women during the Great Depression & many things that they all cooked for me as a boy/teen were "typical of that era".
My first wife used to laugh AT me when I cooked the things that I remembered from my boyhood, saying, "Honey, you don't have to add all that spaghetti, macaroni & rice to everything. It's NOT 1935 now & we can afford NOT to 'stretch' everything, because your & most any other family couldn't afford better food back then."
FULL DISCLOSURE: Vickie Kay passed away in 1983 & before she converted me to being "modern" & I STILL do the same, adding of pasta/rice to many dishes, as that practice was what I grew up eating. (Professor Mary Parker-Bond, the famed nutritionist, calls such dishes that we ate & LOVED as children: CRADLE FOOD. Dr. Parker-Bond says that we LOVE those things as adults because they remind us of our childhoods, home & family.
I always add a can of crushed pineapple, drained, and a can of or hefty handful of diced jalapenos into my cornbread. Typically just a box mix. Sweet and spicy with a little salt from the jalapenos; Turns out pretty special....
I don't know what to call that, and it might be good, but it ain't cornbread. miles
I always add a can of crushed pineapple, drained, and a can of or hefty handful of diced jalapenos into my cornbread. Typically just a box mix. Sweet and spicy with a little salt from the jalapenos; Turns out pretty special....
I always add a can of crushed pineapple, drained, and a can of or hefty handful of diced jalapenos into my cornbread. Typically just a box mix. Sweet and spicy with a little salt from the jalapenos; Turns out pretty special....
More corn bread sacrilege. I was adding Okra and canned corn and it turned out really moist. Also tried adding bacon, cheese and jalapenos to the okra corn bread. It came out good too. My Virginia relatives would make spoon bread with mostly boiling water and some buttermilk. Sounds like a baked version of the hot water corn bread.
In this part of Texas, the Hill Country, the key ingredient is bacon grease both to oil the pan and in addition to whatever oil or butter is used. Get it almost to the smoking point and pour the batter in and you will have a good bottom crust.
"When you disarm the people, you commence to offend them and show that you distrust them either through cowardice or lack of confidence, and both of these opinions generate hatred." Niccolo Machiavelli
Lots of good catfish places around here. Breaded with cornmeal is the standard around here. Salt, pepper and paprika is what most use along with yellow corn meal. miles
My in-laws were from Eudora AR. When we would go visit, it was catfish dinners after church there on Sunday. Like Miles stated, there are LOTS of good places to get catfish in the south.
James Pepper: There's no law west of Dodge and no God west of the Pecos. Right, Mr. Chisum? John Chisum: Wrong, Mr. Pepper. Because no matter where people go, sooner or later there's the law. And sooner or later they find God's already been there.
Just baked me up a skillet full of cornbread. Man, I am in heaven.
James Pepper: There's no law west of Dodge and no God west of the Pecos. Right, Mr. Chisum? John Chisum: Wrong, Mr. Pepper. Because no matter where people go, sooner or later there's the law. And sooner or later they find God's already been there.
Made a pan of corn bread last night to go with the chili.
I usually halve the recipe and bake it I an 8" CI skillet. I forgot to halve the milk, so added ingredients to make a full batch. Into a preheated 10" CI. Lots of leftover cornbread now!
If you take the time it takes, it takes less time. --Pat Parelli
American by birth; Alaskan by choice. --ironbender
On "Food Facts and Fiction" last night, they explored cornbread. One fascinating bit of lore was that in the South, cornbread was made with white cornmeal. White corn is naturally sweet and therefore Southern cornbread was also. White cornmeal also gives a slightly "cakier" texture.
But in the North, they raised yellow corn, which is not as sweet. To make up the taste difference, they had to add sugar - and to mimic the texture, they also had to add some wheat flour.
To this day, that's the root of the "sugar or not" in cornbread feud. White cornbread doesn't need it, but yellow cornbread does.
Made up a pan of Jiffy Mix cornbread last night. (It's a yellow cornmeal with sugar mix!) This morning, had a bowl of leftover cornbread with hot milk for breakfast. Didn't have any buttermilk on hand, so I had to resort to 2% but it was still great.
Webster, Darla and Tex, Web, what is the name of that Catfish joint just out of Minden on Dor’Cheet Bayou? Good friend of mine from there. That’s some of the best fish I ever ate Darla/Tex, Did you ever eat at the Cross Lake Inn there just out of Shreveport? Great fish but really great entertainment from the tuxedoed waiters with their singing. Also, what was the name of that fish joint north of Bossier City? Seemed like it was also on the river or bayouor so was last I was there. Damn I’m gettin old.
As to white or yellow cornmeal I believe they used what they could get. Especially in the days of reconstruction.
J. Frank Dobie in his book "A Vaquero of the Brush Country" which was basically the dictated memoirs of Cowboy and Brand inspector Thomas Young.
Young stated that he was a older teenager before he ever saw white bread (wheat flour). And that was on a ranch he was employed on in the vicinity of Copano bay (1870’s). Along the Texas coast. He went on to say that all they had growing up for bread was "yeller" bread. They had their corn milled over where he was from in Caldwell county on Plum creek. (Lockhart Texas area).
Another interesting tidbit was that when they needed milk he has to go find a feral, wet longhorn cow (with calf) and rope her. And drag her to their pen. Apparently, the milking was an olympic feat in it’s own right. He stated this was common practice In civil war era central Texas. And he noted that you had to be careful as not to "kill the calf with the butter dasher". In other words milk the cow dry and not leave any for the calf. Longhorns were no Jersey or Holstein when it came to milk production! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Founder Ancient Order of the 1895 Winchester
"Come, shall we go and kill us venison? And yet it irks me the poor dappled fools, Being native burghers of this desert city, Should in their own confines with forked heads Have their round haunches gored."
Bob, maybe Blue will chime in here, but I remember Him telling about on the old water troughs, by a windmill, and they built the trough while digging the well and there was no water until they finished the well. They roped cows and milked them to mix the concrete with. Some of the History on that South Texas Ranch. miles
Bob, maybe Blue will chime in here, but I remember Him telling about on the old water troughs, by a windmill, and they built the trough while digging the well and there was no water until they finished the well. They roped cows and milked them to mix the concrete with. Some of the History on that South Texas Ranch. miles
Yes! I was setting next to you on the gun truck when he told us this! And that he thought this was either late 1790’s, early 1800’s!!!! And that the ranch employed a man and his wife there to maintain the windlass to pump the water. Im sure they employed a beast of burden for this task and it was their job to assure they trough was always full! They apparently lived in a jacal there by the well. Damn interesting stuff.
Much of the mortar used at mission San Antonio de Valero was mixed with ewes milk. It was a common practice.
Founder Ancient Order of the 1895 Winchester
"Come, shall we go and kill us venison? And yet it irks me the poor dappled fools, Being native burghers of this desert city, Should in their own confines with forked heads Have their round haunches gored."
Cornbread in Dixie that includes sugar is popularly called: Yankee Cornbread. (In the river bottoms/swamp-country that I think of as "back home", it's served with butter & LOTS of ribbon-cane syrup & it's for dessert.)
Lots of us "ignorant hillbillies", "rural nobodies from flyover country" & "deplorables" as the DIMocRATS call us don't know any better than that, I'd guess.
One of my favorite "cradle foods" is crumbled-up cold cornbread, with buttermilk or sweet milk poured over it & flavored with pepper & salt. (The first time that my "Spokane, WA-raised Darla" saw me making that "dish", she looked at as if I was from outer space. = She's polite enough to not openly question if I've completely lost my mind but I suspect that she thinks that I have.)
MOLASSES & CANE SYRUP: These two sweeteners are not precisely the same thing. Black strap molasses is a by-product of sugar refining and cane syrup is simply cane juice boiled down to a syrup, in much the same way as maple syrup is produced.
Some confusion somewhere, which I attempted to fix, in red. To me molasses is made from Sorhgum cane and the cane syrup is from sugar cane. Both made from boiled down cane juice, just from different kind of cane. Black Strap molasses is the by product of making sugar and is used a lot in cattle feed. miles
I'm sorry to hear that your area is deprived of good syrup. (When I "go home" to Northeast TX, I routinely buy 5 pound cans of ribbon-cane syrup from a farmer's market in Morris County. = Most ribbon cane syrup is made of cane that is raised, processed, "cooked down" upon the small farms & "canned" by the farm families.)
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miles
