Enough of this petty bickering about sex, politics, and religion. Let's tackle on of the true wedge issues of our time:

Can you call it cornbread if it comes from a baking pan?
I say no. Anyone who attempts cornbread in a pan would probably add sugar. A double heresy! If you want cake, bake cake. Let me show you the truth and the light--South Alabama style, from a skillet passed down in my family.

Corn bread is best out of a pan......

Cast iron pan.

In the spirit of divisiveness ...its best out of a glass pan......

I figured folks from Montucky made it on the back of a hoe...

Is a hoe a spade?

or is a ho a spade?

Glass pan with plenty of sugar and butter.

Good cornbread is thin. Maybe half inch thick. Then split that and put some butter in there. Yum yum.

Jalapeno cornbread: don't care whether it comes from a glass pan or a skillet....

From cast iron, lots of butter, honey or real maple syrup.

Cast iron with cracklin in the cornbread.

We do it in a cast iron skillet here.

Are you talking about pork cracklins.

Cast Iron;

Crushed Red Peppers
Crushed Corn
Bacon Bits
Cheddar Cheese

and some spices I won't mention.

Made from corn meal, flour, and baking powder.

I always lay 3 strips of bacon across the top before baking.


Phil

You go Alagator I see your MamMaw saw you were raised right. I will maintain that corn sticks fixed in a cast iron pan also qualify. I had an Aunt that made the best corn sticks especially when slathered down with my Mam Maws fresh churned butter. The theory was it must have been her pans as no one could seem to get them quite the same. The family joke was we all would tell her that we wanted her corn stick pans in her will.. I will admit that I enjoy fried cornbread too in a pinch.
I wonder if many here know it's a sin to cut corn bread . You break off a piece never cut . I remember my wife's family about fainted the first time I broke off a piece of cornbread and put cream gravy on it. Once they tried it though they became believers

Same here!

chicken and cornbread go in a black iron skillet.

NO SUGAR! Done in a cast iron skillet or cast iron corn cob maker.

You must be thinking of Moochelle

Yep, not sure how the 'G' got in there, but that's the one. Good stuff in cornbread

Cast iron skillet is state law here in Tennessee. No sugar allowed.

for me, hard cracklin', not the soft kind some stores pass off.

With jalapeños , bacon bits and a little cheddar! In cast iron of course

Cast iron skillet with honey and butter!

Sounds good, never tried it that way. It's been some years since I had good cracklins. The only way I like them is out of the press, just cool enough to eat.

Why TF would you want to ruin a perfectly good batch of cornbread by putting jalapenos in it. I bet you shoot a .270, eat Miracle Whip, and don't carry hot, don't you?



Well, I think I covered it all pretty well there.

Cast iron skillet here. I like slightly sweet cornbread myself but also do cornbread with jalapenos and other miscellaneous items including broccoli. (For those cringing don't knock till ya try it.)

To Poobs questions....in my estimation there are many ho's in this area that are indeed spades. I think the spades even coined the term ho.

Merry Christmas to all.

What's cornbread?

Pone..man..pone.

I have my Grandma's cast iron skillet in the cabinet right now. She cooked lots of stuff in it, but I don't recall corn bread being what it was utilized for. She and Mom both cooked it generally in one of those smallish, square tin pans. I think as Ingwe said, I've even seen Mom cook it in glass cookware of about the same size and shape.

Alagator, no argument from me about baking corn bread in a skillet. Of course, it should never have wheat flour or sugar in it either.
I like a less brown color though, but that would probably be alright to eat in private.

Ingwewife made the best corn bread the other night...it is a must to serve with proper chili... ( i.e. no beans...)

Jiffy, no added sugar , cast iron skillet here.

Heathen....

Cast iron with Jalapenos....I often make a meal out of buttered Jalapeno cornbread and some nice thick Baverian buttermilk....I might give the cracklins a go too if I can find some....

1 finely chopped jalapeno & a red bell pepper semi finely chopped...mix up enough for 2 pans....choice of pans depends on what's available & not in use...a good cook can adjust heat & time to compensate for choice of vessels...

That'd make me projectile vomit...a good batch of hamhocks & beans with a good size piece of cornbread crumbled & mixed in is about as good as it gets...

Cornbread fried in bacon grease or butter is my favorite. Cast iron skillet is a given.

Lordy-be at all the yanks round these parts!

Cornbread should have its own dedicated CI skillet seasonsed just right and NO sugar! In fact, no nothing but home spun butter and a glass of cold milk. Often in the milk as dessert.

Granny is turning in her wood cooking stove right now!:-)

We have a dedicated corn bread skillet, as did my Mother. In fact, the one that we use now may have been my Mothers, but we had one before She died too. Back when I was young most people that I knew were poor and could not afford a dedicated corn bread skillet, and using one for everything leads to your bread sticking, so most people used a square pan that was of lighter weight, and cheaper. Remember the old saw about "pie are Square" (sorry do not know where the icons are) that we all heard in school. Cornbread does not have sugar in it. As proof I offer up the fact that my Mother did not put sugar in it, and She put a little sugar in most everything. Growing up Cornbread was made from scratch using yellow corn meal, buttermilk, baking soda, and bacon grease. Probably an egg too, but I did not make it so do not know the exact recipe. My wife uses buttermilk corn meal mix (Aunt Jemimah) and it is good, but not as good as what my Mother made. miles

There are many interesting hypothesis in this thread, but I think we need some evidence to flush this out a bit. Some of these idea's need to be TESTED, and replicated, with the results double and triple checked.

Cast iron skillet! Anything else is heresy!

Corn bread is simply a tool for eating butter.

all my life my dad has mixed his cornbread, peas, beans, fried okra and sliced onion in a bowl together.

he says its gonna come out together, so put it in together

large pone of cornbread cooked in a well seasoned cast iron skillet


rutabaga cut into quarters and peeled, then diced. seasoned with bacon grease and sugar. cooked on medium high til fork tender


smothered cabbage with salt, pepper, diced bacon


plate that up with some fresh sliced, home-grown maters, chow chow and home-made bread and butter pickles. if'n you real hungry, add some meat

fried pork chops or fried chicken
meatloaf
hamburger steak with mushroom and onion gravy
smothered fried chicken or pork chops

dang good eatin'

...and of course...never put sugar in cornbread. it just ain't proper.

Fixed that for you...

I couldn't care less what you cook cornbread in. Cast Iron is as easy and simple as anything else, and likely cleans up easier.

Had a mess sergeant in the army that made huge pans of the stuff, and it was a good as I've ever eaten anywhere.

I've seen a lot of stuff added to and done to corn bread to gussy it up. Simple corn bread is just fine on it's own or makes a worthy addition to about anything you wanna serve. But best kept simple.
A lotta moms fed a lot of kids in my day with not much more than some corn meal, eggs and buttermilk and lard.

This isn't exactly a beans or no beans in chili, or ice or no ice in whiskey thread.

Made in a cast iron skillet, corn bread should be.

this is how I do it.

Sounds dead on, Sam. We usually double that recipe though...

CI skillet

with sugar

alongside chili with beans.

Add cracklings, and it's for sure to die for.

Used to work at the Culpeper, Va Frozen Food Lockers in the mid 60's where we process beef, pork, and chickens. (Long ago closed) Rendered lard as well and saved the crackings in bread loaf bags atop the freezer lockers year round. We'd put out word of mouth availability near Christmas, and would be out in a couple hours.

Keep it simple like recipe above in cast iron skillet.

Use same for Thanksgiving dressing with onions, celery, eggs and fresh made chicken stock. I can eat that with BGE done turkey and giblet gravy for 4 days straight.

Here's the REAL thing:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat...the_southern_cornbread_got_its_name.html

Cornbread must come from cast iron--

^^^hot water cornbread^^^ this is great with

fried bream:


fried catfish:




and all peas and beans and greens