I think that everybody has a cornbread recipe. The problem for me is, the average recipe makes enough cornbread for as family of twenty (ok, family of eight.) I love cornbread, but I only want to eat it one or two days in a row and not have to throw half of it away.
Also, I find that cornbread is somewhat “sensitive” to the proportion of ingredients you put in it. Every day for me has been a new adventure since historically I only cook cornbread once every few months.
I’ve recently solved that problem by cooking four “pones” of cornbread in the past two weeks. Three of the four came out of my little Lodge 6-1/2” diameter cast iron skillet perfectly. The fourth one that I cooked last night decided to stick a little and tore the “crust” off of half of the bottom of it in front of my dinner guests. Oh well…
Any way, here is what you need to do to make cornbread for a few (or one really hungry guy…)
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup all purpose flour
3/4 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tbsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 can creamed corn
milk—as much as you need—about ¼ of a cup
1/4 stick butter
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F. Put the ¼ stick of butter into the cast iron skillet.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine the cornmeal, the flour, the baking powder, the baking soda, and the salt. Stir it all together.
Place the skillet into the oven for five minutes to preheat and melt the butter.
Meanwhile, back in the mixing bowl, add the two eggs and the vegetable oil. Stir it all up. Now dump in the cream corn. Stir it all up
Add the milk a little at a time as you keep stirring. You want the batter to be “loose” but not runny. I know, I know, it’s hard to explain…but for me about ¼ cup of milk works well. It will vary depending on the “grind” of your cornmeal and the consistency of your canned cream corn.
Work with me here please...like I've said so many times before, you have to cook any given recipe several times to get it right...
Remove your skillet from the oven and pour in the batter. Cook at 450 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.
Redneck Tip: I have a mental block about skillets. Once I take one out of the oven, I just can’t resist trying to pick it up bare handed. For this reason, I place an skillet handle cover (mitt) from Crate and Barrel over the handle when I take it out of the oven. It is amazing how far you can throw a 5 pound skillet when you forget and pick it up when it is about 449 degrees F.
Let the cornbread cool for five or ten minutes, then cut and serve.
Enjoy Y’all
The Redneck Gourmet
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2 comments:
I notice you use butter to grease the pan. I've never tried that before but doesn't butter start to smoke before the pan is hot enough? I usually use Canola oil which seems to work well as I can put the pan in the oven when I cut it on to preheat, leave it until the heating elements cut off and then pull the pan out and pour the batter in. I have found that if the batter doesn't immediately start to sizzle and cook, the pan isn't hot enough and the pone will invarably stick.
Will this work if you leave out the creamed corn? I just want plain old cornbread.
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