A Recipe from My Southern Kitchen....Cornbread

What is the deal with cornbread? Why are people afraid of it? I used to have the same problem, while I love eating cornbread, it just seemed so complicated to make.

Before I learned just how simple it is, I used to buy mixes. Now after learning the secrets to a good cake of cornbread I wouldn't dream of using a mix, it is just too easy to make yourself.

A couple of years ago, while on my summer pilgrimage to God's Country, I finally broke down and asked daddy to show me how to make cornbread.... he did and now I probably eat it more than I should!

One of the most important lessons I learned when making cornbread is, you must have the right pan. As we learned in a previous post, the preferred pan in any good Southern Kitchen is the black iron frying pan, or as we may refer to it in this instance.... a skillet. There is just something magical about those old iron pans that transform food like today's new fangled metallic pans can't.

The first step in making good cornbread is to heat the pan. After spraying your iron skillet with no-stick spray, place it in the oven to heat to 375 degrees.

Cornbread is made with just three ingredients..... yeah, three, how could it be any simpler?



Ingredients

Self Rising Cornmeal
Eggs
Buttermilk

(Some people like to add ingredients to their cornbread and that is all well and good. Peppers, onions, chilies, cracklins, and cheese can all be added to the mix, I just like to keep it simple.)

Mixing the cornbread is where people get confused and it really is just a trial and error kind of thing. In a bowl pour about 1 cup of cornmeal, add one egg and buttermilk. Mix together and you are looking for a "not to wet", "not to dry" consistency to your batter. If you need to add more meal then do so, or buttermilk to take your batter the other way. When adding eggs, I have found that one egg per cup of cornmeal works best.

After you have the right consistency for your cornbread batter, pour it into the hot iron pan. Bake at 375 until golden brown, approximately 30 - 35 minutes.

Serve with butter, crumbled up in a bowl of soup, dripping with syrup, or as daddy likes it in a glass of buttermilk.

Cornbread is an easy accompaniment to any meal!

Staple of the Southern Kitchen - Buttermilk

Wikipedia describes buttermilk as the liquid left over from churning butter from creme.

The southern kitchen describes buttermilk as a delicacy.

In the south, we love our buttermilk. A staple of the southern kitchen, buttermilk can always be found in the refrigerator. It is used in baking and general cooking.

One of daddy's favorite meals is buttermilk and cornbread. Not buttermilk IN cornbread, but buttermilk AND cornbread.

I can still hear daddy, after a long weekend proclaiming, "mama I just want buttermilk and cornbread for supper." (Daddy calls mama, mama too!)

Buttermilk and cornbread is something I have never eaten, but as served to daddy it was a big glass of buttermilk with cornbread broken up in it. Daddy loves that meal and still eats it today.

Mama always used buttermilk in biscuits, ma-ma used in when she baked cakes and I have seen people drink it right out of a glass.

Buttermilk is a true southern staple.

A couple of years ago, when I finally learned how to make cornbread I learned to appreciate buttermilk. Now, as hard as it is to find sometimes, I keep it for my own cooking purposes.

Although I have never done it, I have heard of people who dredge their chicken or country fried steak in buttermilk before cooking. Some people even dip okra and other vegetables in buttermilk before frying, since I am not much of a "dredger" I don't use buttermilk for such purposes, but I can certainly see how it would enrich the flavors.

Buttermilk, does the body good.

Short Notes....

From time to time I will post "Short Notes," these are follow-ups to previous post or quick questions.

• Several of you have mentioned that you don't use soap in cleaning your Black Iron Fry Pan. You are right.... I was wrong! Water only.
• Banana Sandwich.... Mayonnaise? Peanut Butter? or You have never had one?
• Thank you so much for all the positive comments I have been receiving on the Blog, I am thoroughly enjoying writing it and sharing these stories with you.

Staple of the Southern Kitchen ~ Black Iron Frying Pan

Long before Teflon, aluminum, stainless steel or copper the cast iron frying pan was an essential staple for any southern kitchen. Available in a variety of shapes and sizes, the Black Iron Frying Pan has been used for all varieties of cooking.

Often passed down from generation to generation, the Black Iron Frying Pan never looses its ability to cook a masterful meal. Mama used her fry pans often and for numerous dishes. She would fry chicken, pork chops or cubed steak and then use the remnants for gravy. There is something about those old frying pans that capture flavors and cook with an even golden brown, unlike the pans of today.

I have seen mama cook an entire meal in one fry pan, of course back in the day we fried most everything, but even with today's cooking styles, the old black frying pan can be used for stir-fry or a baking dish.

Several years ago, daddy picked up a number of fry pans at a yard sale, he gave me three. A small, medium and large pan. After years of cooking, I felt complete now that I had my own. You can buy them in the store, but honestly it takes years of use before a black fry pan is cured just right

When I got my fry pans daddy gave me a few lessons on how to take care of them.

Never, ever, never, never, never put an Iron frying pan in the dishwasher...NEVER! Always wash the fry pan with soap and water in the sink.

If you store an iron frying pan in the oven it will cure quicker. If I am cooking something in the oven I leave my stored pans there, something about the constant heat just helps them get better and better.

I use my fry pans for everything but my favorite dishes are fried chicken, okra and cornbread. The heat, the consistency and the versatility makes a Black Iron Frying Pan a Staple for any Southern Kitchen.

Staple of the Southern Kitchen ~ Sweet Tea

Every Southern Kitchen has staples and one of the most important is Sweet Tea. In the south, Sweet Tea is a delicacy, you don't have to even ask if it is iced, because when the temperature is 86 degrees and the humidity is hitting 117% it is a given.

The art of making sweet tea has been passed down from generation to generation. My mama made it and her mama before her and her mama before her, likewise with my father's side of the family. No good southern meal is complete without sweet tea.

Growing up our family would go through a gallon of sweet tea each day, we didn't have Coke or water in our fridge, we had sweet tea!

Mama had one pot she made the tea in, it was old beat up tin pot that was only used for making sweet tea. I assume the flavors of the tea somehow stayed in the pot after hundreds of preparations because mama made it clear, that pot was ONLY for tea, nothing else. Not a kettle, a pot. Through the years that pot got beat up, the handles came off and the tea stain couldn't be removed, but it always remained the sweet tea pot.

Some people add a swig of lemon juice or a squirt of lime juice to their glass and on special occasions when pineapple was used in a dish, the juice was saved for individual glasses of sweet tea, but most often sweet tea spoke for itself, nothing else was needed, just the nectar of a refreshing glass of sweet tea.

With the invention of the microwave, tea making evolved as well, no more steady boil, just 4 minutes in the microwave and it was done. For years I told mama that it was a scientific fact that water should not be boiled in the microwave as the waves were damaging to your health, unfortunately she didn't listen to me and changed her brewing habits forever. I still contend, stove top brewing makes the best tea and when I really want to transport myself back to my roots, I put on a pot and boil away.

As I said, sweet tea is a staple, just like butter, eggs, meat and vegetables, no meal or family gathering is complete without a big ole glass of sweet tea.

Recipe:

1 Pot

4 Family size Lipton Tea Bags (it really does make a difference, Lipton is best!)

1 Cup of Sugar

Boil one pot of water (about 2 quarts with the tea bags)

Add one cup of sugar to a gallon pitcher (yes, one cup per gallon)

After the tea has boiled for about 5 minutes remove it from the stove and pour the tea into the pitcher.

Using the same pot with the tea bags still in the pot, add more water and pour into the pitcher until you have filled the gallon jug.

Stir until sugar is dissolved

Refrigerate

That's it today from Notes From a Southern Kitchen, email me or send me a comment and until next time, pour yourself a glass of sweet tea and enjoy.