Cast iron skillet Southern cornbread made with buttermilk and stone-ground cornmeal.
Real Southern Cornbread
What's the fastest way to stir up a hissy fit among Southerners?
Say to them "a real Southerner would never ... [fill in the blank]," that's how.
I hear it sometimes on social media about my own personal recipes because there are some folks who have set in their heads that to be "Southern," a recipe must be prepared a certain way - the way that they grew up with it being prepared, and only that way.
That's hardheaded and stubborn and frankly, just silly, because one thing I have learned since blogging about food is, well, that just ain't so.
Every region of the South cooks a little differently from other regions and there are many regions of the South.
There is no one South.
But, yeah... it's true that folks do get kinda set in their ways.
Just a quick reminder.... if you aren't interested in the chit chat, info, photos, tips and such on a blog, as always, you'll find the complete recipe text with measurements and instructions, as well as a printable document, a little bit further down the page. Just swipe or scroll down to the bottom of the post!
One of those topics always centers around cornbread, and every single Southern cook has their own thoughts about it that I won't delve into here.
I don’t believe in “rules” in cooking because I think what you grew up with and grew to love is how you should cook, including cornbread. Your kitchen, your rules but… if there were such a thing as “rules” for a real southern cornbread, I think they would read something like as follows:
- Preheated cast iron skillet with bacon fat or shortening for crusting
- White cornmeal
- No flour
- No sugar
- Buttermilk
- Eggs for leavening and structure
Right up front I'll tell you all of that is hard to do with grocery store cornmeal and I break those "rules" all the time depending on what I have a taste for.
If you want to make what many would consider "real" Southern cornbread, this is about as close as I could drum up to what might fit that - and having tried all kinds of cornmeal, I am of the opinion that the best southern cornbread comes from using stone-ground cornmeal.
Unfortunately, that's pretty much impossible to find down here along the Gulf Coast.
Grocery markets around here mostly offer a lesser expensive yellow cornmeal, and frankly today, it appears that most people use a cornmeal mix, so that seems to be what is most readily available on the grocery store shelf. In fact, it's sometimes hard to find regular, all-purpose cornmeal anymore, or even a self-rising basic cornmeal for all the different mixes!
I've tried the mixes and frankly I think adding my own ingredients to all-purpose cornmeal makes a better cornbread than the pre-added mixes. Your mileage may vary on that.
Pictured below is a representation of how grains can differ among white and yellow off the shelf cornmeal versus stone-ground. As you can see, it's quite the difference! Stone ground is a much more tender, soft meal and it really makes a huge difference.
Of course, stone-ground not being commonly found at the market means I have to buy it via mail order and thank goodness for online sources!
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Here are some of the different brands and grinds of stone ground cornmeal that I've used with this recipe:
There are other brands available too of course, and you may already have a favorite!
I never knew before, but now I know what all the fuss is about using stone-ground cornmeal and I'm afraid I might be now spoiled for it. It produces that texture that we usually add flour to achieve, but without it so the corn really shines through. I gotta tell y'all, after using stone ground cornmeal it's a little hard to go back to that grocery store stuff!
Hands down though, my number one, most favorite brand of stone-ground cornmeal comes from Foods of the Smokies at the Smokies Life website. There are two mills listed on the most recent bag I got - Cable Mill on one side and Mingus Mill on the other side. The downside, of course, is shipping, so if you make a visit up that way you might want to pick up some to carry home and store in your freezer.
You can see how much softer the grains of this cornmeal are compared to standard grocery store cornmeal.
Here's what you'll need to make my Real Southern Cornbread:
- 1/4 cup fat (bacon fat, butter, vegetable oil or shortening) melted, plus 1 tablespoon for the skillet
- 2 cups stone-ground white or yellow cornmeal
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 1 large egg, beaten
Here's how to make it!
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Rub a tablespoon of the fat on the bottom and sides of a 10 inch cast iron skillet and place into the oven.
Whisk together the cornmeal, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
Add the buttermilk, remaining 1/4 cup of melted fat and egg and gently blend. For fats I've used bacon drippings, butter, vegetable oil and shortening successfully.
I have used this recipe with those different brands of stoneground cornmeal featured above, but one thing that I have learned, every brand has a different grain and how much buttermilk you'll need is going to entirely depend on the grain of the cornmeal that you use.
In the end, you want a batter that looks about like a properly prepared pot of cooked oatmeal - thickened, but still pourable.
Use an oven mitt to remove skillet from the oven. Pour the batter into the skillet.
Place into the preheated oven and bake at 450 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. Let rest for a few minutes, then either slice out of the skillet or very carefully invert out onto a plate and serve immediately.
To me, cornbread is best served hot, right out of the skillet, but once it sits, it just loses something. Now don't get me wrong, it's a little better leftover when it has been made with some flour, extra buttermilk, maybe some sour cream, cheese or other goodies but not when it's a basic cornmeal recipe.
In my little ole humble opinion, leftover cornbread is pretty much only good to save up in the freezer for cornbread dressing or for buttermilk and crumblin's.
For more of my favorite cornbread recipes, check out the collection on my Pinterest page!
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Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Rub a tablespoon of the fat on the bottom and sides of a 10 inch cast iron skillet and place into the oven.
Whisk together the cornmeal, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
Add the buttermilk, remaining 1/4 cup of melted fat and egg and gently blend. For fats I've used bacon drippings, butter, vegetable oil and shortening successfully.
I have used this recipe with those different brands of stoneground cornmeal featured above, but one thing that I have learned, every brand has a different grain and how much buttermilk you'll need is going to entirely depend on the grain of the cornmeal that you use.
In the end, you want a batter that looks about like a properly prepared pot of cooked oatmeal - thickened, but still pourable.
Place into the preheated oven and bake at 450 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. Let rest for a few minutes, then either slice out of the skillet or very carefully invert out onto a plate and serve immediately.
To me, cornbread is best served hot, right out of the skillet, but once it sits, it just loses something. Now don't get me wrong, it's a little better leftover when it has been made with some flour, extra buttermilk, maybe some sour cream, cheese or other goodies but not when it's a basic cornmeal recipe.
In my little ole humble opinion, leftover cornbread is pretty much only good to save up in the freezer for cornbread dressing or for buttermilk and crumblin's.
For more of my favorite cornbread recipes, check out the collection on my Pinterest page!
Unable to view the printable above on your device? Tap/click here for a backup printable.
Thank you for supporting my work! Please note that Images and Full Post Content including photographs and recipe ©Deep South Dish. Recipes are offered for your own personal use only and while pinning and sharing links is welcomed and encouraged, do not copy and paste post or recipe text to repost or republish to any social media (such as other Facebook pages, etc.), blogs, websites, forums, or any print medium, without explicit prior permission. Unauthorized use of content from ©Deep South Dish is a violation of both the federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and copyright law. All rights reserved.
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