Buttermilk Cornbread

Cornbread is one of our truly native staples here in the south. Humans have been growing corn and eating cornbread’s for thousands of years and its so good in combination with so many dishes. There are so many variations of southern cornbread recipes and we encourage you to experiment with different ones but here is whats important:

About the ingredients: We use our own homegrown and stone milled corn but we also love Brads stone ground meal from Riverview Milling. Buttermilk, if your not making your own we love Cruze Dairy or any other local milk you can find. Also Butter, Lard or Bacon grease can all be swapped out for the grease. Cookbooks we recommend with cornbread and many other delicious recipes are: Victuals by Ronni Lundy, Heritage by Sean Brock, The Gift of Southern Cooking by Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock and Frank Stitts Southern Table. ok her are the details:

-Preheat oven to 450 have your 8-9 inch skillet with the butter or grease preheating in the oven while you mix ingredients

-In a bowl mix together your cornmeal, salt, baking soda and powder break your large egg (or 2 medium eggs) into the bowl and add the buttermilk and stir vigorously. The trick is getting the right consistency (pour able but thicker than your typical pancake batter) depending on the coarseness of your flour you might need to add another 1/4 to 1/2 cup of milk or water to thin out.

-Remove you sizzling hot skillet from the oven, add the grease or butter to the skillet while still in oven so its melted and hot. pour most of the grease into the batter and incorporate quickly. Leave enough grease in the skillet so its evenly coated

-Pour batter into skillet and bake for 20-25 minutes until the edges are brown and crispy

-Serve hot with butter and sorghum syrup if you like.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cornmeal

• 1 tsp salt

• 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 1 large egg or 2 medium

• 1 1/2 to 2 cups buttermilk

• 4 tbsp butter or grease