Thanksgiving Week: Cornbread Dressing part 1 - Cornbread

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When Joel and I were planning our Thanksgiving feast, I realized that for me it's just not Thanksgiving without the cornbread stuffing, and cornbread stuffing takes cornbread.

Not too long ago, I was watching an episode of Cook's Country featuring southern foods.  Bridget Lancaster, the resident southerner on the show, was expounding about the virtues of a true southern cornbread.  The key ingredients are cornmeal, buttermilk, and a cast iron skillet.  The key missing ingredients are flour, sugar, and any sort of gussying up (jalepenos, creamed corn, tomatoes, and the like).  As I watched her heat up the shortening in the cast iron skillet, and mix together the cornmeal and buttermilk, I was immediately homesick.  I was also immediately determined to make cornbread at home.  Joel and I were in possession of a sweet cast iron skillet, so it was time to start learning how.


I had several obstacles to overcome in the making of cornbread that would rival my dad's.  I had the right pan now, at least, so I could check that off the list.  Part two was finding self-rising cornmeal mix.  Guess what?  Not a lot of that around up here in the great white north.  I could lay my hands on three or four different corn muffin mixes, but those are like cake compared to the gritty, homespun texture of true buttermilk cornbread.

Eventually, I found regular old cornmeal, so that left me to figure out the leavening on my own.  Basically what I ended up with was a sort of Frankenrecipe that's mostly my dads, with a little help on the cooking science from a couple of internet recipes.

Southern Skillet Cornbread

• 2 cups cornmeal (yellow or white is fine)
• 2 eggs
• about 1 1/2 cups of buttermilk (details below)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  
• 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon plus a pinch salt
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or shortening
  

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Put the vegetable oil in the cast iron skillet and put the skillet in the oven as it preheats.

Lightly beat the eggs in a 2 cup liquid measuring cup.  Add buttermilk until you get to two cups of liquid.

Mix the buttermilk/egg mixture with the cornbread in a mixing bowl.  Add salt.  Do not add the leavening until the oven and skillet are fully preheated (10-15 minutes depending on your oven).  The skillet needs to be lava hot in order to make the delicious crusty outside of the corn bread.

Once the oven and skillet are fully heated, pull the skillet out of the oven and put it somewhere heat safe (stove top, trivet, etc.).  Mix in the baking soda and the baking powder and quickly pour the batter in the skillet.  It should sizzle.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the top cracks.  Invert onto a cooling rake so the steam doesn't soften the crust.

Serve warm with butter.  Goes really well with chili and vegetable stew.

Make ahead a couple of loaves before Thanksgiving and freeze them so you don't have to cook one more thing the day of.  Slightly stale cornbread works better in the stuffing.