My Favorite Corn Bread Recipe

There are many styles of cornbread. Cornbread can be sweet, it can be made with flour or without  flour, it can be rich, it can be cake-like, it can be crumbly, and on and on.

I am not a purist that claims cornbread is not "authentic" if it has sugar, if it has eggs, if it is not 100% stone ground heirloom cornmeal.

I am a Northern girl and apparently that means I am not qualified to judge what "real" cornbread is in some circles.

 My jar of bacon grease that I store in the fridge.

 With that being said I have found that I do prefer a cornbread made with bacon grease and buttermilk, without sugar and without flour, and baked in a cast iron skillet. Some would consider this the most "real" or "Southern" (those words seem to be synonyms) cornbread of all.

You can read a really interesting article about where the whole, "Cornbread should not have sugar," sentiment came from HERE.

Mr. In The Mid-West prefers his cornbread to have a little sweetness and with more bread qualities. (More like the recipe I wrote about in this post.) So,I get to enjoy this recipe all by myself. :) It makes a very yummy breakfast after Mr. In The Mid-West is off to work in the morning.

With all of the disclaimers out of the way I am going to share my favorite cornbread recipe.

No Flour Cornbread

• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 3 Tbs. bacon grease

Mix all ingredients, except for the bacon grease, in a bowl.

Heat oven to 425* F.

Heat bacon grease in a 8 inch cast iron skillet on stove until it is about to start smoking.

Swirl the grease around in the skillet to grease the sides. Pour grease into bowl with other ingredients, stirring as you pour.  

Mix well and pour into hot skillet.

Bake 15-20 minutes. 

Remove from oven and invert on a cooling rack to remove cornbread from skillet. Cool slightly before serving.

This recipe can easily be doubled and cooked in a 12 inch skillet.