Skillet-Sizzled Cornbread

Tonight, along with roast chicken, I served Crescent Dragonwagon's famous Skillet-Sizzled Cornbread from the Dairy Hollow Inn. It's way easy and just delicious.

1 cup unbleached white flour
1 cup stone-ground yellow cornmeal
1 Tbsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp baking soda
1¼ cup buttermilk (I didn't have any buttermilk on hand, so I used 5 Tbsp Saco buttermilk powder and 1¼ cups water.)
2 Tbsp sugar
1 large egg
¼ cup mild vegetable oil (I used canola.)
2 Tbsp unsalted butter

Heat oven to 375°. Spray a 10" cast-iron skillet with nonstick spray; set aside. (My pan is 12"; didn't matter.)

In a large bowl, sift together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt and buttermilk powder.

In a small bowl, stir the baking soda into the buttermilk, water. Whisk in the sugar, egg, and oil.  

Put the skillet over medium heat, add the butter, and heat until the butter melts and is sizzling seriously. Tilt the pan to coat the sides of the skillet. As the butter's melting, quickly pour the wet ingredients into the dry; stir together with as few strokes as possible—don't beat it and don't smooth it out. Scrape the batter into the hot, buttery skillet and pop it in the oven immediately.  

Bake until golden brown on top, about 20 minutes. Cut in wedges, slather with (lightly salted) butter, and enjoy! 

Comments

[jo]

Don't you love the name? Must have had hippy parents.

[Elena]

I need to get a cast iron skillet, but I'm afraid of the whole seasoning process.

[Karen]

You can get an already seasoned one from Lodge!

[Crescent D]

Hey, y'all! I just got this "Google Alerts" thing that sends an email whenever something about my books appears on the Net, and here you all are!

Thank you, Karen! I am so glad you are enjoying the Skillet-Sizzled, and it's looking good in the picture. Happily, that recipe has given joy to many people.... aqlways pleases me to know this.

Jo, about the name thing... go to www.cornbreadgospels.com and click on the button that says "Is that your real name?" You'll find the whole, gruesome (not really) ridiculous story.

And, Elena... don't be scared of the seasoning process. It is no big deal. As K. says, you can by a pre-seasoned one from Lodge (the line is called Lodge Logic), but for a lot less $ you can buy an old rusty one for a couple of dollars at a second-hand store, season it yourself, and have the many satisfactions of rescue mission, do-it-yourself, recycle-plus-save-money. (The guy who cuts my hair did this, using directions on pages 126-17 in THE CORNBREAD GOSPELS, and he is pleased as punch with himself and his shiny perfect $4 skillet). I'm sure you can also Google "season a cast-iron skillet" and probably find good directions on line, too.

At any rate, happy cornbreading to all, and to all a good cornbread!

Thank you all so much... I'm glad I ran into you and happy cornbreading!

[mommyralf]

Sorry, I keep falling behind on reading and comments. Cornbread? I must reply:

I did skillet-style a few times this year, my only significant difference from this recipe being to USE BACON FAT, not veg. oil.
YUM.

I was inspired by an excellent bbq place here that makes, hands down, my favorite cornbread ever. They use a special cornmeal from several counties south of here that has a larger grind and a somewhat earthier flavor. Skillet made some difference, but that special cornmeal obviously counts for a lot. Might try to lay my hands on some this year.

[Di]

Lazy me...we made this last night to go with Chili, but I used Jiffy corn bread mix!

[Tammy]

Well, I FINALLY got around to making this tonight, after bookmarking this when you first posted it, and it was awesome! We had it with black bean soup (recipe from Hollyhock Cooks, coincidentally another excellent hippie cookbook) and even my husband loved it, and he's bizarrely picky about cornbread. Thank you for eliminating cornbread-related friction from my marriage.