Stick to Your Ribs

This photo earned me at least one Twitter marriage proposal, and several self-invited dinner guests. If you like ribs, you would've loved these. I do the same thing every time, but these were exceptionally good.

I served coleslaw and cornbread alongside, as usual, but this time I tried a Southern-style (that is, unsweetened) cornbread—once again, from The Cornbread Gospels. It was good, but you know what? This Northerner prefers a little sweetness. Granted, when combined with the BBQ sauce and coleslaw, you don't notice, but I like the taste of a very lightly sweetened cornbread slathered with butter, all on its own. That being said, this would be a very nice accompaniment to chili or some other dish where you pretty much have to mop and dip.

Basic Southern Cornbread

¼ cup butter or bacon drippings (I used butter but promptly kicked myself for not using bacon drippings, which I keep in the fridge.)
2 cups fine stone-ground white cornmeal (I had only yellow on hand.)
1 tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
1 egg
1½ cups buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 450°.

2. Place butter in a 10" cast-iron skillet and put skillet in oven to heat.

3. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a small bowl, beat together egg and buttermilk. Add wet mixture to dry, using the absolute minimum number of strokes needed to moisten dry with wet.

4. Remove hot skillet from oven and swirl it around so the butter coats the bottom and lower sides of the skillet. Then pour the remainder of the hot butter into the batter, and stir a couple of times.

5. Dump the batter into the hot skillet, put the skillet back into the oven, and bake the cornbread until it is golden brown, 20–25 minutes. Serve, hot, in wedges from the pan.

Comments

[Tonya]

Oh, that picture is incredible. Wow. And I agree with you about cornbread — prefer a little sweetness.

[Mir]

I have a slab of ribs in the fridge destined for tomorrow's dinner---thanks for the reminder of your method!

Is it a typo (I can't imagine you having a typo) or is there really no regular flour in that cornbread recipe?? I use the recipe on the canister (though I have to sub gluten-free baking mix for the white flour now that I'm wheat-free) and it's definitely the hot buttered cast iron that makes it good, not the recipe itself, but still. I've never seen a recipe that's all cornmeal.

[Karen]

Yup, it's correct -- that's the difference between Southern and Northern cornbread. Southern uses all cornmeal, buttermilk, and no sugar; Northern uses half flour and half cornmeal, plain milk, and sugar. Go here for more info: http://verbatim.blogs.com/verbatim/2008/01/the-gospel-acco.html and here to see my usual Northern-style recipe: http://verbatim.blogs.com/verbatim/2007/12/skillet-sizzled.html

[amy]

I'm making those ribs right now! Bulls-eye sauce and all. Your picture inspired me (and my kids, who saw it over my shoulder).

[Kelly]

Do not tell me I have loved Yankee cornbread all these years! I am not sure I have ever had cornbread without a little sweetness to it.

The ribs are making me drool all over the keyboard....

[Steve]

Ok... YUM. You never cease to amaze.

I need to remember to take pictures of food because you make it look so good. And, I want to send you two recipes: my Italian Wedding Soup with Turkey Meatballs and my Braised Short Ribs with Goat-Cheese Polenta.

The short ribs totally killed (in a good way).

p.s.
I'm a complete Yankee living in Georgia, and I like my cornbread with real sweet-corn kernals and even sometimes made with creamed corn. So I hears ya sistah!