Anne Byrn’s True Southern Cornbread

Serves: 8 to 10

Hands On Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

2 tablespoons bacon grease

1 3/4 cups self-rising white cornmeal

1 1/2 cups full-fat buttermilk

1/4 cup all-purpose flour, if desired

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Instructions

Place a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 450 degrees. Place the bacon grease in a 12-inch cast iron skillet and place the skillet in the oven while it heats.

In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal and flour. Place the cornmeal and flour in a large bowl and stir to combine. Stir in the buttermilk and vegetable oil until smooth. The mixture should be creamy and pourable.

Once the skillet is quite hot, carefully remove it from the oven and pour in the batter. It should sizzle. Bake until the cornbread is deeply browned, about 15 minutes.

Run a knife around the edges of the pan. Immediately turn the cornbread out onto a cutting board, bottom-side up. Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut into wedges and serve hot with butter, honey or sorghum.

About the recipe

With this simple recipe, you can make true Southern cornbread with the best. You’ll be preserving one of the South’s treasured recipes, back before Jiffy, back before sugar was added to cornbread along with cheese, sour cream and green chilies. Back when cornbread was the Southern daily bread. Enjoy!

If you’d like to make this recipe vegetarian, you can substitute additional vegetable oil for the bacon grease.