Happy Medium Cornbread

I grew up with that fluffy, sweet northern cornbread. It was baked in a cake pan and presented in squares which we’d always slice in half and slather with butter. I loved it. I didn’t even know that there was any other kind of cornbread until I met my husband, who was born in Louisiana. The first time he made that thinner, denser southern style cornbread, I thought maybe he’d royally screwed up the recipe.

The two styles of cornbread are so incredibly different that they really ought not to be lumped together under the same name. Northern cornbread is sweet and cake-like. It’s generally made in a pan or muffin tin, it’s got baking soda and baking powder, and it has more flour than southern cornbread, which sometimes has none at all. Southern cornbread, on the other hand, is typically unsweetened. It’s flatter and denser and more savoury, and it’s made in a heavily greased hot cast-iron skillet. The two are on opposite ends of the cornbread spectrum.

So of course I had to try to have them meet in the middle. It made sense, really. My mealtime plans are already generally complex and fraught with uncertainties, right? I don’t need to add to it the decision of which cornbread to make. There had to be a way to combine them. The best of both worlds and all that.

As it turns out, there is a happy medium that can be obtained in the cornbread world.

I tried to take the best from both versions (and for this I searched through all the cornbread recipes I have tried and enjoyed - there are many - and picked ingredients from each one). That meant a little bit of sugar, some flour, and some rising agents from the northern side, and buttermilk, lots of cornmeal, and a lard-greased cast iron skillet from the southern side. I think it turned out pretty well. It's a simple recipe and it's the best I’ve ever had. One less decision I’ll need to make on chili night. 

Happy Medium Cornbread

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups cornmeal

1/2 cup flour

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

3 tbsp sugar

2 cups buttermilk

1 egg

6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

2-3 tbsp lard, bacon drippings, or - if you must - vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 400F. Use lard to liberally grease a 10” cast iron skillet. Put the skillet into the oven to heat.

Mix together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Pour the wet mix into the dry mix and stir until just combined.

Remove the hot skillet from the oven and pour the batter into it. Bake it for about 20 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. 

And that’s it.