Cornbread

Over Christmas, I finally got a couple of my mom's cast iron pans. She's got loads of them, a result of dwindling numbers of living relatives and dwindling family sizes with each generation.

I haven't had much interest in making cornbread for many years. Primarily because my mom makes the best cornbread. And I like for her to make it for me. But as she lives three hours away, it's become necessary that I make it on my own. Real cornbread, that is. Not Jiffy. For one, Jiffy has lard in the mix. For two, Jiffy is sweet cornbread and cornbread's just not supposed to be sweet.

So, these days, I'm not making sweet Jiffy cornbread any more, but I'm still cheating and using a mix. For two reasons: I don't keep milk on hand and because Weisenberger's mix is so darn good (and the perfect amount for two people). Though I suppose it wouldn't kill me to try to make it with soy milk sometime. Though, God love her, that would probably kill my mother who's unhappy that I'm even eating yellow corn meal. Nope, to her, real cornbread is made with white cornmeal. Hey, sue me, I like yellow corn better! Regardless, here's my mother's very simple cornbread recipe (adapted over the years to exclude shortening and critter goo):

Real Southern Cornbread
• 2 tablespoons oil (canola, vegetable or corn oil--not olive oil)
• 2 cups white cornmeal (yellow is good, too!)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup milk (skim, 2%, or whatever you've got)--you may not need the whole cup, though. Add enough so that the batter pours slowly.

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Place oil in a 9-inch cast iron skillet or similar-size glass baking dish place in oven while it's heating.

2. Mix cornmeal, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Add egg and milk and stir until just combined.

3. Remove the pan from the oven when it's fully heated and swirl the oil to coat the bottom and partway up the sides. Pour the batter into the skillet and bake until the bread is firm in the middle and lightly golden (about 20 minutes). Cool five minutes, flip inverted onto a plate and slice into triangles.

I was lucky enough to get a divided pan along with a skillet. Clean-up takes a little more time, but the crispy edges makes it very worth it. I served it with purple hull peas (seasoned with a little Liquid Smoke), corn (frozen, not on the cob) and steamed broccoli for a good southern (and healthy) meal.