Cornbread

I'm giving this five stars simply because this is the recipe that was handed down to me by my mother and her mother before her so I know how wonderful it is. Same recipe and baking method of adding the hot oil/drippings to the batter except instead of 1/4 cup regular oil, we use 1/4 cup of bacon drippings which is strained, cooled and kept in a mason jar in the fridge. The drippings give it a wonderful flavor and it smells heavenly while baking.

of the 2 1/2 cups of meal, trying using 1/2 C flour for variation.. it make a softer, moister bread..

I don't want to ruin the rating here because it may just be my taste, (or lack thereof!!) so I'm not leaving any stars, but this cornbread wasn't good (to me) at all. :( I added approx. 2/3 cup heavy cream since I didn't have enough milk and used 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour. I followed the oil procedure as well and it came out very grainy, with a not very good taste at all. Perhaps my iron skillet isn't "seasoned" enough. :) I made another recipe from recipezaar (228259) that was much better. I will save this batch for stuffing for the holidays, so no worries, nothing wasted!! ***I forgot to add that I also may have over baked it as there is no baking time listed for this cornbread recipe. I started with 15 mins, then watched and checked it every 5 mins. Total bake time for me was approx. 22 mins.

This is great! I've made cornbread all my life in a (very black) cast-iron skillet, as has my mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, etc... always preheating the oil in the skillet to 450. I had never heard of adding the oil to the batter before pouring, but what a great new idea! I'm calling my mother in a moment to let her in on it! I followed your recipe exactly (which is the basic recipe of the aforementioned women anyway) and it was exactly the way country cornbread should be. As a farm girl from the mountains of East Ky, I know!

I ran out of cornmeal so used 1/2 flour. I love the crust nice and crispy! Thanks!