On Wed 14 Jan 2009 06:44:03a, The Cook told us...

> On Wed, 14 Jan 2009 07:35:33 -0600, George Shirley
> > wrote:
>
>>Wayne Boatwright wrote:
>>> On Tue 13 Jan 2009 10:16:20p, MaryL told us...
>>>
>>>> "jmcquown" > wrote in message
>>>> ...
>>>>> "Chemiker" > wrote in message
>>>>> ...
>>>>>> Well, back to the drawing board. Found 2 cast iron
>>>>>> corn bread stick molds in the garage, refugees
>>>>>> from my wife's Daddy's storage shed when he
>>>>>> died some years ago.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Cleaned them up, and reseasoned. They looked
>>>>>> pretty good, but the proof was in the making of
>>>>>> cornbread.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Went to local market and bought a couple of packets
>>>>>> of yellow CB mix, and made one with whole milk.
>>>>>>
>>>>> Your problem was buying cornbread "mix".
>>>>>
>>>>> Use butter to grease the molds and then make cornbread from scratch,
>>>>> not a boxed mix.
>>>>>
>>>>> Jill
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> Yes, what Jill said. My grandmother used the type of molds you
>>>> describe, and she used lots of butter on the pans--and she was baking
>>>> in days before mixes were available, which was probably "a good
>>>> thing" in that case. Hers came out perfectly every time.
>>>>
>>>> MaryL
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> It's also very important to preheat the mold to sizzling hot before
>>> pouring in the batter. Actually, Crisco or bacon fat works better
>>> without burning. The temperature should be quite high.
>>>
>>What Wayne said. I always preheat my cast iron in the oven at the
>>temperature the cornbread is going to be cooked at. I put a little
>>canola oil in the bottom of the pan, swirl it around, and then start
>>heating from cold.
>>
>>In the meantime I am mixing my cornbread up and getting it ready. Once
>>the oven dings that is ready I pull the pan out, pour in the cornbread
>>mixture, stick it back in the oven for the time period necessary to cook
>>through, as proven by a toothpick stuck into the highest point on the
>>cornbread. If the toothpick comes out clean you're ready to eat.
>>
>>Learned that from my Mom, who learned to cook in on a wood and/or coal
>>stove and she learned it from her Mom who learned to cook in a fireplace
>>in the backwoods of nineteenth century Arkansas.
>>
>>Using this method has always turned out perfect cornbread for me, moist,
>>done through and through, and with that fine crust on the bottom.
>
> Sounds like what I do, except I use bacon grease. I put the pan with
> the grease into the preheating oven. When the grease starts to smoke
> I take the pan out and add the batter. I find that it is done if it
> falls out of the pan. Somewhere along the line I realized when it did
> not come out of the pan well, it was not quite done. It was usually
> sticking in the middle. Another minute or two in the oven and it
> would fall right out. I haven't done corn sticks in ages. I think
> the trick would be to make sure that every nook and cranny was well
> greased and the pan hot.

I use bacon grease, too, if I have it. Trouble is, we just don't eat that
much bacon anymore (not that I wouldn't like to). Instead, I usually use
Crisco, or a mixture of Crisco and butter.

If I'm baking in an iron skillet, I bake for the alloted time and then pull
the skillet and shake it back and forth a bit. If the cornbread comes
loose on its own, it's ready. If not, it goes back in the oven for a bit.

--
Wayne Boatwright
(correct the spelling of "geemail" to reply)
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Date: Wednesday, 01(I)/14(XIV)/09(MMIX)
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Countdown till Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
4dys 5hrs 29mins
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