On Tue 13 Jan 2009 02:20:11p, Chemiker told us...

> 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.
>
> Preheated the Convection Device to 450 dF. Oiled
> the mold with bacon drippings. When all was pre-
> heated, oured the mix in and shoved it into the
> oven. Cooked nicely, turned golden brown,
> but seemed to be browning faster than the
> instructions advised, Pulled them out at 6 minutes.
>
> THey pass the "thump" test, and look ok, even
> though they look like they were made with corn
> flour and not corn meal..... but WTHell?
>
> They are all glued to the iron mold. Feh!
>
> Is the trick to preheat and THEN grease the
> mold? Did I need to add oil to the mix?
>
> You southrons who know this stuff might want
> to advise this former Yankee. Then again...
>
> Alex
>

Others here will surely have different recipes and methods, but the
following works for me. First off, I would never even consider using a
cornbread mix. The cornmeal in it is ground too fine and there's usually
too much flour added. Real southern cornbread usually has only a modicum
of flour or none at all. Then there's the matter of the fat. There should
always be fat added to the batter, as well as the fat used in the pan.

You can use the following recipe for either a skillet of cornbread or
conrbread sticks. If you can't find stoneground cornmeal, then at least
try to find some that is coarse ground. Note that mine recipe contains no
flour. If you wish to add flour, use 1/4 to 1/2 cup, reducing the amount
of cornmeal accordingly.


* Exported from MasterCook *

Southern Cornbread

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 0 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories :

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
2 Cups Stoneground Cornmeal
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Eggs
1 3/4 Cups Buttermilk
1/3 Cup Bacon Drippings or Crisco

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Place bacon drippings or Crisco in 9-inch
cast iron skillet. Heat skillet in oven until fat is smoking hot, while
preparing batter. (This should take no more than 5-10 minutes.) Thoroughly
combine cornmeal, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. Add eggs and
buttermilk all at once. Blend thoroughly, using wire whisk. Slowly pour all
but 1 tablespoon of hot fat into batter, continuing to beat quickly with
whisk to incorporate fat. Turn skillet around to coat sides and bottom
thoroughly with remaining fat. Pour batter into skillet. Bake on top rack
of oven for 25-30 minutes, or until top of cornbread is firm. Turn
cornbread onto plate and slip back into skillet upside-down. Return to oven
for 5 minutes. Turn out onto rack, cut into 6 wedges and serve immediately.

--
Wayne Boatwright
(correct the spelling of "geemail" to reply)
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