Ed's GOOD Cornbread

  
    Makes a 10" skillet, a 9 X 9 pan, or 15  2" muffins
    
    1/2 cup of flour
    1 1/2 cups of cornmeal*(1)
    2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
    3/4 teaspoons of salt
    No sugar!*(2)
    (optional goodies)*(3)
    
    1 egg
    2 or 3 tablespoons of oil
    about 1 cup of buttermilk
    
    Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
    Preheat the pan*(4) with the oil in it.
    Mix the dry ingredients well.
    Mix the egg and buttermilk in a separate bowl.
    Mix the liquid into the dry ingredients.  The batter should be wet,
    	 but not sloppy wet.  It should wet enough to kind of pour, but
    	 slowly.  Add a little more buttermilk if necessary.
    When the pan is hot tip it around to coat it with the oil, pour the
    	 rest into the batter, stir it quickly, pour the batter into the
    	 hot pan (it should sizzle*(5)) and put it into the oven.
    Bake it for about 25 minutes or until it's done.  It should be light
    	 brown on the top and a little darker brown on the bottom.
    Yum yum, eat it up while it's hot!
    
    
    *(1) The best cornmeal is stoneground cornmeal.  Keep it in the 
    	 freezer and it'll keep really fresh.
    *(2) NO SUGAR!  I don't care what your grandma or any recipe or
    	 anybody else says!  No sugar!  Sugar is for cakes, not
    	 cornbread!
    *(3) Optional goodies.  If you want, you can add a cup or whatever
    	 of fresh or frozen corn (no yucky canned corn), some chopped
    	 onion, garlic, hot or sweet peppers, ham or whatever.  Or all of
    	 those!  Use your imagination!
    *(4) A cast iron skillet is best.  A real cowboy or your pioneer
    	 great-grandpa wouldn't be caught using anything else.  Nobody
    	 but a *wuss* would use a cake pan.  They don't make the
    	 cornbread as crispy crusty or cook as evenly.  You can't use
    	 a durn cakepan on a campfire, either.
    *(5) The pan should be hot enough that the batter sizzles when you put
    	 it in.  That will help give the cornbread a crispy brown crust and
    	 help keep it from sticking to the pan.  If you use a well seasoned 
    	 cast iron skillet and put the batter into it while it's hot, the 
    	 cornbread should just fall out when it's done, when you turn it 
    	 upside-down.

Thanks to Edward McGee