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.