Ourfavorite cornbread recipe is from Countryside 80:2. Maple Cornbread. However I was told recently that real cornbread doesn't have any sweetening in it. Then there's corn pone fritters and dodgers. I have a great recipe for hush puppies, I'll post it later. Never had hoe cakes, but I understand they were cooked on hoes by the slaves. Can anyone clear up the great cornbread debate?

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), September 26, 2000

Answers

Whoa Cindy, I'm not touching this hot potato! Why don't you ask something easy like which is the better clam chowder? Or the best meatloaf? There are so many stories and traditions about cornbreads that there isn't any way to sort out the truth. (Although I've always thought the the reason some traditions are that real cornbread isn't sweetened is because they didn't have any sweetening.) Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), September 26, 2000.

Hi Cindy! I've always heard that Northerners sweetened their corn bread and Southerners didn't! Whether that is true or not I'm not sure but I was born in Illinois and my mother always sweentened hers. My husband being born in Ky. likes his unsweetened. That's the way I fix it and I bake it in cast iron corn stick pans in a hot oven and it gets real crisp. Delicious! The sweetened corn bread tastes like cake to me now! Who wants cake with their beans?

-- bwilliams (bjconthefarm@yahoo.com), September 26, 2000.

Having celiac disease and being unable to eat wheat, I tried substituting instant mashed potato flakes for the flour, and have had several people tell me that they liked my version better than the normal recipes. It stays moister. I do use a little sugar in mine, but will have to try the unsweetened version with chili, as I agree that the sweetened stuff is too sweet with it. We like our corn- bread with honey and butter melted on it, though, so normally the sweetened recipe works just fine.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), September 26, 2000.

Oh, that sounds interesting Kathleen. I am sensitive to wheat, myself, although I can get away with eating a little bit, once in awhile.

Would you post the recipe you use? Either here, or start a new thread? Thanks!

There was a thread on here back in August 1999 about cornbread. Several people posted recipes. I hope I can come across it. I printed it out, but I don't want to retype it all!

-- Joy Froelich (dragnfly@chorus.net), September 26, 2000.

Success! I found it in the Baking forum. Check it out at: Corn Bread

-- Joy Froelich (dragnfly@chorus.net), September 26, 2000.

Aaaaah, cornbread! My grandmother never put any sugar or any other sweetner in her cornbread, and very little flour too. Sure am glad I got a copy of her recipie! I hate that Jiffy mix stuff cause it seems like it's mostly flour and lotsa sugar. Tastes more like cake to me. I'll post Granma's recipie if anyone is interested. Also, Dad likes it made with white cornmeal, Mom always made it with yellow. I seem to remember Granma usually made it with yellow too. For a real treat try making it with freshly ground corn meal. Good eatin' mate!

-- Les (lvaughn@suntransformer.com), September 26, 2000.

Here is my wheat-less cornbread recipe:

1/4 cup butter or canola oil (or bacon grease) 1 cup corn meal 1 cup instant mashed potatoes (dry flakes) 2 TBSP sugar or honey 1 TBSP baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1 cup milk or yogurt 2 eggs (large)

Heat butter or oil in 8" or 9" baking pan or cast iron skillet. Combine dry ingredients; add milk and eggs. Mix just until combined. Add melted fat, mix well. Pour into hot pan. Bake at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes. (I usually heat the fat in the pan in the oven as it is preheating, just be careful when you take the pan of hot grease out of the oven.) It's a little more solid than the 'normal' recipes, but moister and tastes good. You could try leaving the sweetener out if you prefer unsweetened.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), September 26, 2000.

Hmmm -- I posted that list of ingredients in a column, but obviously it didn't come out that way! Hope you all can figure it out!

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), September 26, 2000.

OK, this is something I know something about. My mother always put in one teaspoon of sugar in her cornbread, and she would have done vile things to any one but any one that suggested she was from the North!!

Here is the recipe for low fat, low sugar, no wheat cornbread--- 2 cups white (not yellow) cornmeal, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon baking SODA, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 well beaten eggs, and 2 cups buttermilk. Mix in order given. Pour into a greased 10" iron skillet that has been preheated in a 450 degree oven. Bake until the sides begin to pull loose from the pan and the top is brown. This is a moist cornbread and does not crumble much.

-- Green (ratdogs10@yahoo.com), September 26, 2000.

Cornbread with chopped jalapeno peppers stirred into the batter is the best!!

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), September 26, 2000.

Guess I'll try Green's recipe. I just can't get the hang of making it so that it isn't crumbly, no matter what recipe I use! Very frustrating! Thanks, and keep those recipies coming! Jan (neither Southerner nor Northerner, just a Westerner, I guess!)

-- Jan in Colorado (Janice12@aol.com), September 26, 2000.

Here is a friend's recipe for corn muffins----1 1/4 c. cornmeal/ 1 c. flour/ 1/3 c. packed brown sugar/ 1/3 c. sugar/ 1 tsp. bakeing soda/ 1/2 tsp. salt/ 1 egg/ 1 c. buttermilk/ 3/4 c. veg. oil=====combine in large bowl== cornmeal, flour, sugars, bakeing soda, & salt. in another bowl beat egg, milk, & oil; stir into dry ingredients-just until moistened. fill muffin cups 3/4's full. bake at 425 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes or until done--makes 1 doz. I cook "by guess & by gosh"--so it is nice when I can pass on a real recipe that says things just right instead of a pinch of this or that. We really like these & I hope ya do to! Sonda in Ks.(p.s. thanks for the great recipes--Kathern I have friends who can't eat wheat & I'll pass that recipe on --thanks for all the recipes & the last forum also!)

-- Sonda (sgbruce@birch.net), September 27, 2000.

I really need to move my computer to the kitchen, or my recipies to my computer. Try the JOy of Cooking corn bread. It's got lots of corn meal and little flour and bakes in a sizzling skillet. YUM!! I like butter and molasses on mine. My kids think I'm crazy.

-- glynnis in KY (gabbycab@msn.com), September 27, 2000.

Sheepish, we eat it with hot peppers too, which is why the bit of sweetness is a pleasure. Try a small amount of grated zuchini. I like to add drained, canned corn. I like the texture. A small amount of grated cheese tasty, we like cheddar. When it is plain cornbread and soup, the additions make it a gourmet meal.

-- Anne (HT@HM.com), September 27, 2000.

Here is my Grandma's cornbread recipie. It took me a while to figure out how to extract if from my recipie program into this format, hope it worked. You can leave out some of the bacon grease if you want, but not too much. I have also used butter instead of the bacon grease for a different flavor. If there is a big crack running all the way around the rim when you take it out of the oven you know you have done everything perfectly. This is best eaten sliced with a big big pat of butter melted inside, a mess of fresh poke greens, fried bacon and a pot of great northern beans. Man, this is making me hungry! Also if you don't want to heat up the kitchen with the oven, you can fry the batter in the skillet on top of the stove, making corn cakes. I think the reason many put so much flour in thier cornbread is to make it less crumbly. I will admit that this recipie is crumbly, but that's all part of it. The extra flour detracts from the corn flavor.

1 x Egg 2 T Flour 2 c Corn meal (yellow) 2 t Baking powder (heaping) 1 1/2 t Salt 1 1/4 c Milk 1/4 c Bacon grease Preheat oven to 500. Put bacon grease in 10 inch skillet and heat almost to smoking. Mix all ingredients in bowl until smooth. If too thick, add more milk. If too thin, add corn meal. This takes a little practice. When grease is HOT pour into batter and stir well. Sprinkle corn meal into skillet, coating bottom and sides. Pour batter into skillet. If it is hot enough, it will sizzle. Bake 30 to 40 minutes, until golden grown. Enjoy.

-- Les (lvaughn@suntransformer.com), September 28, 2000.

If you can get blue corn or cornmeal, you can make marbled corn bread! Just make two batches of cornbread batter, one using blue cornmeal, the other with white or yellow. Pour one batch into the pan, and the other on top of it, and draw a knife through the batters a few times to marble it. Very pretty and nice to take to a potluck.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), September 28, 2000.

what about some cracklin cornbread thats whats good

-- earl (racknspur@aol.com), October 01, 2000.

Anybody know how to make cornbread on top of the stove, or , I've heard about fried cornbread made of just cornmeal and water? Any ideas?

-- Kellie Duncan (kashaa@ipa.net), October 02, 2000.