I made some corn bread in a cast iron fry pan the other day to have with gumbo. It’s been years since I’ve made it that way. It’s easy and the texture is the payoff.

There are a lot of recipes floating around for this, each a little different from the other. Here’s how I made it.

You need:

Corn meal, about a cup and a half
1/4 cup butter…I used ordinary salted butter
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
1/4 cup corn….it can be from the cob, from a can, frozen, whatever

Put a 10″ cast iron fry pan into a 400F oven and heat it up.

Stir together the corn meal, sugar, salt and baking powder in a bowl.
In another bowl, add the buttermilk, baking soda and whisk in the eggs.
Add the corn to the wet ingredients.

Take the hot fry pan from the oven and add the butter. Let the butter melt, swirling it around in the pan, then pour the butter into the wet ingredients, whisking it all together. Put the pan, with residue butter, back in the oven.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and stir together just enough to combine.

Take the pan from the oven and, using a spatula, pour/scrape the batter into the hot pan. Put the pan in a 400F oven for about 15 minutes, then check to see if it’s done by poking with a skewer. If the skewer comes out clean, you’re in business. If not, give it a little more time. Be careful not to let the edges burn. You’ll see the edges have come away from the pan.

Let the pan with the cornbread cool on your stovetop for a few minutes. Then carefully remove the cornbread from the pan. If your pan is well-seasoned, it should come up off the bottom without any trouble.

At this point, cut the cornbread into chunks, whatever size you like. Immediately test a piece just to make sure it tastes as good as it looks and smells. You may find yourself in stunned disbelief. If so, sample another piece.

There is a school of thought that says use bacon fat instead of butter, and mix in a small handful of bacon bits to the batter. I  didn’t do that, but I thought about it.

Note that this recipe doesn’t use any regular white flour. If you use a portion of white flour, your bread will be less grainy. People who do that usually add more sugar too. I say, try it both ways and decide for yourself what you like best.

Here’s the Carolina Chocolate Drops performing Cornbread and Butterbeans

And here’s Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee performing Cornbread Peas Black Molasses

Finally, let’s go out with Cornbread, performed by the Zydeco Flames