The Farmhouse Kitchen: Cornbread Sweetness

When I was a kid, we ate around the table every night. Eating out was a rarity for my family; it had to be a special occasion and always my dad’s idea. He usually picked Bonanza Steak House (y’all remember those?) down Highway 41 around the corner from our house.

Supper at home usually included stuff like fried potatoes with onions, pinto beans with a side of chow chow, home canned green beans, spring onions, sliced tomatoes in the summer with whatever else was growing in the garden, and always cornbread and biscuits. Every night.

We didn’t have a clue who might show up for supper, so there was always extra everything, just in case. And inevitably, someone always showed up. Leftovers were stored away in butter tubs and biscuits and cornbread were wrapped in foil and left on the stovetop for whomever (my dad) to have a snack later. If the biscuits made it until morning, they’d be split, slathered with butter, and toasted under the broiler for breakfast. But cornbread sometimes became dinner all on its own, in a bowl of milk. Nobody at our house wantedto cook on Sunday nights after church. You either picked a bowl of cornflakes, or cornbread and milk.

My mom’s cornbread recipe was traditional, complete with bacon drippings and a cast iron skillet. I’ll bet she could make it in her sleep. The one thing you’d never find in her cornbread was sugar. She’d probably flip if she knew about this column. But through the years, as a part of my culinary adventures, I’ve collected lots of cornbread recipes. I’ve tried them all. I have my favorites — those favorites, including my mom’s recipe, are all classics. But among all my tried and true, there are a few that aren’t exactly what you think about when it comes to traditional cornbread.

Outer Banks Cornbread is classic cornbread, but swimming in butter. I usually double the recipe. You might need to, too. The second recipe calls itself cornbread, but there’s not a lick of cornmeal in the recipe. It’s basically a sticky pecan cake, but the texture is a little coarse like cornbread. My final offering is cornbread, but it’s called a cake. Letting it cool brings out the cornbread flavor. I love it with white bean soup. And, at the risk of losing my Southern Belle card, I’ll bet even my mom would like it!

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