The Monday Recipe Blog

Hello....How's your Monday going so far?? In keeping with the recent and upcoming blogs featuring cast iron cookware, I will post some recipes in the next few weeks that are great when using cast iron. Please bear in mind that other types of cookware can also be used with these recipes, but they taste best when cooked in cast iron.

Some dishes immediately spring to mind when discussing cast iron. Examples are cornbread, biscuits and pineapple upside-down cake. Today we'll look at a great Southern cornbread recipe. (Northern cornbread is sweet and generally uses yellow cornmeal, and Southern cornmeal is not sweet and uses white cornmeal.)

Southern Cornbread:

1 1/2 c. white corn meal
1 c. flour
1 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
3 level t. baking powder
2 c. buttermilk
1 egg
2 T. oil of your choice (old-timers used bacon grease)

You will use your 10 inch cast iron skillet with this recipe.

Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add the egg and buttermilk and mix until everything is combined. Rub your skillet with shortening or oil and put it in the oven while preheating the oven to 450 degrees. When preheated, remove the skillet, pour the batter in immediately and bake at 450 for about 20 minutes.

Cornbread goes great with any meal. I use stone-ground whole grain cornmeal, which makes it healthier. Try a Tennessee Milkshake, which is crumbled-up cornbread in a glass of ice-cold milk. Delicious!!