My neighbor taught me this: Use a cast iron skillet to cook the cornbread. Put some of the recipe oil into the cast iron skillet and put that skillet into the oven while it is pre-heating and the remaining mixture is being prepared. When the oil "smokes" (or really hot, in other words) add it to the completed mixture and stir well. When you add the batter to the skillet, it sizzles! When the corn bread is done, the crust is crisp and good. That is, if you like crisp crust. Also, I remove the cornbread from the cast iron when it is done to prevent it from further cooking of the crust.
Patti cakes, just use yogurt instead of milk or buttermilk. Because it is a bit thicker you might need just a bit more. The runnier, home made is best, if yours is too solid, add a bit of milk to make up the difference.
This makes a very fluffy cornbread.
expatriate Californian living in rural Ireland with husband, dogs, horses. garden and many, many cats
man, i knew i struck gold when i joined TOL. you guys are great! thank you so much for the recipes and suggestions.
Respect God. Love your family. What else is there?
Oh and if you have someone in your family with a true wheat allergy, if they can eat spelt, the results are pretty much identical to regular corn bread. Spelt and wheat developed from the same plant, but modern wheat has a mutation that some people can't handle (there are a lot of people with real wheat allergies here in Ireland because for 500 years only the Upper Classes ever saw wheat more often than about once a year).
If your family member or friend can't even eat spelt, then rice flour seems to be the next best choice. I learned all about this when friends were living with us and the wife was having a baby and she had recently discovered a true wheat allergy (like a lot of folks, she only got it bad when she switched to whole wheat, now she can't eat wheat at all or she swells up within minutes, I've seen it). We didn't discover she could eat spelt until right before they moved, so I did a lot of experimenting. Her arm was broken part of her pregnancy, so I did most of the cooking.
We also discovered that the best non-wheat breads are either flat breads (like tortillas or griddle cakes) or steamed breads. I was stunned when I made a wheat less version of Boston brown bread, with rye and cornmeal and it tasted exactly like it should. It was like the wheat wasn't needed at all!
expatriate Californian living in rural Ireland with husband, dogs, horses. garden and many, many cats
Make cornbread muffins and put a teaspoon of your favorite
jam in the middle. Kids love it.
Without dreams,life is broken wing bird that cannot fly
...Mark Lowery!...discussing the merits of cornbread and other such things:
Take a Pill and Cook the Vegetables
"Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready." Revelation 19:7