Hoppin' John's Cornbread
A hot-skillet buttermilk cornbread with bacon-greased edges, tender cornmeal crumb, and a simple ingredient list built for butter.
Prep 5 min · Cook 30 min · Total 35 min · Makes 1 9- or 10-inch skillet cornbread (8 servings)
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons strained bacon grease
- 1 egg
- 2 cups buttermilk at room temperature
- 1 3/4 cups cornmeal, preferably whole-grain, stone-ground
- 1 scant teaspoon salt
- 1 scant teaspoon baking powder
- 1 scant teaspoon baking soda
Directions
- Spoon in enough bacon grease to cover the base of a 9 or 10-inch cast-iron skillet. Set the skillet in the oven while it is still cold, then heat the oven to 450 degrees. While that warms, whisk the egg into the buttermilk, add the cornmeal, and stir until the batter is thoroughly combined.
- After about 10 minutes, once the oven is at 450 degrees, the bacon grease should be nearly smoking. Working quickly, mix the salt, baking powder, and soda into the batter, then pour the full batch of batter into the hot skillet in one go.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the surface is just starting to brown. Invert the cornbread onto a platter and serve it hot with lots of butter.