Southern-Style Cornbread

Adapted from John Folse
Makes one 8 inch round

4 teaspoons bacon drippings (or 2 teaspoons butter and 2 teaspoons vegetable oil)
1 cup yellow corn meal, preferably stone ground
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon baking soda
3/4 cup rapidly boiling water
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup milk
1 large egg, beaten lightly

1. Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and heat oven to 450º F. Set 8-inch cast iron skillet with bacon fat (or butter and vegetable oil, see note 1 below) in heating oven.

2. Measure 1/2 cup cornmeal into a medium heatproof bowl. Mix together the remaining cornmeal, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a small bowl, and set aside. Pour the boiling water all at once into the 1/2 cup cornmeal; stir to make a stiff mush. Whisk in the buttermilk and milk gradually, breaking up any lumps until smooth, then whisk in the egg. Set aside until the oven is fully preheated.

4. When oven is preheated and skillet very hot, stir the dry ingredients into the mush mixture until just moistened. Carefully remove the skillet from oven. Pour the hot bacon fat into the batter and stir to incorporate, then quickly pour the batter into the heated skillet.

5. Bake at 450º F until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and instantly turn corn bread out onto a wire rack. Cool for 5 minutes, then serve immediately.



Notes:
1. If using butter and vegetable oil instead of bacon fat, you may want to add it to the hot pan after it has preheated, rather than heating it in the pan with the oven. Butter has a lower smoke-point than bacon fat, and may scorch. If it starts to smoke, and you’re concerned, better to cook the bread in a less-than-fully-hot skillet, rather than with burnt butter.

2. If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, a 9 inch round cake pan or a 9 inch square baking pan, greased lightly with butter and not preheated, will also produce acceptable results. In this case, though, you may want to double the recipe, and baking the bread for 25 minutes.