Mom’s Country Corn Bread

Although cast iron pans have been used for family cooking for hundred’s of years, I’ve personally only been using one for about a week now.  Thanks to a special person, we recently we inherited a beautiful cast iron skillet, and since then we have cooked with it almost every day!

Everything seems to taste better and cook more evenly, and we have even started using it in the morning to cook our eggs.  As an added bonus, cast iron pans leak small amounts of iron into the food, so it is a wonderfully natural way to increase iron in your diet.

Along with our cast iron pan, we also received a classic family recipe for old-fashioned country corn bread.   This recipe is extremely easy and versatile, and makes a wonderful side item to any meal or eaten as a main dish with a scoop of chili.

If you don’t have a cast iron pan, don’t let that hold you back, you could make this in a round baking dish and it will still taste delicious.  In fact, this corn bread delights all the senses. There is something fun about watching and hearing the sizzle as the corn bread dough hits the pan.  At about 21 minutes into the cooking, the smell of the corn bread is so intense it will travel through your home until it arrives in your nose like a giant hug from an old friend.  Aesthetically, it is beautiful to look at as the butter melts and steam from the bread rises in the air.  And finally, as you feel the crumbly, buttery texture of the bread in your mouth, you’ll sigh, “hmm this is good.”

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Old fashioned corn bread in a cast iron skillet.

This recipe called for shortening and olive oil, but I just used coconut oil and it was delicious!

Ingredients

• coconut oil (or shorterning) to grease the pan
• 1.5 cups yellow self-rising corn flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil (or olive oil)
• 1 cup buttermilk
• butter

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Grease iron skillet liberally with coconut oil or shortening.
3. Place skillet in oven for a few minutes until the grease has melted and is very hot.
4. Remove skillet from oven and pour corn meal mixture into the skillet.
5. Enjoy fun sizzling sound.
6. Place skillet back into over and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.
7. Remove from oven and smother the top of the surface with butter.
8. Eat immediately or cover it with foil to keep it warm until ready to eat.

Add chopped onions, red and green peppers for Mexican style corn bread.

Tagged as: cast iron, cast iron skillet, coconut oil, corn bread, country, old-fashioned

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