Dixie Cornbread (Go Dawgs!)
I got an email from a reader, Terri (Who is originally from Georgia -Go Dawgs!) telling me she made world famous cornbread. I was intrigued.
Then she told me that her husband said she made better cornbread than his MAMA. I was stunned.
THEN she told me that her cornbread recipe included TWO CUPS OF BUTTERMILK. My jaw was hanging open.
I had to try this. She offered the recipe (on accounta she’s so nice!) and of course I said yes (on accounta I do NOT make it a habit to turn down world famous recipes of cornbread that include two cups of buttermilk and make husbands turn on their Mamas).
It took her a week or so to get it to me and I have to admit I was getting kind of worried that she may have decided to keep it a secret after all. When I did finally get it, Terri (Go Dawgs!) and I had us a bit of an OMG moment. It turns out the very cookbook she got this from, which is a rare one printed in the seventies, just happened to be the very same cookbook I was laying in bed leafing through as her email came through on my iphone. Spooky or Fate? After having been fortunate enough to get to know Terri (Go Dawgs!) through email, I can definitely say it was the latter.
Let me tell you my personal experience with this cornbread :EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY GOBBLED IT DOWN. That may not seem like that big a deal until I tell you that up until I made this, cornbread had not ever passed the lips of either of my children (they are weird). My husband (whom I’ve mentioned before must have been dropped on his head as a child because of his extremely strange aversions to some staple southern dishes despite having been born and raised just outside of Atlanta) even ate a rather large piece and came back for seconds.
I have never had cornbread so moist in all of my born days. I am flabbergasted and feel certain that no small amount of my existance has been wasted up until tasting this. My in laws are coming to visit this weekend from Georgia (Go Dawgs!) and I plan on having this in the oven when they pull in the driveway.
So without further fuss (On accounta I don’t want to stand between you and this cornbread, because standing in between anyone and THIS cornbread is NOT a safe place to be), here is Terri’s (Go Dawgs!) Dixie Cornbread!
Ingredients
- 1-1/2 cups enriched white cornmeal
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons of bacon drippin’s or melted real butter
- 1 tablespoon solid vegetable shortening
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450.
- In a 10-inch cast iron skillet, add a tablespoon of shortening and preheat.
- Sift together dry ingredients; add buttermilk, egg, and drippings, mixing just until dry ingredients are moistened.
- Pour into the greased, hot skillet. Bake in preheated hot oven at 450 for 20-25 minutes.
- Serve warm with butter.
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Posted by Christy Jordan
on Oct 1 2008. Filed under Breads, FEATURED Southern Favorites!, Southern Classics.
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[...] a heartier soup it’s probably worth planning a little extra time to simmer! Serve with Cornbread (this recipe over at Christy Jordan’s Southern Plate looks so good, and [...]
I am in canada and when I can I use bacon grease for making scrambled eggs, fried tomatoes and corn bread. I love my bacon grease.
I’ve been making cornbread like this for 50 years. The only difference is, I put melted bacon grease on the top before I put it in the oven, and I use whole milk buttermilk instead of lowfat.As a matter of fact, I’m making it for supper today to go with my pot of beefy vegetable soup.It’s a perfectly gloomy day for it.
For ease, try using Martha White or White Lily buttermilk corn meal mix and corn oil and buttermilk. So easy. The rest is the same. Heavenly. with soups.
I’ve been on a cornbread making spree over the last couple of months and have used the Martha White Buttermilk cornbread mix and it really is good! And yes, I still have a couple of cast iron skillets! Sometimes I add a few tablespoons of flour since my mom and grandmother usually used a little more flour (about 2/3 white cornmeal and 1/3 flour–both self rising of course!). I was finished with college, married and out of the house before I realized there was anything other than self rising flour. Maybe once my dad bought plain flour by mistake and ruined my mom’s cornbread! He was from Missouri–not a Southerner like the rest of us–so she said he didn’t know any better and she didn’t notice until it was too late.
I make my corn bread the same way the same way my momma showed me . But I us self risin flour and my iron skillet is so season the everone ask if I put salt in it LoL but I dont Eveybody knows not to touch my Irn skillet
I find it interesting that you specifically mentioned white corn meal. My Grandma (who raised me) said “white corn meal is for people eatin’… yellow corn is for the livestock!” LOL Now, I’ve had some mighty find yellow corn bread but must admit that white corn meal has a much more refined flavor. Got to try this soon!
I am so glad this doesn’t have sugar in it! Thanks for sharing!
Try slathering your iron skillet with bacon grease instead of shortening. Definitely not for the “faint of heart” folks. My father-in-law adds a touch of sugar. He is our cornbread maker, no one else can seem to get right. I need to try your recipe and see how close it is.
Happy birthday to Katy Rose. My son just turned 8, as well.
Christy, your cornbread looks awesome! I grew up in the 50′s eating cornbread like this and I ate as much I could hold whenever my darlin’ South Carolina mother would make it (which was often!)
Mom’s gone now, for more than 20 years, but I still crave her white cornbread. It seems like most restaurants, at least here in the Northeast, serve the yellow, sweet cornbread, and to me, that just ain’t right! When I want cornbread, I want cornbread, not cake, dang it!
At home, Mom always made Cracklin’ Cornbread but I haven’t been able to find cracklins’ anywhere. A few years back, I wanted Cracklin’ Cornbread soooo bad, and though I’m definitely not a good baker (of anything) I thought I’d give it a try—-IF I could find cracklins. I called several grocery stores and none of them had even heard of cracklins. Just when I was about to give up, I called one more. Yes! The manager said they had them! I rushed right down, mouth watering all the way, and they kindly escorted me to a bag of PORK RINDS! Nearly cried! Oh what I would give for a plateful of crock-pickled beans and a nice big piece of cracklin’ cornbread. (Bet you can get cracklins’, you lucky girl.)
I’ve been able to get cracklins at Publix here in Miami, FL, from time to time. They also sell a brand of chicharrones (like pork rinds, but more like homemade with some of the fat still on it–and not puffed full of air. These are actually very good added to cornbread batter. The chicharrones are in the meat dept, not with the chips and snacks.
Thanks for the tip Oleta, I will have to look for those!
This is the cornbread i’ve been looking for. We were living in the military community of vallejo california when one of my neighbor brought me a piece of cornbread with bacon taste. It was the best cornbread i’ve eaten. I’ve been eating my husbands cornbread ever since. I will try this recipe one day..thanks.
I am so glad to hear that you found the recipe Evon!! I hope you enjoy!!
Christy, i have always thought that I made good cornbread, but made this today and it was sooooo good. thanks for posting
I am so glad to hear that you liked it Becky!!!
Since I’m doing your beef stew for supper tonight it seems only right that I try this cornbread along with it. With this meal to come home to my hubby may propose all over again!! I keep telling him that he’s a lucky man to have married me
.
I think if he doesn’t, he should have!! I think he needs to be reminded every day just how lucky he is!!
My husband has never been fond of cornbread, so I don’t make it, despite my love for it. I am definitely going to try this and use it in your slow cooker dressing. Thanks Christy & Terri!
This recipe is so close to how my mama taught me to cook cornbread growing up. Everyone loved her cornbread, even cold(if there was any left.) She always added a spoon of sugar to her cornbread and used lard to grease the skillet. Bacon grease and lard was kings in our southern home. That’s all she ever used to cook with. She has been gone now for many years but her skills at cooking is still missed. She never used a recipe that I know of and I cook the same way. My daughter asks me for recipe’s and I am trying to do them for her as I cook, stop, measure before I throw in the pot/bowl but I am working on it. I am happy to find your website and intend to have her look you up. I think it will be close to how I cook. Thanks for the great site!
So, what size baking pan would I use if I didn’t use my cast iron skillet to make this?
My mom has been gone almost 5 years now and with her went her cornbread recipe. Actually she didn’t use a recipe, just started mixing. This is the closest to hers that I have found. She always used white cornmeal and would never ever put sugar in her cornbread. This recipe just brought a little of my mama back. Thank You!! And thank you for all of your great recipes!
This cornbread is the real deal. Annnnnd just made a pan of it for my dressing. Yea buddy!
I am so glad to hear that you like the cornbread Nyoka!! I hope you have a fabulous Thanksgiving!!
just found your web last mweek very educational to me these are some of the best recipes i have found my wife (deceased) must have har 50 cook books but all i need is this one ilove the old recipes cast iron cookware cornbread hoe cakes dog bread cornbread (no sugar) my wife was a very good cook baked cakes cookies fried chicken she spoiled our family and friends with her talents no one to take mher place baked about 50 cakes for folks thanksgiving and christmas you sound a lot like her hope we meet someday god bless
[...] over at Southern Plate is my go to Southern recipe site. She’s from Alabama and her momma is in Tennessee so they [...]
Southerners don’t eat sweet cornbread, that’s a Yankee thing, but we do add just enough sugar ( maybe a teaspoon ) to a whole pone, to, like Mom said, “take the bitter off!
My husband has been making this Aunt Jemima Dixie White Cornbread for me for more than 30 years – he got it from his Georgia mama who got it from her father-in-law. But we eat it with buttermilk OVER it, too! – me in a bowl with a small spoon and my husband prefers his in a tall glass with a long, iced tea spoon. We both cut or break it into small squares – about an inch square or less. Then we pour over enough buttermilk to almost cover all. Yummy!!! He used to make it with bacon drippings, but since we’re older and concerned about out health, he makes it with Smart Balance and puts 2 T in the cast iron skillet as it heats up in the oven. I make it with EVOO when he’s out of town…
I loved eating it that way when I was a kid. We used it as a type of substitute for cereal. We always used the day old drier cornbread because it held up well to the buttermilk.
Oops, typo! I should have typed mother-in-law instead of father-in-law in my comments! Sorry!
I always use bacon grease to grease my skillet too. Yum!
One of my favorite memories is my Momma making cornbread (a staple for Daddy, for every meal, regardless of the other food.). She’d pull that hot skillet out of the oven, pour in the batter, then spoon the hot bacon grease back over the top of the batter before it went back in the oven. Daddy was happy just as long as he had a ‘pone’ of cornbread. I prefer the milled yellow cornmeal from Nora Mill near Helen, just a few minutes from our cabin, but as long as it doesn’t include sugar, it’s all good. I make mini muffins for my grandsons, and because of the influence of their health-nut daddy, they slather them in raw honey and pronouce them ‘Candy Corn’!
I ordered my cornmeal & grits from Nora Mill for years (and man, if you’ve not made the no-flour sour cream cornbread recipe on that little tag she encloses w/the cornmeal, you really oughta!). I still get my grits from her, but discovered Indian Head stone-ground (fine grind) cornmeal at Walmart–2 lb. bag for about a dollar. It is lovely-tasting cornmeal and so much cheaper since there’s no shipping cost.
Oh, and one neat idea I got from them when they’re making samples for the tourists at Nora Mill is for quick and handy cornbread waffles. Pour the batter into a hot waffle iron and you’ll have some quick and easy cornbread to go with your seasoned pintos and mixed greens.
Please tell your readers to keep the bacon drippings container (a peanut butter jar w/lid works fine) IN THE FRIDGE! If it’s left on the stove, even at room temp, it will quickly go rancid and ruin your cornbread or whatever. And it is so much easier to measure out when it’s cold & solidified.
I’ve tried this and it is SO delicious!
My mother made some of the best cornbread I ever had . I thought so, and so did our whole family. Aunts ,uncles, and all of the cousins.She did not add soda or salt as this is already in selfriseing flour and selfriseing cornmeal . She also used oil about i/4 ina way up in her hot skillet . Hers to would sizzle when batter was poured in . Trick to good cornbread is enough oil , and flour added to meal and only use buttermilktto add moister . People say mine is very good also . Mine will stay moist for a few days .
Christy, I love your web-site!! My Mama always made her cornbread with buttermilk. She never used a recipe, either, and your recipe is just like hers. Thank you for this wonderful site!!
Thank you Sharon!! I am so glad to hear you are enjoying Southern Plate!!
Finally! Real southern cornbread. This is the exact recipe I grew up eating in Atl. Delicious. NO SUGAR…Hallelujah!