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.
Related posts:
Posted by Christy Jordan
on Oct 1 2008. Filed under Breads, FEATURED Southern Favorites!, Southern Classics.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
[...] and I got to know each other early on in my Southern Plate days when she sent me her recipe for Dixie Cornbread. Just as it was with all of you, I felt an instant kinship to this Magnolia who had been [...]
I have never tried southern style cornbread, but your Dixie cornbread was very good. ( I normally make my corn bread with sugar and then put butter and honey on top when I serve it. =D ) I’ll still make my “corn cake” but will also be making this cornbread in the future. I also tried your pintos, which was my first
attempt at making dried beans, and like all your other recipes they turned out wonderful. I really enjoy your website and want to thank you for all your hard work. God bless you and your family
This type of cornbread goes great with pinto beans and put a few chopped onions in your pinto beans. Some even put in “chow-chow” or relish. I preferred them with just cornbread and onions and the cornbread is crumbled up in the beans, too to absorb some of the juice. Leftover can be put in your glass of milk and eat it with a spoon. I’d think I were in Tennessee.
My mother and grandmother often used bacon grease and Grandma used Lard instead of Crisco which was what my Mom used. They always made the white cornbread though I like the sweet yellow. The white goes better in a glass of milk though. Mom always used buttermilk with hers if we had it but I never acquired that taste. I am looking forward to trying this because I don’t remember Mom’s being soft .It was more substantial and moe like a bread. So will try it.
Look forward to trying this recipe, but I know it’ll be good. Why? Because I’m a southerner who knows how good buttermilk cornbread can be and the importance of “bacon grease” to enhance the taste of not only the cornbread but the dressing that’s made with the “bacon-grease cornbread.”
Just made this cornbread to eat with my pinto beans and I must say THIS IS THE BEST CORN BREAD that I have ever made in my 50 years !! Thank you Christy !!!!
I am so glad you enjoyed it Connie!!
I agree with Connie, I have been making cornbread ’bout 50 years and this honestly is the most wonderful recipe I ever tasted
I am so glad to hear that you like it Gladys!!!
to hell with them dogs
I made it again tonight and this has to be better then my mamaws and I am even using yellow meal who would have thought? Its so moist I LOVE it thanks
Tom are you from Tennessee? I am a VOLS fan myself and that sure sounds like a VOl fan talking :p lol
I am so glad you like the cornbread Noor!!
I am glad you liked it too! Enjoy!
Loved the cornbread WITHOUT sugar. Just the way my Daddy’s family from Tennessee used to make it.
Nothing better than hot, crusty cornbread right out of the oven, slathered in butter. I gotta make a pone of cornbread tomorrow night for supper for I’m gonna try this recipe with the flour and baking soda. Never have used this before. Just normally use 2 cups of Stivers cornmeal, 1 egg, 3 T heated bacon grease and 1 1/2 – 2 cups buttermilk. Cook at 425 for 20 minutes. If top not brown enough, turn on broiled and watch like crazy. When browned enough, quickly turn out onto plate or board. Don’t want to steam up that good crust. Alot of nights for supper I will cook a big pone of cornbread and my husband and I will crumble it up in a big bowl and pour in the cold buttermilk. Yum! Sometimes we’ll just drink the buttermilk with our pinto bean, coleslaw, fried ‘tater, vidalia onion, vine ripened tomatoes and cornbread supper. The colder the buttermilk the better. Use to buy the buttermilk by the gallon but can’t find it anymore. Only sells by the half gallon. Some convenience stores don’t even sell buttermilk at all. Shame on them, and us in the deep South. What are they thinking!
What a marvelous tip! I never knew one could add lemon juice to milk instead of buttermilk. I have a question????????? Is there a rule of thumb for measuring the lemon juice to milk. Your recipe calls for 2 cups buttermilk soooooooooooo you would place 1T of lemon juice to 2 cups of milk? I am thinking about a cake which calls for buttermilk and wonder if I can use this same substitution?
You are the best! Thank you!
Lyndel,
Every time I’ve seen this substitution for buttermilk, it’s 1 T of lemon juice (or plain ol’ vinegar) per cup of milk. So, you’d put the 1 T of lemon juice in a one cup measure, and fill up with regular milk. Might have to let it sit for a little bit, too. It’ll thicken up pretty quickly, though.
Not entirely sure about using it in a cake, but I imagine it would work just fine.
Hope that helps!
Mmmm…sounds good. But no sugar in it? Still might try to make it without it. Thanks for your site!
~giggles~ No sugar in my Dixie Cornbread please. I like my Southern classics too much. Tell ya what April, you bring yours with sugar and I’ll bring mine to the table at the next Covered Dish Supper and folks can select their “style”, making Cornbread lovers unite. ~waves~
Cornbread with sugar in it is just for dessert, in my opinion.
For those of you that live a little closer to the Mason Dixon line and find the idea of putting bacon grease in corn bread, I have an alternative. My Aunt Dorothy told me about this years ago and I have been adding a “heaping” (about two tablespoons) spoonful of mayonaise to my one and a half cups of White Lily Buttermilk Cornmeal Mix along with one cup of Buttermilk and a cup of water. No sugar in the cornbread for this hillbilly gal from Sevier County, TN (Dolly Parton’s hometown area). I don’t preheat my skillet either, I just slather the Crisco on thick with a paper towel, using about a handful of Crisco and pop the skillet into the preheated 500 degree oven. Cornbread comes out brown and crispy (must remove from skillet immediately after taking from oven if you like crunch.) The mayo contains oil and egg and makes the cornbread very moist.
Oooooooooh, Nanee, this sounds like a great alternative, because I love Mayo and am sure many others do too. I gotta use bacon grease for the added hint of flavor it brings but I thank you for giving us this great tip. ~high fives you for the no sugar in the cornbread style~
My mother in law used to make hers with mayo and sugar – it was really nasty to me – the wang that mayo gave + the sweet of the sugar….NOT my family’s southern cornbread.
My daughter had a Yankee boyfriend one time and when he came over and asked for syrup for his cornbread – well it was weird and almost insulting! LOL
Tried this cornbread last night. It was a big hit at our house. Will be making it again and again.
I tried this tonight. Unfortunately it didn’t come out too good. Hubbs said it tasted good but the middle wasn’t quite done. My batter was a very runny and I’m wondering if I did something wrong. When the top was good and brown I poked the middle and it still had liquid pooled in there! I put it back in for a bit but finally had to take it out to prevent burning. I don’t have an iron skillet or metal cake pans so I used a glass baking dish (pie dish maybe). I will try it again though!
Hi Monica, Thanks for trying this great recipe. I must say that the “Main Thing” about making cornbread well is the seasoned Cast Iron Skillet. As a newly-wed, I failed over and over (about 8 batches) and threw it out into the woods behind my house, till I asked my MIL the secret. So pick up a skillet, even at a yd sale etc and try it again. Good luck!
I had a similar problem!
Mine cooked quickly on top and too slow nearer the bottom, though the very bottom looked perfectly brown. I attributed it to a few things when I re-tried today. I was using the buttermilk shortcut instead of the genuine article, and it’s much less thick and I think it made a huge difference. Today I ended up using about a cup and a half of the faux buttermilk instead. I also cooked it at 400 instead of 450. The bread came out even, unburnt and solid all the way through. The only funky thing I found is that the egg flavour is REALLY strong. the bottom tastes like scrambled eggs haha. Other than that it’s delicious
I made this, and it was wonderful!!
Looks a lot like my Mama’s cornbread, except she always used self rising cornmeal and flour. She also put about 3 Tlbs bacon grease in the cast iron skillet and let it heat while mixing the cornmeal, flour, egg, and buttermilk ( usually her homemade clabbered milk), then she swirled the hot bacon grease around the bottom and sides of skillet to grease it good and poured the rest in the mix. No need for shortening. Makes the best crust on that cornbread.
I make mine sort of like this recipe, but I grease the skillet with bacon grease instead of solid shortening and I don’t use any flour, just the wonderful cornmeal (never a cornbread mix). You can use yellow or white cornmeal, plain or self-rising. If you choose to use self-rising, reduce the baking soda to a large pinch (about 1/4 tsp. and the salt to 1/2 tsp. It’s okay to add some ground black pepper for a kick, but it’s not at all necessary. Anybody who puts sugar in cornbread needs to move back up north.
No egg please. My mother’s recipe is: 1 c white cornmeal, 1/2 c flour, pinch of soda, 1 tsp salt, 3 tsp baking powder, buttermilk and little water, (1 tsp of sugar helps to brown). Heat iron skillet in oven with enough Mazola Oil to cover botton and a little to put into the cornbread mix. (Mazola is corn oil and enhances the cornbread) Put enough buttermilk to make it a little thin and also add some water. Brown in a very hot oven – 425 degrees for @30 mins. This is the best cornbread you’lll ever eat. I’m from right on the Mason-Dixon line – KY/IL.
This sounds like the recipe I have used for years( I am transplanted from Alabama to Oklahoma). I sometimes take a shortcut and use either Aunt Jemima’s white cornmeal mix. It is almost as good but always use buttermilk. That is the secret to moist baking.
[...] me a biscuit!! When Christy asked me to be a guest blogger for SP, back when I had sent her my “Dixie Cornbread” recipe plus this one, I was tickled pink. Ain’t Christy just the “bee’s [...]
Christy & Terri Go Dawgs, I do not even have to try this recipe, cuse I already knew it from my mother, her mother and so own, I would just like to tell you this about the bacon grease cup in my fridge, When it gets down to about 1/4 cup, my daughter who lives with me says “Mom, we need to eat some bacon this week-end “the cup” is gettin low. It is one of the main staples in my house. Love your blog!!!!!
[...] – Oh my, I have been wearing out your recipes. I have made Pinto Beans and Cornbread, Butterfinger Cake, Embarrassingly Easy Ham and Potato casserole, melt in your mouth doughnuts, No [...]
[...] with crackers or cornbread. I’m using little pieces of Dixie Cornbread. Oh my goodness, this was a good [...]
mMMMmm …in the oven now! ~ I’m thinkin’ my man is going to ask me to marry him all over again!
I will be trying this in the near future because I know Buttermilk gives stuff a Zing! I’m glad this is truly Southern Style Cornbread. My Mama gets so disgusted when she sees “Southern” style cornbread with sugar in the recipe. She’s from Kentucky and said no one she ever knew used sugar. I love it both ways mind ya. If you haven’t tried Bacon Grease in your cooking, gather up some strength & try it. We add it to Green Beans, Cooked Cabbage and the list goes on and on. It sure is a staple in a southern home.
Hubby & I are both from Western Kentucky and have a major cornbread disagreement! I will only eat sweet cornbread (and hushpuppies) if I can’t get the “real” thing; he thinks cornbread is supposed to be sweet. Guess I’ll never be able to make cornbread to please him, ’cause I just can’t bring myself to put sugar in it. Just seems wrong to me somehow…
Mama always heats enough bacon grease in her skillet so when she pours the batter in it immediately fries a little bit of the edges. This can cause fights at the supper table since the crust is the best part and some people try to sneak the crust from cornbread on neighboring plates. As the baby girl, I usually won these fights, but since their only grandchild (my fault – I just HAD to give in and give them a grandchild 17 years ago) discovered cornbread when he was little, I am no longer as confident of my standing… so sad!
Thankfully there is a simple solution – fried cornbread! Yummy!!
And, if this wasn’t already waaayyyy to long a comment! I don’t always have bacon grease in my kitchen since I don’t fry that much bacon **hangin’ head in shame**; so to help alleviate some of the guilt I just use lard. I use lard instead of shortening in my biscuits – it’s what Grandmother used so it must be right! Hmmm… cornbread or biscuits to go with the Chicken Planks we’re having for supper?
Wow!
BEST cornbread EVER!!! I love hearing the sizzle when I pour the batter in the hot skillet. Buttermilk and flour make this recipe. Without flour cornbread tends to be too heavy and I get easily choked on it
PERFECT!
Not to put a damper on things but, being from West Tn and now transplanted into W. Ky I grew up with and without sugah in my cornbread…just all depended on my mother’s preferences or my grandma’s. Either way is truly southern in my opinion….I guess it’s kind of like pee-can’s or pa-can’s….all a matter of how you learned. As for me and my house, it’s the same….if I feel like adding sugah I do and if not, I don’t. LOL!
I have not cook this yet but it seems to me to be to thin of a batter it seem to have to much butter milk in it accordingly to the list of ingredients it is about 50% liquid to almost50% dry ingredients I hope it is not a failure.
Well as I thought it turn out gummy just under the beautiful top crust I will adjust the recipe to my liking and try it again.
This is the way I’ve been making cornbread for years, except I use canola oil and butter and I heat the skillet on top of the stove instead of in the oven. I melt the butter in the skillet and pour the oil in right out of the bottle. After I pour the melted butter into the batter, I sprinkle cornmeal all around the bottom of the skillet and reheat the skillet until the cornmeal starts to turn brown before pouring the batter in. My daughter once asked me why I do that and I said, “‘Cause my Mama always did it that way!” (It makes a “crustier” crust!
My husband is from Atlanta. (Go Dawgs!)
I have a family member who ate so much of my cornbread one day that now we call him “Cornbread!”
As a Georgia (Bulldog ’09!) native relocated to New England (gasp! I married a Yankee!), I had some convertin’ to do toward appreciating the bacon grease jar.
When I make my cornbread, instead of Crisco, I use 2 T of bacon grease in the skillet to heat in the oven. Gives the bottom of the cornbread a nice crispy deliciousness to it. Haven’t tried mixing in the grease through the batter, will have to give it a go next time I’ve got a ham bone soup to cook!
I tried this recipe yesterday and it was delicious. The cornbread had an odd orange hue to it. Any ideas why? I followed the recipe exactly; using butter instead of bacon drippings.
We don’t use the flour,soda, salt or bacon grease. Just white cornmeal, crisco, egg and buttermilk. Put your crisco in the oven to melt/heat it and after mixing meal, egg and buttermilk you pour the hot grease into your mixture (yes it will sizzle), stir and pour into hot skillet…bake. We also have a “cornbread plate” (smile) which is an old old plate and the only one of it’s style in our house. As any good Southerner knows…the “bread skillet” is used for NOTHING else! It is for cornbread only and you will be severely repreminded if you attempt to use it!!The cornbread is delicious!!! Enjoy!
Oh yeah, mine comes from Tennessee! =)
Being from the south, I’ve been making cornbread this way all of my life…however, I always use self-rising flour and cornmeal. Nothing like southern buttermilk cornbread (and yes I use the bacon grease).
I’m originally from N. Alabama, but now live in AZ. I so miss my Martha White and White Lily flour and cornmeal! White Lily is the best for biscuit making as well…and yes, they need buttermilk too!
(and I too make buttermilk, because it is really expensive here, and you can only buy it in quart containers…but I use a little vinegar instead of lemon juice).
Your cornbread recipe makes the bestest muffins and corn sticks to!!!!!!!!!
Try some new “steak sliced bacon” with a pot of turnip greens and navy beans.
Yum yum
YAY!! I’ve been waiting for this recipe to be re-published…THANK YOU!!
[...] pan cornbread (see recipe here or use a package of cornbread [...]
Thank you for the recipe I have been wanting cornbread and milk, my parents were from Oklahoma and they just loved it that way. I guess I will be off to get some buttermilk….sounds like the right way to make it.
I was so excited to find this recipe. It is very similar to the one my family has passed down from generation to generation.
My 87 year old uncle remembers his grandmother making our cornbread. His mother, my grandmother, made cornbread and milk for supper every night until she died at age 90, 17 years ago. I am 53 and the tradition continues to my grandchildren already.
We use 1 cup of self-rising flour (but not Great Value brand cause it doesn’t rise well), 1 cup of white or yellow cornmeal, 1 heaping teaspoon of salt, and 1 heaping teaspoon of baking soda (not powder). Mix and add in about 1 and 3/4 cups water, until consistency of thin cake batter.
Put about 3 tablespoons of cooking oil in 8 inch black iron skillet.; put in oven as it preheats at 450 for 20 minutes. Carefully pour batter in hot skillet; it will begin to “fry”. place in oven for 30 minutes. Flip over onto plate so bottom crust is on top. (Our family fights for the crust) cut slices and put in bowl and cover with cold milk. cow’s milk if you have it. this is the best comfort food our family can imagine, and we feel sorry for those who haven’t had it!
I may have to make one tonight.
and I have my grandmother’s bowls that we used to eat our conbread in, so it’s highly sentimental and can make every night special to me.
Christy, I LOVE your recipes and comments.
I made the wonderful cornbread salad today and it’s far better than I expected! But I used my trusty cornbread recipe that I clipped off a bag of Alabama King cornmeal years ago. That’s still my favorite brand. I do make one variation sometimes, and that’s to use half yellow cornmeal and half white cornmeal. Normally I don’t use bacon drippings because I very seldom cook bacon; today, however, I “splurged” and now I remember why grandmama always used lard. Anyway, thank you for a very satisfying salad!
Bill
I am ashamed to admit this, being a born and raised Southern Girl, but I have never (EVER!) been able to master cornbread. Even with my grandmother’s iron skillet. Until I found this recipe! Oh my stars, people! This is the BEST cornbread ever. Ever!
This is delicious. Shortcut — use self-rising corn meal & skip baking, salt & flour.
This is pretty much the same way my family (from Eastern KY) makes cornbread. I grew up eating LOTS of cornbread, fried taters, & pinto beans (we call them soup beans.) I like to crumble the bread, add the beans on top with plenty of soup & sprinkle with chopped onions. We always make it in an iron skillet.
Hint: if you have a skillet that seems to have a spot that sticks – dust it with a little of the cornmeal just before pouring the batter into the skillet – works every time!
Christy, I just saw the Dixie Cornbread recipe – and it reminds me of my own, as I like the batter very moist and for it to sizzle when it hits the hot iron skillet! I haven’t seen my suggestion, but I might have missed it – and I admit that this is over the top, but it SHO is GOOD. When I turn the cornbread out of the skillet on a big round plate, I split it crosswise as soon as I can handle it, using a long serrated edge knife. Then I put a stick of softened butter onto the lower layer, and pop the top back on.
MMMMMmmm! Good! the butter penetrates the whole cornbread, that way .. I hate to get hold of a dry piece of cornbread!
[...] Cornbread – Many cornbread recipes call for a tablespoon or so of melted bacon grease added to the batter for extra flavor. This makes such a big difference that it’s worth it to save your baking grease for cornbread alone! Click here for my recipe. [...]
This a favorite at the Dennis house! I’ve made this recipe time and time again, and it’s always perfect! Thanks for such a great recipe!
This was some dawg gone good Cornbread! I had always filled the Martha White recipe. Hers don’t hold water compared to this recipe. Thank you for sharing!
I only have an 8 inch cast iron skillet and since I live alone I don’t really need a larger one. Could you give me some guidance on how I might could reduce this recipe for an 8 inch skillet? Thanks so much.