This Fried Cornbread Recipe I am sharing with you today is one that my sister Cindy shared with me. She had found it on a page called Cooktop Cove. We both thought it looked delicious. Kind of like pancakes, but a bit heavier.
The method consists of making a simple batter, which is then dropping it into hot oil by the spoonsful to fry until golden brown on both sides. Sounded simple enough!
I decided to make them today. Mine did not end up looking exactly like the ones on the original page, but they were very delicious and I had NO complaints about them!
I have had a longstanding love affair with cornbread. It is not something my mother ever made when I was growing up, but rather something I discovered once I got married. My late mother in law used to make what she called corncake.
She baked this either in a round pan like a cake, or as small cakes in muffin tins. It was simple and delicious. Not too sweet, just right. Eating hers was my first experience with cornbread and I fell in love with it. It is as simple as that!
Since then, every time I come across a new cornbread recipe I am really eager to try it. I have collected quite a few cornbread recipes throughout the many years I have been making cornbread, and I love all of them. Cornbread is quite a humble type of bread. It was the bread of the working poor for many years.
It is also one of North America's oldest foods. The early settlers learned how to make it from the Indigenous people's that lived here. Without their help, many of those early settlers would not have survived in this cold harsh climate.
Cornmeal is a simple meal made by grinding dried corn. Many of the pioneers carried bags of it across the prairies in their covered wagons. Making cornbread at the end of a long day of wagon travel was quick and easy, and helped to sustain them on their journeys.
In my home we love to enjoy cornbread with baked beans, soups, stews, as well as just on it's own. It is delicious served warm with lashings of butter. Whether you bake it or you fry it, I declare that cornbread is one of the world's finest foods!
Simple every day baking cupboard ingredients. There is nothing outrageous here! Just how I like it!
- 2/3 cup (113g) plain cornmeal ( can use fine polenta in the U.K.)
- 1/3 cup (41g) self rising flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup (80ml) buttermilk
- 1 large free range egg
- oil for frying
I was unable to find anything but medium grind cornmeal here locally. I did have some before but I can't remember where I bought it. This was a bit coarser than I am used to using and I think my cakes would have been a bit lighter had I been able to find the fine cornmeal. If you are in the U.K. use fine polenta in it's place.
I always use large free range eggs. Organic. I buy them locally in the warmer months and in the winter I get them in the organic section of our grocery store. I do pay more for them, but to me, it is worth the price.
Self raising flour is not something that is readily available everywhere. I always make my own. I make it up 3 to 4 cups at a time and it always gets used up. Here is how you can make your own:
Make Your Own Self Raising Flour:
You can make your own self raising flour by adding 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder and 1/4 tsp of salt to every 1 cup/140g of plain all purpose flour. Give it a good whisk prior to using it and make sure your baking powder is nice and fresh.
You can make your own self raising flour by adding 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder and 1/4 tsp of salt to every 1 cup/140g of plain all purpose flour. Give it a good whisk prior to using it and make sure your baking powder is nice and fresh.
HOW TO MAKE FRIED CORNBREAD
This is a really simple make. Just make sure your oil is neither too hot nor too cold when you are ready to cook the bread. Too hot and your cornbread will cook too quickly on the outside and stay raw in the middle. Too cold and your cornbread will absorb too much fat and be greasy.
Whisk the cornmeal and flour together in a bowl with the salt. Beat the egg and buttermilk together.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the wet. Mix until blended and there are no dry streaks. (It should be moist but not too runny. If it is too dry add a bit more buttermilk.)
Heat a bit of oil in a heavy bottomed skillet over medium high heat until it begins to shimmer.
Drop the cornmeal batter into the hot oil by the spoonful, taking care not to crowd the pan. (I dropped 4 at a time.)
Cook until they turn brown on the one side, then carefully flip over and brown on the other side. (About 3 minutes per side. If they are browning too quickly, turn down the temperature of your skillet.)
Transfer to a paper towel lined plate, blotting the tops just to remove any grease that might remain. Keep warm.
Repeat with the remaining batter. Serve hot with plenty of butter and honey or molasses for spreading. Delicious!
Mine did not end up looking like the photograph on the original recipe, but they were very delicious nevertheless. I suspect that the cornmeal that I used was a bit coarser than theirs.
In any case we really enjoyed these. So much so that I ate two of them right away with honey and butter. (Naughty me.) The rest were enjoyed with the stew we made for supper!
I really love cornbread and if you are looking at this I am thinking you do too. Here are some other delicious cornbread recipes that you might also enjoy!
MOLASSES CORNBREAD - Dense, lightly sweet from the molasses and delicious. The molasses also gives it a bit of a darker color than you would normally see with a cornbread. You may also add blueberries or cranberries to this bread, depending on how you are serving it. This is fabulous served warm with lashings of butter.
CUSTARD FILLED CORNBREAD - This is one of my favorite cornbreads. What you have here is a basic corn bread batter, filled with sour milk (for moistness), butter, some corn for added texture, and of course the usual flour, cornmeal, etc. Poured into a hot baking tin, a cup of heavy cream is poured on top just prior to putting it into the oven. I'm not sure how it works or why it works, but that cream somehow forms a delicious rich custard layer in the bread as it bakes! This is really wonderful!
Yield: 8 small breads
Fried Corn Bread
Prep time: 5 MinCook time: 15 MinTotal time: 20 Min
Light and delicious. Easy and quick to make. Serve warm with some butter and honey for a real taste treat
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup (113g) plain cornmeal ( can use fine polenta in the U.K.)
- 1/3 cup (41g) self rising flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup (80ml) buttermilk
- 1 large free range egg
- oil for frying
Instructions
- Whisk the cornmeal and flour together in a bowl with the salt.
- Beat the egg and buttermilk together.
- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the wet. Mix until blended and there are no dry streaks. (It should be moist but not too runny. If it is too dry add a bit more buttermilk.)
- Heat a bit of oil in a heavy bottomed skillet over medium high heat until it begins to shimmer.
- Drop the cornmeal batter into the hot oil by the spoonful, taking care not to crowd the pan. (I dropped 4 at a time.)
- Cook until they turn brown on the one side, then carefully flip over and brown on the other side. (About 3 minutes per side. If they are browning too quickly, turn down the temperature of your skillet.)
- Transfer to a paper towel lined plate, blotting the tops just to remove any grease that might remain. Keep warm.
- Repeat with the remaining batter. Serve hot with plenty of butter and honey or molasses for spreading. Delicious!
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HI Marie, your cornbread recipe looks delicious, and I will make some! In the deep south, my mother would say "I'm going to make a little cake of cornbread." I have not been able to duplicate her recipe. She would make a cornmeal batter, using boiling water, I think. Then she would cook it in a shallow iron skillet, and then turn it, using a plate. It slid off the skillet onto the plate, and then back off the plate onto the skillet effortlessly. So good to eat with her tomatoes and okra, another dish I cannot duplicate.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many types of cornbread, it must be the quintessential "native" dish! My old Betty Crocker cookbook claims that purists debate over using sugar vs no sugar, and stone-ground vs fine meal. My dad used to like "cornmeal mush," chilled then cut up and pan-fried, with molasses. I like cornmeal muffins with loads of butter, or "spoon pudding" with maple syrup. Your recipe sounds a little like Johnny-cakes, but those are pan-fried.(Preferably in bacon fat!) Hush-puppies are deep-fried but I think they're more like fritters than cakes.
ReplyDelete