Minnie Utsey's No-Fail Cornbread Recipe on Food52 (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between northern and southern cornbread? ›

Northern-style cornbread tends to be sweeter, moister, and cake-like compared to its Southern counterpart.

As for the best cornmeal for cornbread, either fine- or medium-grind cornmeal is a great choice. Medium-grind cornmeal will bring slightly more texture and grittiness to the batter, which you may or may not want (it's up to you!). You can use fine or medium cornmeal in these extra corny muffins.

Cut back on fat or grease by one third.

Many traditional cornbread recipes call for bacon grease, shortening, or lard. It can add a delicious flavor, but it can also cause your cornbread to separate during baking. Try cutting your proportion of grease or fat by about a third.

Eggs are responsible for giving baked goods structure, which means the amount you use directly affects the resulting texture. Using too few eggs will make your desserts dense, but using too many will make them rubbery.

Sugar Is Optional

Whether to include sugar or not in a southern cornbread recipe is an issue for debate. We've included as an option a tablespoon which just intensifies the flavor of the cornmeal; it doesn't make the cornbread sweet. The choice is yours as to whether or not to include it.

The most common theory is a change in cornmeal itself. Until early in the 20th century, Southern cornmeal was made with sweeter white corn and it was water-ground. When industrial milling came along, that changed. The steel-roller mills used yellow corn that was harvested before it was ripe, so it had less sugar.

Regular whole grain corn consumption improves digestive health and can lower the risk of developing chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F and place a 9-inch cast iron skillet inside to heat while you make the batter. In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk in the milk, buttermilk, and eggs.

1Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C). We recommend allowing cornbread batter to sit for 10 to 15 minutes before baking, so if you prefer, you can delay heating the oven until you make the batter. 2Melt the butter, and then set aside to cool slightly.

Will an extra egg make cornbread less crumbly? ›

An Extra egg will tend to make a firmer, more cakelike texture to your cornbread. This may make it less of a traditional cornbread and less likely to crumble.

Eggs: Bind the ingredients together, add moisture, richness, and help the cornbread to rise. Sugar and Honey: Sweeten the cornbread (just a bit of honey adds a slight floral note). Milk: Adds moisture and fat for a tender crumb (whole milk is preferred but low-fat will work just fine).

Eggs that are at room temperature are more easily and quickly dispersed and blended with the other ingredients to form a stable emulsion — you'll recognize that "stable emulsion" as a smooth, cohesive batter. In some cases, using chilled eggs can effectively work against forming a well-emulsified batter.

Final answer: If too much milk is added to Jiffy cornbread mix, you can balance it out by adding more dry ingredients to the batter such as additional mix or a blend of flour, cornmeal, and baking powder.

Southern cornbread has traditionally been made with little to no sugar and a higher cornmeal-to-flour ratio, while Northern style cornbread is sweeter and more cake-like.

Southern cornbread has traditionally been made with little or no sugar and smaller amounts of flour (or no flour), with northern cornbread being sweeter and more cake-like. Southern cornbread traditionally used white cornmeal and buttermilk. Other ingredients such as pork rinds are sometimes used.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Feel free to use white and yellow cornmeal interchangeably in recipes since flavor differences are minor. Just be sure to pay attention to the grind.