Skillet Cornbread

Skillet Cornbread: Step by Step

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1. Put a 25 cm cast-iron skillet with the bacon fat (or neutral oil) in it into the oven and heat to 220°C / 430°F. Leave it at least 15 minutes.

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2. Whisk the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate and salt in a large bowl.

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3. Whisk the buttermilk, eggs and melted butter in a jug.

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4. Pour the wet into the dry and fold just until combined — 15 seconds of mixing, no more. Lumps are acceptable and overmixing is not.

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5. Fold in the sweetcorn, cheese and jalapeño if using.

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6. Take the skillet out of the oven. The fat should be shimmering and just beginning to smoke.

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7. Swirl the fat up the sides, then pour the batter in all at once. It should hiss loudly.

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8. Bake 20 to 25 minutes until the top is golden and a skewer comes out clean.

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9. Rest 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out or cut into wedges and serve hot with butter.

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Related guides: Prep, cook and total time · Pan and tin size.

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Things to Watch For

1. The pan must be smoking hot. This is the entire difference between skillet cornbread and a cornbread cake.
2. Southern cornbread is barely sweet. Add more sugar if you like, but it becomes a different, Northern dish.
3. Do not overmix. A tender crumb depends on it.

If You're Missing Something

• Out of buttermilk? The usual stand-in is a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar stirred into 250 ml of ordinary milk and left five minutes; it is thinner than cultured buttermilk, so a batter may need a little less of it.

The Short Version

Preheating the fat in the skillet until it smokes means the batter starts frying the moment it lands, forming a crisp crust before the interior has begun to set. Buttermilk's acidity reacts with the bicarbonate for lift and tenderises the cornmeal, which is naturally coarse and dry.

To Go With It

Chilli, gumbo or collard greens · Butter and honey · Barbecue of any kind

Leftovers

Keeps 2 days wrapped at room temperature and freezes 2 months. Refresh wedges in a hot oven for 5 minutes.

Common Questions

The Numbers per Serving

Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: where a line offers a choice of foods, only one of them is counted. How the figures are worked out.

Vegetarian when made with neutral oil rather than bacon fat.

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