Buttermilk Corn Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Combine one cup meal, one teaspoonful soda, one egg, one heaping teaspoonful flour, salt, and buttermilk to make a soft batter.
Beat until smooth and pour into a pan where two teaspoons of lard have been melted and are very hot.
Bake and serve
Cook in a steady medium hot oven until brown and firm.
Serve hot.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Meal
- Forms the main body of the bread and gives it its corn flavour and grainy texture.
- Soda (in the method)
- Reacts with the acid in buttermilk to release gas, helping the bread rise.
- Egg (in the method)
- Binds the batter and helps it set firm as it bakes.
- Buttermilk (in the method)
- Adds moisture and acidity, tenderising the crumb and activating the soda.
- Lard
- Fat in the hot pan crisps and browns the surface and bottom of the cornbread.
- Flour (in the method)
- Adds structure to the batter so the bread holds its shape.
The step that matters
Pour the batter into the very hot lard. The batter must hit fat that is already very hot. The hot fat sears the base immediately, creating a crisp, browned crust and helping the bread release from the pan instead of sticking or absorbing excess grease.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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