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Bread

Mississippi Corn Pone

A baked cornmeal loaf made with bacon drippings and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Mississippi Corn Pone

Oven, in the book's wordsA very hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the batter

  1. Sprinkle salt through the cornmeal and sift it.

  2. Add bacon drippings and pour in cold water to form a stiff batter.

Shape and bake

  1. Mould the batter with your hands into three pones.

  2. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until golden brown.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Cornmeal
Forms the bulk of the pones and gives them their coarse, sturdy structure.
Bacon drippings
Adds fat for moisture and a richer flavour, and helps the crust brown.
Cold water
Hydrates the cornmeal so it binds into a stiff, shapeable batter.

The step that matters

Pour in the cold water gradually. Cornmeal absorbs water at different rates, so adding it slowly lets you reach a stiff batter that holds its shape. Too much water makes the pones slump and spread in the oven.

“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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