# Cornbread and grits



## Beads (Aug 27, 2013)

I've been reading through posts, including the what's for dinner thread and lots of you have cornbread. It sounds nice, yummy, just right to soak up sauce and gravy. So I found a recipe, got the ingredients (only actually had to get the cornmeal) and had a go. Now I may be showing my ignorance, I was expecting something 'bread-y' or at least 'cake-y' that would soak up yummy stuff. What I actually got was something quiche-y, not nasty tasting (quite nice actually) but not what I was expecting, and no good at soaking up the juice from the fish stew. I've been through the 'Bread' section of the recipe threads and there's only one cornbread recipe (with sausage) and it looks fairly similar to the one I was using (just replacing the milk with cottage cheese). Could someone let me know which it's meant to be, bready or quichey and point me in the direction of a good recipe please?


Also grits were on a multibuy offer with the cornmeal so I got a pack of those as well (always wanted to try these, was expecting something a bit larger grained though), can you point me towards a good recipe?

Thanks all!


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## Dixie Bee Acres (Jul 22, 2013)

I thought cornbread was a staple at every household in America. Cornbread is kind dry and crumbly.
I do love home made cornbread, but honestly, the 39cent boxes of Jiffy cornbread mix are quite good.
But, cornbread ain't cornbread less its cooked in cast iron with Bacon grease.


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## Beads (Aug 27, 2013)

I'm English, we don't have it over here. I need educating!


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## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

It sounds like your cornbread may have come out too dense. It should be somewhat light and crumbly. Maybe a bad recipe or your leavening is old or no good
Try a basic recipe of 1 1/2 cup corn meal, 1/2 cup flour, 3 tblsp oil or fat, 1 large egg, 1/2 Tsp salt, 1 heaping tsp of baking SODA and enough butter milk to make a stiff batter that is barely pourable. Mix all the ingredients but not over mix. Let the batter sit about 5 minutes, then put it in a hot skillet and bake at 450f till done.
What kind of grits do you have? What kind of recipe are you looking for? Shrimp and grits is a very classy, classical and easy thing to do.


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## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

Jiffy is a concoction of mostly white wheat flour and white sugar with some cornmeal and other stuff added and then called cornbread mix. It is more kin to cake. Some people do like it though.


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## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

A copy cat Jiffy recipe. 
http://www.food.com/recipe/jiffy-corn-muffin-mix-copycat-345502


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## Beads (Aug 27, 2013)

vicker said:


> Try a basic recipe of 1 1/2 cup corn meal, 1/2 cup flour, 3 tblsp oil or fat, 1 large egg, 1/2 Tsp salt, 1 heaping tsp of baking SODA and enough butter milk to make a stiff batter that is barely pourable. Mix all the ingredients but not over mix. Let the batter sit about 5 minutes, then put it in a hot skillet and bake at 450f till done.


Thank you! It's cooked, maybe a little bit too far, but looking good! I'll be eating with left over fish stew for lunch.



vicker said:


> What kind of grits do you have? What kind of recipe are you looking for? Shrimp and grits is a very classy, classical and easy thing to do.


Ummmm, coarse grits? Sort of yellow, with a smattering of white, grains slightly larger than the cornmeal, ground rice sort of size. Savory recipe? Breakfast recipe?

Thanks.


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## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

Here, around my home, grits are usually served plain as a side dish at breakfast, with butter and maybe cheese melted in them. Do a search on shrimp and grits, find a recipe you think sounds good and give it a try. Simple is usually best with a dish like that. Here is one recipe. 
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/m/recipes/shrimp_and_grits/
Sometimes the leftover grits are allowed to congeal in a shallow pan, then sliced into squares and browned in hot grease or butter and served as a side dish at dinner. Also, grits can be substituted for any dish that calls for polenta.


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## Rick (May 10, 2002)

oops


vicker said:


> It sounds like your cornbread may have come out too dense. It should be somewhat light and crumbly. Maybe a bad recipe or your leavening is old or no good
> Try a basic recipe of 1 1/2 cup corn meal, 1/2 cup flour, 3 tblsp oil or fat, 1 large egg, 1/2 Tsp salt, 1 heaping tsp of baking SODA and enough butter milk to make a stiff batter that is barely pourable. Mix all the ingredients but not over mix. Let the batter sit about 5 minutes, then put it in a hot skillet and bake at 450f till done.
> What kind of grits do you have? What kind of recipe are you looking for? Shrimp and grits is a very classy, classical and easy thing to do.


I will try Vicker's recipe , but here is the Clabber Girl brand (baking POWDER) one we have used over and over. I like the idea of using baking powder instead of soda as that is one of our main cleaning preps.

1 cup yellow or white corn meak
1 cup flour (they say sifted and we use whole wheat)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk (instant or powderd milk can be subbed by including dry part with dry and water with the liquid part)

1/4 cup shortening - soft

sift dry ingredients in a bowl. add egg , milk , and shortening with egg beater (we use a fork) until smooth -about one minute DO NOT overbeat.

heat oven to 425 deg F - bake in 8 inch square pan for 20 to 25 minutes , or greased muffin pans for probably 18 to 20 minutes. We use a foil lined cast iron pot, but will try the bacon grease as well.

I will post how we baked the bread in a wood-burning box stove during several winters in a one room bunkhouse if anyone is interested!

Cheerio!


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## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

I have better results with baking powder too, but couldn't remember the amount and do remember the other, as it is the first one I learned.


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## Vosey (Dec 8, 2012)

In our house cornbread is just a vehicle for honeybutter! Mix butter and good honey together in any proportion you like and slather it on. Great with chili. 

Honestly I just use the Jiffy mix, so cheap and so easy. The honeybutter holds all the crumbs together! 

There's also polenta which is pretty much the same as grits but usually served with dinner. Polenta is sometimes a finer grins, but any cornmeal will do. It's usually made more savory, shallots and garlic sauteed up, hot stock and then pour in the cornmeal, cook until creamy and add parmesan cheese and butter. Lots of recipes online. Very good with rabbit or pork that's been stewed or simmered in tomatoes.


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## haunted (Jul 24, 2011)

Grits are a breakfast side dish at our house, served with butter and syrup.

Southern cornbread:

2 cups cornmeal (white cornmeal is best)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sugar

Stir well to mix dry ingredients.

Add:
2 well beaten eggs
2 cups buttermilk

Mix until evenly moist. Put about 2 tablespoons fat in a HOT pan, cast iron preferred. Fat should be hot enough to ripple but not smoke. Immediately pour cornbread mixture into the pan and bake at 425 degrees until firm in the middle and top of bread is beginning to brown. Invert bread on a plate.

This makes a moist, dense cornbread, the way the women in my family have made it for over a century. Excellent with (southern) peas, beans, turnip greens, vegetable soup, whatever. Also good with just butter and honey or cane syrup.


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## Dixie Bee Acres (Jul 22, 2013)

haunted said:


> Grits are a breakfast side dish at our house, served with butter and syrup.
> 
> Southern cornbread:
> 
> ...



This is almost identical to my grandmas recipe. When I make it, I put a couple globs of bacon grease in the skillet and set it in the oven while preheating it.


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## dmelzo (Oct 5, 2013)

When we fry grits like this we pour syrup over them for breakfast. Yummy!

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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

dmelzo said:


> When we fry grits like this we pour syrup over them for breakfast. Yummy!
> 
> Sent from my LG-C800 using Homesteading Today mobile app


Better yet, sorghum molasses, or blackstrap..


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## dmelzo (Oct 5, 2013)

Not a big fan of molasses. Except in cookies. Lol

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## dmelzo (Oct 5, 2013)

Ok, since this is a cornbread thread, has anyone heard of cornbread salad? We are in Texas right now and a this saladbar we enjoy, they have cornbread salad. Its good and would love to make, any recipes?

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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

I like a good pan of cornbread... 

1 1/2 cup white cornmeal... White is not best as some recipes say... its the only way to make real cornbread. 
1/2 cup all purpose flour.
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4/cup sugar... optional (yankees seem to like their cornbread sweet instead of their tea.) :shrug:
1/2 tsp salt
9 pats real butter. (grease is pretty good stuff, if you aint got butter)
1 large egg
3/4 cup milk
8inch cast iron skillet, well seasoned
Preheat oven and skillet with 4 pats butter to 375
blend all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl add milk and egg and stir lightly... just enough to mix everthing up, a few small lumps are preferred over mixing too long.

let sit on counter for 3 to 5 minutes... pour mixture into hot skillet and drop the remaining 5 pats of butter on top, fairly evenly spaced. Bake 20 to 25 minutes at 375 or until its golden brown on top. Turn out onto plate. You should have something that resembles a cake with a crispy crust, and will soak up more butter, sorghum, or blackstrap, it is also great for soaking up bean soup. In the event you have leftovers... rare around our house.... its good cold with a bit of milk over it. I am thinking your batch probably went to quiche when it heard about the fish soup.


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

Cornbread yes. Grits......Heck no!


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## Calico Katie (Sep 12, 2003)

dmelzo said:


> Ok, since this is a cornbread thread, has anyone heard of cornbread salad? We are in Texas right now and a this saladbar we enjoy, they have cornbread salad. Its good and would love to make, any recipes?
> 
> Sent from my LG-C800 using Homesteading Today mobile app


Wow, dmelzo! It's been a long old time since I've had cornbread salad but when I was a kid people made it sometimes to use up leftovers. Just crumble or cube some dried up cornbread into a bowl and add chopped onions and bell peppers and whatever else you like. Add beans, some corn - sweet or hominy - grated cheese and there you are. If you have small amounts of leftover vegetables like green beans you can throw those in, too. Drain all your vegetables first. Fry a couple of slices of bacon and crumble that in with some of the grease.

I googled for a recipe and most of those call for using ranch dressing. I don't really remember a dressing but I'm talking about the 50s and early 60s so it would have been plain old mayo or Miracle Whip that was used. I think a lot of people just used the bacon grease to bind it.

After reading this thread, I'm starving for some cornbread!


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## dmelzo (Oct 5, 2013)

Thank you Calico Katie. We go to this restaurant when we are in Texas. I always get some cornbread salad. I think they use mayo. I only like ranch dressing really as dressing. Gonna have to try this now.

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## dkhern (Nov 30, 2012)

intand chocalot pudding and crumble in cornbread


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## dmelzo (Oct 5, 2013)

My dad would put crumbled cornbread in milk.

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## ONG2 (Sep 22, 2010)

Dixie Bee Acres said:


> I thought cornbread was a staple at every household in America. Cornbread is kind dry and crumbly.
> I do love home made cornbread, but honestly, the 39cent boxes of Jiffy cornbread mix are quite good.
> But, cornbread ain't cornbread less its cooked in cast iron with Bacon grease.


With white corn meal!!!


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## SLFarmMI (Feb 21, 2013)

NickieL said:


> Cornbread yes. Grits......Heck no!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Homesteading Today


I'm with Nickie! Cornbread is a definite yes at our house -- but absolutely no sugar because this Yankee doesn't like it sweet and DH's Georgia-born head would explode if I put sugar in his cornbread. Grits are a definite no. DH's grandmother tried to force those nasty things down me when we were first married. Yuk!


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## WesleyDS (Feb 16, 2013)

Grits and Polenta are basically the same thing. I use 1 part cornmeal to 2 parts water and 2 parts milk. Get your liquid to a boil and add the cornmeal. When everything thickens to a porridge consistency I add butter and cheese. I serve it in a bowl with a nice tomato based beef stew poured over it. I bet it would go well with your fish stew also. You have little to lose by trying it.


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