Anytime you put the words "Southern" in front of a dish, it's likely to stir up controversy, and cornbread is no exception. It seems like every person I've ever known from the South has their favorite way of making it, and every way is different. But the thing that distinguishes Southern cornbread from, say Yankee cornbread, or any other cornbread one is likely to eat outside of the southern states, is that it is savory, not particularly sweet, and it is made mostly with cornmeal. Northern cornbreads tend to be more cake-like, on the sweet side, with a finer crumb due to more flour in the mixture. Southern cornbread is flavored with bacon grease, and cooked in a cast iron skillet, a perfect side for barbecues, or chili.

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