There are several food items that you can avoid from Southern Cuisine without people chasing you out-of-town. Grits, gravy, chitlins and even collar greens can be set aside without much danger. But rejecting cornbread, specially one made of scratch may result in a sudden intro of banjo music and the rack of shotguns.

The following is a recipe left by a friend in Facebook and it is one that needs to be tried.

Kevin B’s Cornbread Recipe
I like Bob’s Red Mill medium-grind corn meal – about 1-1/2 cups, a half cup of all-purpose flour, tsp. of salt, 4-5 tsp. of baking powder, an egg and 1 cup of milk, a 10″ cast iron skillet and 1/4 cup of bacon grease. Put the bacon grease in the skillet, put the skillet in the oven and preheat to 425°F.

Mix the dry ingredients together, mix the egg into the milk, and then pour the milk/egg mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix until you have a batter. Take the hot skillet out of the oven, swirl the bacon grease around in it until you’ve coated the sides of the skillet.

Pour the bacon grease into the batter, mix it through, then pour the batter into the hot skillet. Put the skillet back into the oven for 20-25 minutes or until it pulls away from the sides and is golden brown.

Take it out, let it rest for a minute or two, and then turn onto a rack. If the pan is properly seasoned, the cornbread will just fall out. Serve with butter, add honey if you like your cornbread sweet.

The only thing I would add is finely chopped Vidalia onion to the batter to get a very lightly sweet & tangy hint of flavor.  But that is me. In a hurry, I cheat and add two spoonfuls of sweet relish as substitute for the onions.