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Zinfandel's Cornbread

Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006

This is the cornbread we served at ZInfandel Restaurant; the cornbread y'all ask for at West Town Tavern. More importantly, it is my paternal great grandmother's recipe and the cornbread I grew up eating. The secret here is the pan. Non-stick pans will produce soft, anemic cornbread. This recipe also works well in well seasoned cast iron corn stick pans

Makes serves 8 servings

Ingredients

2 large

eggs

1 3/4 cups

buttermilk

4 Tablespoons

soft unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups

yellow cornmeal, stone-ground preferred

1/2 teaspoon

sea salt

3/4 teaspoon

baking soda

Method

Preheat oven to 425°. Place dry, well-seasoned 9" cast iron skillet in oven to heat also.
Whisk eggs lightly in a medium bowl. Whisk in buttermilk.
When oven is preheated, carefully remove pan from oven and add the butter. Swirl gently to melt the butter. If butter does not melt, put pan back into oven until it does.
Swirl the butter around the pan to coat the bottom and the sides and pour the remaining butter into the buttermilk and eggs.
Add the cornmeal, salt and soda to the buttermilk and whisk lightly. Mixture does not have to be smooth, a few lumps are ok. Scrape the batter into the hot pan. If your pan is hot enough the batter should begin to sizzle and rise immediately.
Bake the cornbread 20-25 minutes until puffed and golden.
Invert the cornbread onto a waiting platter or into a basket. The crowning glory of the bread is its crisp golden bottom side so I serve it that side up.
Wait a few minutes for cornbread to cool a bit before breaking into serving pieces.

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