Soul Food

[LeeB]

Cornbread and molasses is one of my favorites.

[Magicman]

A fellow offered me a jar of freshly cooked sugarcane syrup yesterday, but I declined.  I prefer Blackburn syrup.  It's milder.  Growing up we had sorghum molasses.  Now that was strong stuff.  You 'bout had to put cream on it.

[LeeB]

Molasses for me and lots of butter, not margerine.

[bd354]

Looks like cast iron skillet corn bread, my favorite. I'm a Griswold cast iron fan, anyone else??

  Pappy, I have 3 or 4 Griswold pieces and a bunch of Lodge and BSR. The Warden sez I have about 50 or 60 too many. It's getting kinda hard to sneak another one home.

[fishpharmer]

Fishpharmer:

Sorry I didnt see your post for the recipie.  My wife makes it almost identical to LeeB.

Thanks to you Jim and LeeB.

[ErikC]

  We have 1 Griswold, mom has 3 or 4 at her place. They have a nice look to them, but I won't say they cook any better than anything else properly seasoned. Especially one that's been around a while and is worn pretty smooth. I think they are kind of a collectible aren't they?

[bd354]

A fellow offered me a jar of freshly cooked sugarcane syrup yesterday, but I declined.  I prefer Blackburn syrup.  It's milder.  Growing up we had sorghum molasses.  Now that was strong stuff.  You 'bout had to put cream on it.

 A guy I work with gave me a bottle of cane syrup today. His father makes it every year. There's still quite a few people making it around here, most of it pretty darn good. I usually eat honey instead of syrup but I still like cane. Nothing like it on a hot buttered bisquit!

[pappy19]

Looks like cast iron skillet corn bread, my favorite. I'm a Griswold cast iron fan, anyone else??

  Pappy, I have 3 or 4 Griswold pieces and a bunch of Lodge and BSR. The Warden sez I have about 50 or 60 too many. It's getting kinda hard to sneak another one home.

50 or 60 pieces is a good start. I have about 300 pieces and I'm a small time collector. The cool thing about collecting Griswold and Wagner is that it is one of the very few antiques you can use every day and not hurt it. Of course there are about 10 pieces that I use most often; mostly my # 8 skillet, # 9, # 7, #6; then my #9 Dutch Oven, #7 DO, # 8 Double Skillet (which is the best all around setup ever made), #7 long griddle, "#6 round griddle, and #110 skillet griddle. I have many more, but those are my most used versions, and all Griswold. Once in a while I will use my Wagner Skillet Griddle which has ridges to make the fried steaks look like it came off of a BBQ grill, but it is too hard to clean, so I don't use it much.

[bd354]

  I try to stay with what I find around here which is normally the older Lodge and BSR. Griswold and Wagner are kinda rare in these parts.  I bought one # 9 Gris at a flea market last year for 20 bucks but usually the few I see are way to high for me. See a lot on fleabay but not willing to pay their price. I also bought 8 #3 skillets for 30 bucks at a thrift shop but they're all assorted Lodge and BSR. Had one Wagner in sad shape and I passed on it.

[tyb525]

DanG, we have those exact plates at our house.

[crd1957]

i got a 10"lodge cast iron skillet 35 yrs ago at a wedding shower . wife left 22 yrs ago.love may not last forever but good cast iron will never let you down

[Magicman]

Especially if it's not across your head when she left...... :D

[WildDog]

That corn bread looks good, I have never seen it down here, might be time to chase up a recipe.

[crd1957]

2 cups self riseing corn meal; 1 cup butter milk; 1 egg 1/3 cup veg oil . coat 10" skillet with lard; lard not veg oil.
mix cornmeal milk and egg stir in veg oil . bake at 450 for about 18 to 20 min. good stuff  serve with beans; stew ; chilli or just butter and a glass of tea

[WildDog]

Thanks crd will get Nicky onto it this week

[crd1957]

thats my moms recipie i think you will like it

[pappy19]

2 cups self riseing corn meal; 1 cup butter milk; 1 egg 1/3 cup veg oil . coat 10" skillet with lard; lard not veg oil.
mix cornmeal milk and egg stir in veg oil . bake at 450 for about 18 to 20 min. good stuff  serve with beans; stew ; chilli or just butter and a glass of tea

My recipe is similar except I use 50% buttermilk and 50% whole or 2% milk. All buttermilk makes the middle hard to cook through and is unevenly done for my experience. Also, I use PAM to spray my skillet and then ad an additional 1/4 cup oil at the bottom of the pan and put it on top of the stove on medium-high. I then sprinkle about a heaping tablespoon of yellow corm meal evenly around on top of the oil. I then let this cornmeal cook for a minute or two and then pour in my batter. Once the batter gets a heat bubble or two, I transfer it to the hot oven and finish cooking. The cooked cornmeal keeps the bottom from sticking and also gives the finished product a little more crispy texture. I flip the finished pone onto a pizza pan and start cutting wedges. It's usually gone before I finish cutting.

[crd1957]

thats why i use lard ; makes a nice crust ive used the same cast iron skillit for 34 yrs. all we use it for is bread.never have a problem with it being hard in the middle. maybe different altitudes

[pappy19]

Yes, for altitude you need to add additional flour. Funny how that works. the oil and corn meal "trick" however came from my roomate's mother from Lisbon, Louisiana, as that is how she did her's. It's all good, regardless.

Pap