Jiffy Notsospiffy Cornbread... Not For This Southern Girl

Recently one of my daughters caught Giada, the Everyday Italian, doting on her cornbread. When the camera panned out, Jiffy Mix and a pyrex dish were exposed as her supporting cast. Oops. Not cool if you are a country girl like me. My husband's mother was my teacher on the cornbread conundrum. I am now addicted to my own cornbread... or hers. My sweetest cornbread memory to date was asking my own mother to borrow her tiny skillet when she was very ill with stage 4 colon cancer. She was glad for me to borrow it. Then I spent the next 2 years taking a perfect-size corncake to her and my dad before burying both of them. It was a thrill for me to be able to serve them in their last years with something so delicious. Only requiring 4 ingredients and one critical tool, you can bake cornbread like a pro and way better than the Food Network. It begins with an iron skillet which you can purchase at Wal-Mart. You also need a very hot oven - 450 degrees.

Nanny’s Cornbread

Iron skillet required! Heat oven to 450 and coat the bottom of your skillet with oil, not too thin but not too thick with oil... Put skillet in preheating oven. Skillet will need to heat at least 15 min. or so depending on the efficiency of your oven. The sign is if you can smell the oil and see a bit of smoke coming off the pan, the oil is good and hot. This is critical to "scald" the batter. While skillet is heating, mix together equal parts of self-rising cornmeal mix (I like Martha White) and buttermilk with one egg. Breakdown for varying skillets as follows:
baby skillet (5") 2/3 cup each s.r.cornmeal mix & buttermilk with 1 egg
med. skillet (7") 1.5 cup each s.r.cornmeal mix & buttermilk with 1 egg
lg. skillet (9") 3 cups each s.r.cornmeal mix & buttermilk with 3 eggs

When you think oil in skillet is very hot, carefully pour oil into mixed batter, whisk quickly, pour batter back into very hot skillet, then return quickly to 450 oven. Bake time for baby skillet about 15 min., medium skillet about 22, large skillet about 27 minutes. When done, flip out cornbread onto cooling rack or serving platter immediately to keep crust crispy. I can smell it now!!!