What Is "Real" Cornbread?

Cornbread is a food we still eat everyday. There are lines drawn in the sand over how this food should be made. Geographically, there are a lot of differing opinions over how cornbread should taste. What is “real” cornbread?
Our Brand New Viewing Experience ➧ townsendsplus.... ➧➧
Retail Website ➧ www.townsends.us/ ➧➧
Help support the channel with Patreon ➧ / townsend ➧➧
Instagram ➧ townsends_official
Amelia Simmons American Cookery www.townsends....

[@j.l.emerson592]

I don't know about 'real' cornbread, but the most basic & possibly the oldest and/or original version is hot water cornbread. It has only 3 ingredients: cornmeal, salt & boiling water. You add boiling water to the dry ingredients to get a batter as thick or as thin as you want. Then you fry it in whatever fat you have available. Serve it hot with a dab of butter & maybe some molasses or honey. It's great all by itself & even better served with a pot of beans.

[@Beaguins]

I've seen recipes like this in many old cookbooks, but the resulting bread never holds together for me. I've tried several kinds of corn flour, including ones that are supposed to be old-fashioned. All I get is hot mush, or if I bake it longer I get dry, powdery mush. I think something has to be added to serve as a binder or the result won't be anything someone can pick up with their hands.

[@brj_han]

Aren't those johnny cakes?

[@chomama1628]

@@Beaguinscorn flour is made for tortillas. Corn ground corn is for cornmeal.

[@mikespangler98]

Cornmeal mush. At least that's what mom called it.

[@joshrogers7816]

Sounds similar to Italian farinata or socca in around Nice, France. I found the history of how maize/corn travelled from the Americas to Europe to influence peasant cooking.

[@cattails1166]

my great uncle, also Indiana-born in1898, made cornbread with 100% course ground yellow corn meal with no sugar. It was hearty and dense. He served it warm with sorghum molasses drizzled over the top with a pat of butter. To this day, this is my preference.

[@charliechazworth]

No sugar… agreed. I’m a southerner and am firmly in the no sugar camp. Also… I heat the skillet with bacon grease before pouring the batter to make a firmer crust.

[@Itsabeautifulday3201]

@@charliechazworth I’m from Missouri and agree with you two. if you add sugar, at that point it’s just a dessert cake.

[@santamanone]

Never add sugar. That’s a Florida thing and even then only Becaise Florida is full of Yankee transplants.

[@santamanone]

We eat it without adding butter or molasses. Instead we use it to sop up the vegetable pot liquor or crumble it into chili or soup. For a late night snack we crumble leftover cornbread into a glass of milk or buttermilk.

[@Grunttamer]

Exactly. The point of cornbread is that it’s cheaper than wheat flour. If you add sugar to it you are defeating the purpose.

[@MichaelUtah32]

The real cornbread was the friends and recipes we learned along the way.

[@singletona082]

The meme is actually appropriate here.

[@kurtbryan499]

The Townsends is the best friend I've ever learned. ❤

[@SR-iy4gg]

what?

[@narrowonflow]

Maybe...

[@erikreber3695]

This is so funny and original. So cool of you for comming up with this comment. You are so smart.

[@SittingOnEdgeman]

You're a very brave man for wading into a topic so near and dear to a lot of Southern hearts.

[@MrJusjones0110]

Yea, 2/3 C cornmeal 1/3 Flour, salt pepper dash of garlic powder, baking powder, butter milk.. thats cornbread.

[@andersjjensen]

Oh, he managed to offend at the international scale :P Us Scandinavians consider rye bread "real bread" and fluffy wheat bread more of a snack or breakfast thing.

[@carrief1759]

Southerner here, I like the history of it all. It doesn't bother me one bit. 🙂

[@harleyhawk7959]

that guy is no where close to southern.

[@joannfuhrer3114]

Growing up cornbread in my house also came out of the little blue box. When I moved to the south, I was introduced to a whole world of new cornbread tastes and textures. They're wonderful, but the blue box will always be a reminder of a wonderful childhood.

[@stevenworden7890]

For anyone not familiar (like non US watchers) this is a reference to Jiffy corn muffin mix, created and still made in my hometown, Chelsea, Michigan. Still owned by the original Holmes family, descendents of Mabel Holmes who marketed the first prepared baking mix in the US.

[@jameskniskern2261]

Around here in Appalachia, if cornbread has sugar in it, its called "cake". I'll see myself out.

[@whosweptmymines3956]

Whenever I'm served sweet, fluffy "cornbread", I feel a strong sense of betrayal.

[@t.c.bramblett617]

from Atlanta and I agree. Sweet cornbread isn't bad but it is not what you should call cornbread. OK... now that I think about it, it IS bad. lol

[@framusburns-hagstromiii808]

Amen..it's Corn BREAD..not corn cake...it should be Savory not sweet. Somewhat coarse and dense in texture..almost grainy.....nuff said..

[@rutht2023]

As a kid, my mom frosted what she thought was a cake. It turned out to be corn bread. 😂 She was surprised when it wasn't what she expected, but the family still ate the 'cake'.

[@lasagnasux4934]

Corn cake is great, but it's not corn bread. Corn bread should be savory and fry enough to give you a major case of dehydration.

[@eustacetuberson4375]

Samuel Johnson famously defined "oats" thus: "A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people."

[@debluetailfly]

An Englishman visited Scotland. His first morning there, he told the waiter he would like to try a traditional Scottish breakfast. The waiter returned with a hot, steaming bowl of oatmeal. The Englishman looked at it in disgust and said "in England we feed oats to the horses". The waiter calmly replied "aye, that is why England has the finest horses, and Scotland the finest men".

[@jamesdoyle5405]

Have to say a bowl of oatmeal with butter and a bit of milk and a mug of hot tea. Best breakfast ever.

[@user-sm8j]

Samuel j not the dramatist Ben ( much earlier)

[@mrfrosty3]

​@@debluetailflyScots vs English banter is always entertaining.

[@EmMiller-wu3dy]

We grew up with cornbread only sweetened with a small amount of maple syrup. Sometimes my mom boiled corn and folded the nibs in. Real cornbread is whatever recipe your family makes with love.

[@ToastAndJellyfish]

This is the correct answer. Also, I’m gonna try sweetening with a little maple syrup the next time I make it! That sounds bomb. Maybe some kernels as well since it’s fresh corn season. :)

[@HiSummerWasHere]

My grandmother made homemade iron skillet cornbread for almost every meal. She preferred Adam’s brand cornmeal, yellow coarse-ground. And you had to get it from Priester’s Pecans in Fort Deposit, Alabama. The recipe is an egg bread with buttermilk and only a teaspoon of sugar, not enough to be detectable. You heat a drizzle of oil in the pan in the oven while it preheats and then the bread fries on the bottom when you pour the batter in. She also would turn the bread out when it was done, then flip it upside down and put it back in for the last few minutes of baking so the top would also get a little crispy. If she didn’t have buttermilk, she would mix a little lemon juice or vinegar with milk and let it sit for a few minutes, and that’s a good substitute. She also said that her mother used to make fresh biscuits every morning and cornbread every evening. Can you imagine, the house being hot from the oven all day every day in pre-air conditioned Florida?

[@laurawest2736]

Priesters ❤

[@inesolujic2534]

That sounds delicious 🤤

[@jimmyfloyd9970]

I'm from Andalusia ,we always used Adams

[@HiSummerWasHere]

@@jimmyfloyd9970 ♥️ My grandparents were from Pensacola and the family stretched across to Mobile, and some relatives were from the Dixonville area. Grandma only used Adams, and I think it has been purchased by another company now. It was under the Pollard brand for a while, I don’t know if you can even get it anymore.

[@robzinawarriorprincess1318]

Yes, The Corbread Debate is ferocious here in Middle TN! (sugar vs. no sugar) We're usually pretty polite, but we have strong opinions about food.

[@chomama1628]

Southern culture eats cornbread without sugar because during the civil war sugar cane fields were burned in the gulf states hence no sugar available. History is sometimes forgotten over time.

[@debluetailfly]

Back when I was a truck driver, I stopped at a restaurant along I40, not sure if it was West Tn or Middle TN. I was looking forward to the cornbread. It tasted like cake! I told the waitress the cook must be a Yankee. She asked why I thought that - I told her because the cornbread was like cake. She told me the cook was born and raised in TN. I think she got a little mad about it, but I don't like paying for cake when I ordered cornbread!

[@methos-ey9nf]

@@chomama1628this makes me want to see a Max Miller - Townsends collaboration😊

[@XoineXronos]

​@@debluetailflyThe cook's mother was probably from Vermont. Sugar is not an ingredient in cornbread, I am from south Middle Tennessee.

[@hlriiiviiiv]

If I want sugar I’ll eat cake. Give me a pone not hocakes. The only thing we should agree on is it best just buttered or soppin up turnip green juice or bean juice.

[@LaPetiteBoulin]

My West Tennessee Cornbread Recipe: * 1½ cups of Cornmeal * 2 eggs * 1¼ cup Milk * ⅓ cup of Oil -PLUS- * just enough oil to cover the bottom of a Cast Iron skillet Estimate of 2 Tablespoons 1. Pour enough oil into Cast Iron Skillet that you can cover the bottom. About 2 Tablespoons. Put skillet into oven and preheat to 425° 2. Mix the ingredients together 3. Once skillet and oil is hot; pour mixture in skillet & bake at 425 for about 30 minutes. This is pretty typical in my area. Please share your recipe because I would always love to try something new.

[@karynstouffer3562]

Perfect!

[@jaysonlima7196]

Almost the same as yours but it's half and half cornmeal and wheat flour.

[@LaPetiteBoulin]

@jaysonlima7196 I'm curious to try your recipe. Does it taste different, in your opinion? Do you make the cornbread the same way when you make dressing?

[@jaysonlima7196]

@@LaPetiteBoulin So mine is 1 C corn meal 1 C flour 3 eggs 1 ½ C milk ½ C melted butter 1tsp baking powder And enough pan lube to cover the pan (I recommend not using butter for that) Give drys a good mix then add the wets Bake 425 for about a half hour. It makes a somewhat lighter feeling bread, but for a dressing I use a recipe much closer to yours.

[@LaPetiteBoulin]

@@jaysonlima7196 thank you for sharing this with me. I made an Italian Seasoned pot roast for supper tonight & I will try your cornbread with it. If you're ever looking for an easy but flavorful pot roast with carrots & potatoes- this one is super easy!

[@theeddorian]

Traditional indian corn "bread" is more like a boiled or steamed pudding, or a tamale. The Oneida nation site includes directions for a version.

[@adreabrooks11]

I love it when I can catch a Townsends video early. This community has always been a tremendously positive one, and watching the View and Like counters go up is tremendously heartening. I love watching it in motion, gathering steam!

[@AbbreviatedReviews]

I actually hated cornbread growing up, but only after trying it again as an adult did I realize I was just given really bad, dry cornbread.

[@user-ov4mk9ox8y]

In Tulsa in grade 6 the cafeteria lady would punch her thumb in the cornbread and pour hot cream corn into it!!!

[@lateciamadethis]

My granny made cornbread almost every day. Biscuits in the morning, cornbread at dinner. No flour in her cornbread, but some baking powder and eggs with milk. No sugar either. It had a gritty, grainy texture and an outstanding flavor.

[@MrJusjones0110]

Would have been even better with 30% Flour to leven. Dash of salt pepper and garlic

[@binderfan436]

That texture is what I'm always looking for .

[@lochnessmonster5149]

Usually, my mother mixes cornmeal, salt, and water and makes a pancake batter, pours it into a greased cast iron skillet, and bakes it. Recently, she used butter milk instead of water, added in a can of corn, and fresh minced jalapenos. The best way to describe it is jalapeno corn cake. It was amazing with butter and honey slathered on it.

[@hiltonwatkins6750]

Interesting.. I was just thinking about adding a comment about buttermilk. That is how my mother would make it when she had buttermilk. I still love to make it now… we always called it Johnny Cake…

[@92bagder]

Cornbread and baked beans, such a comfort food

[@saltwaterinmyveins]

A traditional S.Georgia thing is lacey cornbread. Warm water, some salt, and fine cornmeal. Simply a T.spoon poured in hot lard and fried. Amazing!

[@nomadmarauder-dw9re]

Hot water cornbread AKA corn dodgers.

[@saltwaterinmyveins]

@@nomadmarauder-dw9re this is a patty maybe 4" around.

[@bor3549]

I too grew up on Jiffy, and like it still to this day. My palette has simply grown as I get older. What I've noticed i-there is a distincive MasonDixon line in my corn bread(PLEASE, I'm not bein offensive) The more north-the sweeter, more leavened, other flours added. The further south, the more savory, grittier(sometimes even using hominy, aka grits), flatter, more filling ingredients added(bacon, ham, cheeses, jalepenos, other veg etc) LOVE 'EM ALL!!!! (Jiffy still tugs my childhood memories the most)

[@luannnelson547]

Cornbread is what my granny made. No sugar anywhere in the vicinity. I use her recipe religiously.

[@rottiesrule5285]

mine too....

[@markwoodger2]

Please share it.

[@robertjacobs861]

Townsends is a place of peace and tranquility for me in a chaotic world. Thank you so much! Louise J

[@heirkaiba]

I remember my grandmother used to cornbread with Goats milk. It was a very very sweet! RIP to my niña.

[@kareningram6093]

Oh, I will have to try this! That sounds good. Thank you for sharing this memory of your grandma.

[@lelandgaunt9985]

Goat cheese in cornbread is very good!

[@jamesbooth3360]

@heirkaiba My maternal grandfather, born 1894, was a pharmacist with a Rexall Drug Store. Now, that meant he had access to an old-fashioned soda fountain. Yet, he preferred sweet cornbread in a glass of buttermilk after supper instead of ice cream. I think it was what he had as a boy back when there was no such thing as ice cream.

[@SuperKamiGuru-i3c]

To me, cornbread is a savory bread baked in a cast iron skillet. Also, this channel reminds me of PBS back in the day, but far more interesting.

[@methos-ey9nf]

IKR? half expect This Old House to come on next😂

[@briankinsey3339]

White cornmeal, no sugar, smokin' hot cast iron skillet with lots of bacon grease!

[@m_d1905]

That sounds wonderful actually.

[@nomadmarauder-dw9re]

Bacon? I save the drippings from any pork product I fry up. So you get some breakfast sausage, Andouille, kielbasa...

[@XoineXronos]

Cracklins or fatback if available.

[@Eurynomea]

I make pone cakes, sweet cornbread for my husband (from Cali), rye, oat, and rice flours. I get creative and adventurous. Our farmhouse (well over 150 years old and made of stone) used to be a working black walnut tree farm, a sawmill, and a sorghum farm. I was told that the sorghum side had a huge press but had been stolen while the house was vacant. So, the hubs found me a scaled-down vintage press. I've used it for lard, apples, and of course, sorghum. Love your channel passionately!

[@kcurran53]

My grandmother AKA "Mommaw" lived in a cabin- a real one- with dovetail 13 inch logs, and made stuff on a wood stove for years. She made her own butter- from her cow- and put the buttermilk in cornbread, using white meal- yellow was for the stock- in cast iron. She had chickens , and Mommaw and Poppaw raised hogs. The grease went into the cornbread, the pan for the cornbread, and it seemed to me , everything else, too. My mom made the bagged mix- usually Martha White - and the crust she made was grainy, thick, and very crispy,- and hard, but worked out well with beans. (Dad ate the buttermilk and cornbread snack before bedtime often.) I watched my neighbor make cornbread and actually fried the batter in cast iron and finished it in the hot oven. Everyone I knew had pintos and fried potatoes with cornbread like that, and often drenched the cornbread with honey or molasses mixed with butter for dessert. I vividly remember the ceremony that one neighbor made mixing the two on his plate before heaping it on a piece of cornbread.

[@crazysnake1096]

Is Townsend trying to start a 2nd civil war over corn bread?!

[@mrbuttons1243]

My Oklahoma grandma's recipe uses just enough brown sugar in it. Cornbread and ham hock stew is amazing.

[@timothyrussell1179]

I once inadvertently ignited a lively debate over what constitutes a "Johnny Cake." Specifically, whether a Johnny Cake was a type of pancake or more of a loaf could not be agreed upon. I would love for you to weigh in!

[@Horag3ma]

well, if it has Johnny then it's Johnny cake :)

[@crystalrickett2302]

This is the calm content I need in the world now. Thank you townsends

[@dennislogan6781]

I'm a a Texan and my favorite style of cornbread is Jiffy Mexican style cornbread with added shredded cheese, chopped jalapenos, and cream corn. My mother and my wife both made/make it this way.

[@CynBH]

My great aunt from South Texas always added jalapeños, cheese, and creamed corn too! ❤️

[@erikreber3695]

Lol. Sounds like you just want more chili. XD

[@leedoss6905]

You notice as a Texan it's getting hard to find cream style corn in the store?

[@JoeJaJoeJoe]

Corn bread with shredded cheese and jalapeño? That's the most Texan thing I've heard this week 🇨🇱 thanks for sharing!

[@CynBH]

@@erikreber3695 you say that like it's a bad thing 🤔 😂

[@MarkWarbington]

My father was born in the 1940s in rural Georgia. In his world, cornbread never ever had sugar in it. He loved crumbling cornbread into a tall glass and pouring buttermilk over it.

[@MyBoomStick1]

What happens next? Does he drink the buttermilk and then eat the soaked bread?

[@MarkWarbington]

@@MyBoomStick1 He would eat it with a spoon like a breakfast cereal. I guess I should have explained. ☺

[@novaterra973]

@@MarkWarbington Sounds delicious.

[@derekaleeka]

Same in rural Alabama! And we use white cornmeal.

[@myronadams2101]

I’m glad to see you tear you cornbread instead of cutting it. I always remember my great grandmother making a big pan of cornbread and putting on a plate on the table. Everyone just tore off a piece. I found out years later that it was bad luck and sometimes bad manners to cut cornbread.

[@poetmaggie1]

Using a cornmeal starter, there is a delicious concoction that is called salt rising bread. It is a stiff consistency, makes wonderful toast.

[@orionova]

I grew up on salt rising bread, and remember the days when there was a commercial bakery that sold it in sliced loaves in the store, alongside the white and wheat breads. I haven't had it in years, but I saw a class on making your own advertised at my local library. I may have to check it out.

[@GordiansKnotHere]

I'll never argue about any "real" recipes. As long as it is made with plenty of love then it is correct. One of my favorites is Sweet Corn Spoon Bread steaming hot with any various jam that's available. EDIT: Can't forget fresh butter melting in it.

[@emilygeorge7326]

last time i was this early corn was still called maize

[@davea6314]

Your comment is too corny 🌽.

[@tbbk201]

Last I checked, no one asked you.

[@amaruqlonewolf3350]

@@tbbk201 Last I checked, nobody asked you either.

[@notahotshot]

​@@amaruqlonewolf3350 last time I checked, nob... Nevermind.

[@erikreber3695]

This comment section became unhinged real fast...

[@suzz1776]

In my family, no matter if it's out of a jiffy box or completely from scratch, we always add a can of corn to the mix. The corn pieces give excellent texture and taste to the corn bread. (Just make sure to strain the water out of the can fully and pat the corn a bit with a towel so it isn't so wet before u add it to the mix)

[@MikeRiley84]

I make it with white corn meal, no sugar and a bit of bacon grease substituting some of the butter. Sometimes I'll add diced green chilis. I also cut the center out of the cornbread with a guinness glass and cut the slices as normal after. That way you have one circular center piece and a lot of trapezoids - no fragile point on each that would just break off and makes a mess on your plate.

[@dr.froghopper6711]

I love good cornbread but my family doesn’t. Until Thanksgiving because my cornbread recipe makes outstanding stuffing!

[@willbass2869]

Maybe you should run away from home. Sounds like you live with heathens.....

[@rahyrammartinez835]

Thank you for making all my Sundays great. Despite not being American, I still enjoy your videos and the history of this wonderful country. Thank you!

[@gigglehertz]

Real cornbread is cooked in a cast iron skillet in the oven and has a crisp bottom.

[@crazkurtz]

Being from Nova Scotia. We never ate cornbread. But my mom was from Massachusetts, so we had lots of Boston brown bread! Love it

[@ChristopherGreerCDN]

My dad, who grew up in New Brunswick, had it as a kid but it was more of the Yankee cake type and always served with molasses for dipping - usually as a tea time snack or desert.

[@StellariumSound]

This channel has been a place of solace for... what, ten plus years now. Thanks.

[@TheA.K.]

Cornbread is whatever my mamma and grandma have been making for me my whole life and I'm never gonna say anything different.... because I'm not entirely stupid.

[@cearachonaill8149]

I completely agree. The recipe I grew up with was the best. Grandma’s recipe.

[@Benijim]

Hi Townsend, Brit here. I loved the little tidbit about your Indiana history with cornbread. My mum makes yellow cornbread on occasion and it’s fantastic. I would love to hear you explore regional dishes from different states and their evolution from the 18th century to current day!

[@joanwood9480]

I make what is called third bread. Yes, I learned that wheat does not grow well in the eastern part of the US, and so wheat flour was expensive in the colonies. So 3rd bread lessened the use of wheat flour and added other flours and grains to make a "loaf" that would be much more affordable. It uses bread flour (wheat) rye flour and corn meal. I put half and half honey and blackstrap molasses for sweetness. It is a very dense bread that doesn't rise as well as a white or sourdough bread. But rises enough. It is very good and tasty. I grew up with yellow corn bread with a touch of sugar in it.

[@RCSVirginia]

Real cornbread is whatever family receipt everyone likes and is delicious.

[@shadodragonette]

Just want to hug you and your family. Team. You make the world better. All of you. Even those we never see but they keep you going... Hugs to all of you

[@pyropatrick242]

Yall have been killing it with the videos lately! Keep it up

[@MarkMeadows90]

I've always used the bagged cornmeal mix, specifically White Lily and Martha White. It's typically white cornmeal, but I have made the yellow cornmeal kind before as well. Not much taste difference to me, but the white cornmeal version is my favorite by far. I grew up with it in my family's household for many years. Even my grandparents, and great grandparent's made that kind. Just something to holds dear to my heart here in the southern US. Can't beat it.

[@sandspar]

W. Alabama here, all I know is bacon grease from the stove ledge in a Mason jar that says " Figs " in Sharpie on the lid.

[@robertstuckey6407]

I used to mix cornmeal and eggs and fry it when i was too tired to cook or go to the store

[@fishyfish6768]

Cornbread is to be shared with loved ones and friends. You can make cornbread anyway you want. Just share it.

[@methos-ey9nf]

Amen to that!

[@andrewblythe4656]

I mill heirloom corn varieties in NC the old fashioned way and I love this corn theme lately! A truly American tradition and keeps the past alive!

[@melissarey2973]

For me, it's cooked in a cast iron pan. Pre-heat the skillet with the oven, melt butter in the hot pan, pour the lumpy batter on top of the butter, bake. I don't care what recipe or box mix is used, but I love that toasted butter and dark toasty bottom. Mmm mmm mmm

[@Gor537]

Man I love this channel!

[@Blackmark52]

The combo corn and flour bread sounds much like the bread I've started to make -- though I'm not using corn and my bread is still mostly flour. Choose a grain, make a "porridge", and add that to the bread dough. It not only adds flavour and nutrition, it helps keep the bread fresh substantially longer.

[@SHo-84]

"Rye doesn't make good bread. " Germany: Halt mein Bier!

[@lakrids-pibe]

He's not wrong. White puffy wheat bread was a status thing that people historically were very concerned about. Depending on the region, even ordinary people would consider any other bread to be beneath them. There's a famous quote about scottish people eating oats, which the writer thinks is only suitable for horses. Hello from Denmark. We take great pride in our rye bread here. Yes, it's more hearty and dense than fluffy wheat brad. That's how we prefere it. Edit: No it's not "usually half wheat flour". Traditional danish rye is just made from full grain rye flower, water, salt, and yest/sour dough.

[@kirkvoelcker5272]

@@lakrids-pibe Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

[@seymourfields3613]

My mom used to make little finger foods with the mini rye slices with hamburger mixed with cheese on top. I could make a meal out of them, and at parties I pretty much did. I think she got the receipt from my polish grandmother, because my second cousins on that side of my family occasionally made the same thing.

[@nefelpitou]

​@@HedonisticPuritan-mp6xv I've made many loaves with pure rye and I've never found it that difficult to work with? Depends what kind of rye flour ur using , obviously ur gonna have a harder time if ur using dark rye flour or pumpernickel type flour, but medium or light rye flour isn't really any harder to work with than wheat flour

[@DOOM_A-O]

Northern Indiana guy here too, you have to love Jiffy cornbread. 😂 We eat it with beans with all the special goodies like onions added to flavor them up. Great easy, filling, once cheap meal.

[@ethanheyne]

Loved seeing dark corn meal used in bread. Gluten-free family here. Mom's cornbread (before we knew about gluten) is what our recipe mimics, in texture and flavor. We use corn meal, corn flour (not masa harina), and corn starch. The eggs hold it together just enough. We like it sweet, so there's sugar, which also helps it have a golden, crispy crust. The cornmeal is sometimes white, sometimes yellow, or purple, and occasionally there's all-purpose GF flour mix in place of the corn flour. It's always fluffy and crusty and good with butter or syrup or honey, and very good with fruit, especially peaches. So, basically a dessert eaten as part of the meal! If we refer to a cornbread that's not sweet, we use a qualifier like "savory."

[@papajeff5486]

My two cornbread favorites are: 1. Unsweetened, thin in an iron skillet, cooked brown around the edges, crunchy, smothered with butter, served with ham spiced, pinto beans. 2. Thicker mix, poured on top of a taco mix of ground beef, corn, diced onions, cheese other taco stuff, Mexican Cornbread, served with Charo beans. Thanks for sharing this…from east Tennessee.

[@andersjjensen]

The second version is basically "shepherd's pie a la Mexico". Sounds delicious.

[@shazdroid]

Another great video!

[@jaxxtheviking]

I will say during a giant snowstorm that my family went through we were without power for 2 weeks we were living off of cornbread food like rabbits and deer we hunted and cooking over a fire in the fireplace for the next 2 weeks it was so cold you could see your breath on all the other rooms but the living rooms. It was rough and made me think about how resilient people were back in the early days. If I had known half of what I’d learned from this channel we would have been living well.thank you for this channel everyone at town sends its truely important work you do

[@johnparkman8150]

Still love the blue box...not going to lie!!! It reminds me of my childhood!!

[@Inesophet]

I wonder if there was something like german Pumpernickel in the early US. Its a rye bread made mainly from ryeshot, water and salt. Thats it, baked generally in an cooling oven overnight for 12-24 hrs.

[@MW-greatteacher10]

My momma grew up in South Georgia USA. She made hoe cakes with a thin white cornmeal batter. She fried these thin cakes in left over bacon grease or vegetable oil until they were light brown and crispy. They were wonderful.

[@popcola1462]

Spring mills park in Indiana has some of the best corn mill. Grinded by a creek turned stone mill.

[@Dabest2190]

Like if you love cornbread

[@Bob.W.]

My Indiana sister-in-law makes a great dried corn which stores in a tin and gets reconstituted with liquid. Great winter food.

[@Bob.W.]

@HedonisticPuritan-mp6xv it may be but it it is coarsely ground, not whole kernel. I will have to ask her. Thanks.

[@wrytte]

cornbread is cornbread. no preference and it is delicious no matter what

[@ToastAndJellyfish]

North, south, in between, I’ve never met a cornbread that I didn’t like.

[@IanDunbar1]

Chicago area here, and like Jon, cornbread to me is Jiffy brand (the 'little blue box'). Even my Great Grandmother (who came from northern Kentucky) made it that way.

[@1972cck]

Water, cornmeal, and salt. Mixed up and fried in a cast iron skillet with oil(grease). Still one of my favorites. My grandmother taught me

[@Cam-jv7qy]

Are you planning on making more time travelling food episodes.

[@danmcconnell5941]

My grandmother grew up (born in 1913) in the far eastern end of Tennessee and made the appalachian style with white corn meal. She moved to Indiana as an adult (which is where I grew up knowing only yellow) and my dad talks about how she used to complain about "hoosiers and their yellow corn bread". I've recently been checking out the white corn meal and I have to say its pretty good. I just do a very simple recipe with 2 eggs + 2 cups buttermilk, then mixed in with 2 cups white corn meal. Then into a hot cast iron skillet with 1/4 cup of butter, then oven at 425 for about 20 minutes. Its excellent. I don't really like the version with cracklins though, they come out chewy - and I'd rather just eat the cracklins as a standalone snack!

[@j.k.cascade2057]

The first method is how I make corn bread, (but substituting baking soda and powder for the yeast) no rising time, just bake it. Very enjoyable for a winter breakfast with coffee. I then freeze the left overs and I will later toast them, and spread butter.

[@KairuHakubi]

I am also a big fan of blue box cornbread, it has a perfect amount of sweetness and you can enhance it with extra melted butter added to the milk and eggs, and it'll still cook up properly.. chemical leavener is a wonderful thing, and I'm glad it was finally discovered and used in cooking. That box stuff does still have some wheat in it, but there's enough of corn's characteristic crunch to make it perfect. too much pure un-nyxtamalized cornmeal tends to make things just way too gravely in the mouth. And you gotta smother it in butter and honey when it's done.. if I was going to make a savory cornbread, I think I'd have to start over completely... and include pepper. Technically chemically leavened cornbread is a muffin, and you can make corn muffins out of it too.. but what's really good is cornmeal pancakes. You gotta drizzle corn syrup on those for that double corned-in goodness.

[@razor6552]

My grandma was from the South and she made cornbread with just enough sugar that you could taste it. Not like the corn "cake" you get in grocery stores, which is too sweet for me. The traditional no sugar is too bland and flavorless. A little sugar. Jiffy is better than no sugar IMHO.

[@KairuHakubi]

@@razor6552 So if you had to use mixes, you'd be better off combining jiffy with some brand that advertises no sugar, I s'pose. I kinda wish I could do that with salt. So many things are too salty, but I hate the low-salt version. (I just do 3 boxes of jiffy. it works out great, 3 eggs, 1 cup of milk, vanilla, half a stick of melted butter (the rest goes on top later with honey) and.. well, actually, sometimes i like to add a drop of 'cake batter flavoring' so.. i guess you could definitely call that cake.

[@meredithgreenslade1965]

Really interesting. We don't have cornbread in Australia. So looks great

[@roadhoundd.]

Jiffy makes a great canvas for adding things like honey, more eggs, sugar, etc.

[@jmjones7897]

It's already got sugar in it.

[@yobgodababua1862]

Wouldn't the "original" corn breads be tamales and tortillas? It's interesting how tamale dough (masa, water and fat) is similar to the later "cornbread" recipe (corn meal and water and fat).

[@ChristopherGreerCDN]

I suppose the big difference is that mesoamerican cultures discoverer nixtamalization to unlock the nutrients in corn. Post-contact cornbread doesn't do that and is just straight corn so the nutritional content is different as a staple food.

[@georgesteckert6334]

Interesting to me is that corn, rye, wheat, and barley are also ingredients for American whiskeys, too!

[@SRH420Gaming-ql9vp]

I love making all kinds of cornbread. I am 1/6th Cherokee and one of my nicknames in the kitchen is The Cornbread Daddy. Lol. I can make any type of cornbread in any type of environment. Fireside Cornbread with wheat flour, Cornbread Fritters made with Cornmeal and Chicken Stock, Muffins, Whole Cakes, Johnny Cakes, you name it, I can make it. I even make a cornbread with cornmeal, whole kernel corn, and shredded cheese. Not to mention my thanksgiving Cornbread Dressing which is a family recipe passed down for generations.

[@angelasieg5099]

It's totally modern my cornbread is 2 jiffy mixes a can of creamed corn, and 1/2 cup sugar and the milk and eggs called for on the box. It makes a moist lighter bread that's slightly sweet

[@ad6417]

If you add 8 oz of softened cream cheese to your recipe it's spoon bread.

[@chloemartel9927]

No sugar in cornbread.

[@mikefranklin1253]

Right, use honey.

[@chloemartel9927]

@@mikefranklin1253 nah, cake is sweet, not cornbread.

[@a-k-jun-1]

Growing up in South Louisiana, the only store bought thing that went into corn bread was Calumet baking powder. The rest was right from the farm. If it was sweetened, it was either with sugar cane juice or honey.

[@dailyfermentations7197]

I love the semantics of the bread world. If you interchange any one ingredient or step in the process and it becomes something else! Keep on baking!

[@bennett8535]

I’m an American living in Sri Lanka, where there is no corn in the cuisine, and cornmeal is an imported item. I’ve made cornbread ever since I could, in various ways depending on what I wanted and what I was eating it with. I’ve managed to “Sri Lanka-fy” my cornbread. In addition to the basic ingredients, I put in some sugar (Sri Lankans like sweet stuff), minced green chilies (about the same heat as Serranos) and to give it a bit of a tang, some water buffalo yogurt (think: Greek style yogurt). It works out very well and my Sri Lankan friends really love it.

[@classicG342]

Personally, breaking up that crispier cornbread into a hot dish of stew or soup would be Heavenly on a cold campout! Also, stays together well to sop up gravy off a plate (tossing broken pieces onto plate and using fork/knife or spoon to gather it all up. Where as soft, wheat bread gets a little over-soaked and messy at times on the fingers (female speaking, here!). Enjoyed the episode. Ps....can also see why many Southerners prefer it unsweetened as it is used as bread to sop up gravies and so, don't want it to taste like a dessert cake (sweetened), unless you choose to have it sweetened, but then you'd just slather top of a slice with molasses!

[@SSgtBaloo]

Mom was from a part of Arkansas where "cornbread" was savory and dense. She scoffed at the cornbread served as such at our school's cafeteria because it was sweet and fluffy. She called it "corn cake" and, even when asked, would not make such an abomination (she didn't use the word, but sweet cornbread was something she viewed as being almost sacrilegious. Years later, I finally learned that her opinion was not universal throughout the south. The type of "cornbread" she had learned to make as a child is classified, by most other southern communities, as "corn pone" and the sweet, cake-like variety is what is widely recognized as corn bread. I preferred the savory, tough kind with beans. Beans over (that kind of) corn bread is Goood! My nephew prefers what mom used to call "corn cake".

[@underourrock]

Corn bread: corn meal (stone ground), cast iron skillet preheated in the oven. Add your high smoke point oil, crisco, or I prefer home made ghee, to the pan and heat for a few minutes. Mix the prepped ingredients according to the muffin method and pour the batter into the preheated cast iron and bake it until done. It will be golden brown and fried on the outside edge. Sugar, no sugar, I don't care. If you have the right technique it'll all be good. I love a little bit of sugar in the recipe, but that's me. Served with butter and honey. Hot honey if you have it. Whipped honey butter if you want, or honey Cinnamon butter.

[@oaksparoakspar3144]

Cornmeal + milk (or water if you didn't have any) + cast iron skillet in the oven = the gross cornbread I grew up eating. You could build a house out of that stuff as a brick substitute. Kept Appalachia alive, however. The reason there are so many recopies today is because the original can barely be qualified as food.

[@MARKE911]

So many versions of cornbread is amazing. I enjoy tasting them all when made from scratch. What a great video on the history. Thank you.

[@intractablemaskvpmGy]

Unfortunately, many consider cornbread as sweet and cake-like. But, in fairness many recipes- even on the packaging produce results like that. That's not what I grew up with. Ours was not like some quick bread out of a muffin pan. It was dry, airy, crumbly and not sweet. Perfect for chili and soups etc.

[@beth8775]

A cast iron pan (with plenty of butter) is the best vessel for making cornbread regardless of other preferences. Another born and raised Hoosier - I prefer yellow, slightly sweet, corn/wheat quickbread. I make it from scratch now rather than a box, and I use whole wheat.

[@llywyllngryffyn8053]

Yeah, I didn't have that recipe when I was trying to figure it out with corn bread, but I came to the same conclusion; the corn mash. I call it polenta and it is a fairly common breakfast for us but i've made cornbread with the leftovers and it works out nicely.

[@Myrtle2911]

The wheat and corn loaf reminds me of the Thirded Bread you made at Conner's Prairie. I've always wanted to try making that.

[@jennb1566]

My grandmother (born 1927) made a lot of cornbread, but she also made what what we called fritters. Flat cakes of cornbread. We make the corn bread with buttermilk not “fresh” milk and always in a cast iron skillet. Get the skillet hot with shortening (or something healthier lol) and pour the batter in to make a crust. The crust is the best. My grandmother learned to cook on wood stoves, so fritters where easier to cook on top of the stove than a “pone” of cornbread in the oven. Cornbread is not supposed to be sweet. lol. I eat jiffy mix now, but I do feel a little guilt.

[@lukasmakarios4998]

We had a cast iron corn-on-the-cob mold when I was a kid. Grease it with melted butter. We always used yellow self-rising cornmeal, some salt, and not much sugar. Maybe up to 1/3 flour, and an egg (optional). Then, just enough milk to get it smoothly wet. Fill the mold. Bake in a medium oven for 30 to 40 minutes. It should pop out of the mold when you flip it.

[@FruitMuff1n]

1) Another amazing townsends video! 2) 10:19 I swear one of these days John is going to "jump scare" us on the outro -- "BOO!" XD

[@colodeld220]

Ive always had it with eggs, flour, corn meal, some sugar, oil and milk. Bake in a cake pan eat with baked beans or heat up for breakfast in a bowl with milk and sugar. Ive also made New England style corn meal Indian pudding. That's my favorite.

[@charleshowell7855]

Ah bread making = liquor making

[@charleshowell7855]

@@HedonisticPuritan-mp6xv ok but for early Americans bread making and whiskey making go hand in hand. When a dollar ain’t worth the paper it’s written on, one can ALWAYS trade whiskey.