wilkes

Self rising cornmeal and flour will work fine instead of plain. Some say plain is better ,it's a matter of taste and convience.Plain seems to rise more I think

"Cast Iron" Cornbread
Corn bread just doesn’t taste, or feel, the same way made with any other method.
The key is the oiled, preheated cast iron pan,
which gives the finished bread that incredible crisp around the edges texture.
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups buttermilk
1 egg
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Add the oil to a 10-inch cast iron skillet,
and put it in the oven for 5 minutes to get the oil very hot.
Combine all the dry ingredients together and mix very well.
Whisk the egg and buttermilk until completely mixed.
Add to the dry ingredients, and mix enough to form a batter.
Be careful not to over-mix.
Remove the cast iron pan out from the oven,
and pour the oil into batter and stir in.
Pour the batter back into the cast iron skillet, bake for about 20 minutes.
The top of the cornbread should be golden-brown,
and the bread should be pulling away slightly from the sides of the pan.
Let cool for 10 minutes before trying to cut and serve.
Serving warm, spreading with butter, is highly recommended!

You are exactly right Bushman and I still have the skillet. It's about 60 years old now and there are none like it. What I'm looking for is the recipe for the batter. Would you or anyone else happen to have that?

Homemade Skillet Cornbread
I'd just about bet Mom had a nice, thick, cast iron skillet that was well-seasoned. Mother used to fry several pieces of salt cured fatback meat and then poured the fatback grease into her cornmeal mixture which had been mixed with the buttermilk, eggs, salt, pepper, and a little flour and sugar. The oven was pre-heated to 450 degrees and after she had poured the mixture into the heated skillet, she would leave it on the stove for a couple of minutes and then quickly pop it into the center of the oven (middle rack.)
She would then reduce the oven heat to 425 and bake it until the sides separated from the side of the skillet. Take it out of the oven, turn a plate over the skillet, and then turn pan over the plate. She always left it for about 3 minutes and always put a damp cloth over the bottom of the pan. Her crusts were exceptionally crispy, thick, and brown with a reddish or roan cast to it. Tender and moist on the inside and crunchy on top, bottom, and side. (By the way, her batter was about 2 inches deep in the skillet when first poured into the skillet.)

Looking for a good old fashioned made from scratch country cornbread recipe. I think my Mom used to use cornmeal and buttermilk and always cooked it in the old black frying pan but I can't find her old recipe. Any help would be appreciated.