Buttermilk Corn Bread and Cracklings

Name: Buttermilk Corn Bread and Cracklings
Yield: Yields 6 to 8 servings
Cuisine: United States
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon sugar; ¾ teaspoon baking soda; 3 teaspoons baking powder; 1 cup (122 g) flour; 4 tablespoons (60 g) melted butter, shortening, bacon fat, or rendered fat from cracklings; 3 eggs; 1½ cups (355 ml) buttermilk; ½ teaspoon salt; ¼ cup (60 ml) cold water; 1½ cups (355 ml) yellow or white cornmeal; 2 to 3 ounces (60 to 85 g) pork sidemeat

Preparation info

Yields
6 to 8
servings

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Bill Neal's Southern Cooking

By Bill Neal

Published 1985

About

Leftover corn bread is often crumbled into a large tumbler and covered with freshly churned ice-cold buttermilk. This makes a farm-style supper for the hottest summer nights and demands only the simplest accompaniment: sliced tomatoes, cucumbers and onions, maybe one-half of a ripe cantaloupe sprinkled with salt and pepper.

Ingredients

Cracklings

2 to 3 ounces (60 to 85 g) pork sidemeat
¼ cup (60

Americas
United States
Bread
Summer

Method

Cracklings

Remove any rind from the sidemeat and dice finely. Combine the sidemeat with the water in the skillet over low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the fat is rendered and the cracklings crisp and brown, approximately 40 minutes. Drain the cracklings on a brown paper bag. The rendered fat may be employed as the shortening for the corn bread, if desired.