My second attempt at Carla Hall’s cornbread came out much better. It was remarkably light and cake-like for 100% corn meal. Probably helped that I used Geechee Boy.
3/4 cup corn
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup corn oil
2 cups finely ground cornmeal
4 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons lard or bacon fat for the skillet
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF.
- In a food processor, pulse together corn and cream until coarsely blended.
- Blend in the eggs, sour cream, and oil.
- Heat the lard in a 10-1/2-inch cast iron skillet on medium-high heat. The pan should be hot enough that the batter sizzles a lot when you pour it in.
- Add the dry ingredients and pulse until smooth, scraping the bowl with a spatula at least once.
- Pour the batter into the skillet.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.
This is a hybrid of two versions of Hall’s recipe. I figured since I was going to have to wash the food processor anyway there was no reason to dirty any bowls.