Buttermilk Cornbread

If you work with me you'll know that not a day has gone by in months that I haven't talked about cornbread. The obsession started a few months ago when a friend suggested I check out Memphis Smokehouse, raving about their delicious barbeque. I definitely enjoyed their flavourful, fall-off-the-bone ribs, and their other barbeque was alright, but what I really couldn't get enough of was their cornbread! Before trying out Memphis' cornbread my only other cornbread experience that I could recall was tasting a jalapeno cornbread that a friend, who is also a fantastic cook had made a few years ago that I can unfortunately remember like it was yesterday. I swear I can still taste that dry and crumbly cornbread that I had to immediately and as gracefully as possible deposit into the nearest napkin. It was at that moment that I decided that I was no fan of cornbread. I turned my nose up at cornbread ever since, assuming that that must be what cornbread always tastes like because my friend is such an incredible cook and baker. It was only when I went to Memphis Smokehouse, where cornbread is served with their mains that I thankfully gave cornbread another chance. Hot out of the oven, soft, and moist, their cornbread was absolutely delicious! Of course my first thought after tasting something so yummy is always "Ok, so how can I make this at home?" The recipe research began!

I found a very basic recipe that I thought would be a good start, and adjusted a few ingredients along the way to suit my own taste. I was serving up pulled pork that same night and wanted my cornbread to act as a dipper to sop up all that delicious slow-cooked sauce that the pork was enveloped in, so I knew that I absolutely did not want to make a sweet cornbread. Because I had never made cornbread before, I ended up following the recipe pretty closely, choosing to only adjust the sugar this time around. I cut the sugar down to 1/3 cup, (as opposed to the suggested 3/4 cups EEK!) which resulted in a just-sweet-enough cornbread rather than what would have been more of a sweet breakfast cornbread. With my sugar adjustment, I ended up with a great basic cornbread. More dense in texture than the one at Memphis, this cornbread could definitely handle the dipping duties that I had hoped it would, keeping it's form and not crumbling everywhere when topped with the very saucy pork. As I stated in my entry on Pumpkin Spice Cookies, I don't feel comfortable writing out recipes that I have found online, and playing them off as though they are my own. Despite my adjustment on this Buttermilk Cornbread recipe, I would certainly not consider this recipe my own, but that doesn't mean that I don't want to share a simple and successful recipe with you! So follow the link below and adjust the sugar amount to achieve what I believe to be a great basic cornbread recipe to serve up as a side with your next dinner! I can't wait to start playing around with more cornbread recipes to come up with one that I can truly call my own!

AllRecipes.com - Grandmother's Buttermilk Cornbread

Listening To:

I saw Lana Del Rey perform at the MOD Club a few weeks ago and man, that voice is awesome live!