Cornbread

I've tried other recipes, from Southern Living to The Pioneer Woman, but nothing beats my mother's recipe. She probably got this from her grandma, or off the back of the corn meal box... or both.  In fact, I know it's the recipe from Alber's Corn Meal, but without the sugar.  

Scroll down for the scaled down version.

CORN BREAD

1 cup Corn Meal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten

HEAT oven to 400°F. 

Sift together meal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in medium bowl.

Combine milk, oil and egg in small bowl; mix well.

Add milk mixture to flour mixture; stir just until blended.

*Melt 2 Tbls. butter in an 8 inch cast iron skillet. Pour in the batter, and spread out evenly.

BAKE for 20 to 25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. 

You can bake this in an 8 inch square or round cake pan, just be sure to grease it first. I did that for years, since I thought cast iron was nasty, and hard to take care of... but Mr. Giddy was pining for cornbread the way both our mothers used to make, so I relented and a bought two skillets. I bake it the full 25 minutes in the 8 inch skillet. If you want more crust and less bread, use a 10 inch skillet and start with 20 minutes and then test it.  

There's a big myth about cast iron... that you can't wash it with soap.  Uh, yes, you should wash it with soap.  Just don't scrub it with an SOS Pad.   The seasoning on a cast iron skillet is not just the oil, it's polymerized oil.  (Polymerized is when the oil gets baked on... and it lasts nearly forever, takes a nuclear detonation to remove, and if you don't believe that, you should see the sides of my stainless steel fryer....)

CORNBREAD FOR TWO


We love this cornbread, but we always have some leftover, and it usually gets wasted.   So, I searched for a smaller pan with the idea of cutting the recipe in half.

Isn't this cute?

It's a 6.5 inch cast iron skillet. Got it on Amazon, of course, but Walmart has them sometimes.

This wasn't quite ready, I gave it a few more minutes.   It should get a little more golden on top, and the top usually cracks open a bit.


So, here's the deal:

CORN BREAD FOR TWO

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup corn meal
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
2.5 Tablespoons vegetable oil*
1 egg white
1 Tablespoon butter

Mix the dry ingredients together and a medium bowl.

Mix the milk, egg, and oil together, and add to dry ingredients.

Stir it all up, you don't have to beat it smooth, just make sure it's all moist.

Melt the butter in the skillet, then pour the batter in.  (set it on a burner at medium heat, but watch it!)

Bake at 400 F for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cut in four pieces and serve with butter.

*It's really 2 Tbls + 2 Tsp, which would be 2.67 Tablespoons... you can eyeball this.  Just fill the tablespoon twice, then the third time just fill it halfway.   Trust me.

You can also bake this in a 6 inch cake pan, start with 20 minutes and test it.  It'll take a little longer because it's taller in the middle.

Hamburger Steak for Two

I call this "Hamburger Steak that's Actually Good" because it is.  I've never been a fan of hamburger steak, I figured if I was going to eat a hunk of hamburger it was going to be on a bun with cheese...  I have eaten some terrible hamburger steaks that were like endless chewing of dry hamburger.... *shudder*

It tastes better than it looks, not that it doesn't look pretty tasty!

HAMBURGER STEAK FOR TWO

1/2 pound lean ground beef
1 egg
1/4 + 1/2 cup cracker crumbs*
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder**
1/4 teaspoon onion powder**
1/8 teaspoon (dash) ground black pepper
2 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon oil

Mix together meat, egg, 1/4 cup cracker crumbs, and seasonings.

 Mix it up good.  Use your hands, it's easier.  Just don't tell anyone.

Divide in half and form into patties.  This is were waxed paper comes in handy.

Press some cracker crumbs into the meat. 

 Then use the wax paper to flip the patties over onto a plate, where you can press some more crumbs into the other side.

 Cover the meat with the wax paper and refrigerate for a half-hour or so.  This keeps the patty from falling apart when you handle it.

Wash your hands with soap after handling raw meat!    And don't wipe your meaty hands on a dish towel and then use it later.   If you can't reach the soap and water in between steps, use a paper towel.

Add the oil and butter to a skillet and heat over medium-high heat.  If it smokes, it's too hot.

Just look at that happy butter!

 And just look at those patties, snuggled up in the skillet.  To give you an idea how big they are, that's a 10 inch skillet.

 Cook them about 3-5 minutes on each side.  Don't let them get black.  Overcooking makes them dry and nasty.

My side dishes weren't quite done yet, so I put them on plate and covered them up with anohter plate to keep warm.

Serve with hot noodles, or mashed potatoes, and gravy.   You can make good gravy with a can of cream of mushroom soup with a little (about 1/4 cup) water and some beef boullion granules.  Or open a can of Heinz beef gravy.   It's really good, and on sale it's only $1.

* For easy cracker crumbs, put about 2/3 of a sleeve of saltines in a zip lock bag.  Crush with a rolling pin, a glass, or just use your fingers.   If you use unsalted crackers, and you really shouldn't, you might need to add salt to the meat mixture.

** Garlic powder and onion powder are the pretty much the same as granulated garlic or onion.