Southern Cornbread

I love cornbread.  Just about any kind.  But when I ran across this recipe in "The Joy of Cooking" several years ago, I couldn't believe it.  It SO reminded me of my maternal grandmother's recipe (Grandma Barton).  This is about as basic, home-made, down-south cornbread as you could ever imagine.  Slathered with butter (and honey, if you like), it's a meal in itself.

I'm getting ready for Thanksgiving and Jim won't have anything but cornbread sage dressing so I had to get a batch ready for Thursday.  It might be a tad short this year.  As you can see, I kinda had a bit of it for a snack, just to make sure it came out alright.

SOUTHERN CORNBREAD (1 8" square, 1 9" cast iron skillet, or 12 muffins)

1 Tbsp bacon fat
1 3/4 cups cornmeal (preferably stone-ground white.....if you use yellow, add 1 Tbsp sugar)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450.   Once temp is reached, put the bacon fat into your dish/skillet and  into the oven to let the bacon fat melt.

In the meantime, whisk together in a mixing bowl the cornmeal, baking powder and soda,  and salt.

In another bowl, whisk the eggs.  Whisk in the buttermilk.  Add to the dry ingredients and whisk until just blended.  Pour into the hot dish/skillet.  Bake until the top is browned and the center feels firm when pressed, 20-25 minutes.  Serve immediately from the pan, cut into wedges or squares.