Cornbread

[seez52]

Lots of good recipes here. My mom always used about as much flour as she did cornmeal.

One thing no one has mentioned is making fried up corn pones. They are tasty and are quick and easy to whip up. I do these a lot of times just because they only take a few minutes to prepare and cook. 

[bersaguy]

Something that I have not read in this thread is that no one has mentioned Crackling Bread. That was a staple around our house in the winter after hog killings to make smoke house meat. My job when I was still at home was to render the lard and separate the cracklings while the fats where still hot. My Dad and Grandfather were responsible for the smoke house duties of getting the meat packed in the salt and when it came time I would help them hang the meat and start the smoking process. The women were responsible for the processing of anything that was going to be frozen or canned. I guess for the most part that has become a lost art and not very many farms still do it. I loved Crackling bread anytime. Made a good snack about anytime!!

[bigun]

17 minutes ago, bersaguy said:

Something that I have not read in this thread is that no one has mentioned Crackling Bread. That was a staple around our house in the winter after hog killings to make smoke house meat. My job when I was still at home was to render the lard and separate the cracklings while the fats where still hot. My Dad and Grandfather were responsible for the smoke house duties of getting the meat packed in the salt and when it came time I would help them hang the meat and start the smoking process. The women were responsible for the processing of anything that was going to be frozen or canned. I guess for the most part that has become a lost art and not very many farms still do it. I loved Crackling bread anytime. Made a good snack about anytime!!

I’m with you there bersa . I miss hog killing even though it was a lot of work. And I love me some cracking bread it was a good snack. 

Edited April 14, 2023 by bigun

[Luckyforward]

20 hours ago, bersaguy said:

Something that I have not read in this thread is that no one has mentioned Crackling Bread. That was a staple around our house in the winter after hog killings to make smoke house meat. My job when I was still at home was to render the lard and separate the cracklings while the fats where still hot. My Dad and Grandfather were responsible for the smoke house duties of getting the meat packed in the salt and when it came time I would help them hang the meat and start the smoking process. The women were responsible for the processing of anything that was going to be frozen or canned. I guess for the most part that has become a lost art and not very many farms still do it. I loved Crackling bread anytime. Made a good snack about anytime!!

I haven't mentioned cracklin' bread because they are so hard to find now!  We used to kill hogs every November and cut up the meat, make sausage, salt and smoke hams, and make cracklins.  

I miss a good piece of cracklin cornbread, a bowl of pinto beans, a slice of onion, and homemade pear relish.

[Jamie Jackson]

@bersaguy and @bigun mentioned cracklings and crackling cornbread.

My father was a butcher and as a kid/teen I helped slaughter and render/process lots of hogs.

I didn't photograph it but a couple of times over the past year I purchased a few briskets on sale. I removed the fat and pressure canned the cut and cubed meat, ground some as well.

I rendered the fat to make tallow. Of course that left me with "beef" cracklings. I made beef crackling cornbread using the same conrbread recipe I posted earlier in this thread. This was the first time I've ever used beef cracklings (if that's even a thing), but it was rich and delicious nonetheless.

I'll try and attach a couple of pics below.

The beef cracklings are to the right straining through cheescloth in the sink.

 

 

 

[bersaguy]

I thought I would mention that if you want Cracklin's you can find them in about any grocery store. Kroger's, Food Lion, Publix, Amazon and Sam's to name a few. There are several different brands I have tried but I always try to find the Clifty Farms brand when at all possible. If you can't find them in the store ask someone that works in the meat department and he will take you to them.