Bake 52 Week 25: Southern-Style Skillet Cornbread

This is my third dish of the weekend. I was hoping to do more baking but ended up getting sick after lunch on Saturday and didn't feel up to cooking again until late evening on Sunday, which is when I made this.

This was a pretty quick and easy recipe. Unfortunately it tasted terrible! I'm 90% sure that the problem was that my cornmeal was old, very old. I have no memory of when or why I bought it. I knew it was old but didn't think that would change the flavor.

The cast of characters:


The other issue that could have negatively impacted the flavor was the toasting. The first step of the recipe (after heating the cast iron skillet in the oven) is to toast the cornmeal. I toasted it for 5 minutes (as directed by the recipe) but when I pulled it out the edges were smoking and rather than being lightly browned it was pretty dark in some areas.



I also "made" the buttermilk by adding white vinegar to whole milk. It looked kind of gross, lumpy when I dumped it in but I doubt that effected the flavor.

I liked the idea of melting the butter in the hot oil. It really splattered when I added the butter - be careful if you make this yourself.



It cooked up quick and came right out of the pan, no problem. It looks good, right?



Too bad it tasted so yucky... Check out Jen's blog for the full recipe. And try the links below for other reviews...