Wild Maine Blueberry Skillet Cornbread
Baking can be intimidating because home cooks have been taught that everything has to be super precise. I want to teach you how to be more intuitive in the kitchen and start using ratios (and your gut) rather than to-the-tee measurements. This recipe is a good place to start--it is hard to mess up and allows you to build confidence by "cooking by feel." I also like recommending my favorite local ingredients, and these shout-outs are not sponsored.
Let's start with a 1:1 ratio. This will result in a corn-forward flavor that is moist over crumbly. If you like more gritty, Southern-style, add more cornmeal than flour.
Start with some cornmeal (I like Maine Grains) in a bowl, about two large handfuls. Add in some flour. Add a spoon of sugar and a heavy pinch of each salt and baking powder. Mix around until everyone looks satisfied.
In a separate bowl, add a stick of melted butter (always use high-quality, unsalted butter when baking. I like Maine-made Kate's Butter.) with a couple spoons of *bacon fat. Cool to room temperature.
*A note on Bacon Fat. When you make your Sunday morning bacon, store the fat for a great pantry item. It adds a great lusciousness to all sorts of things. If you don't have bacon fat here, use lard.
Next, crack a couple of farm eggs and mix with the bacon-butter. Pour in some buttermilk, until forms a nice batter that isn't sopping wet, and mix together.
Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients. Give it a stir, but not too much. You’re looking for a thick, pourable batter. If it seems too stiff, add more buttermilk. If it looks like crepe batter, you’ve gone a little too far--add a cornmeal/flour ratio to thicken.
Get a cast-iron pan nice and hot in a 375-degree oven. Remove the pan and swirl some bacon fat (or lard) around so the bread won’t stick. Pour in the batter and tap the pan on the counter so it’ll even out. This pan is HOT so use a side towel to handle.
Sprinkle in some (or more) wild Maine blueberries. If you’re using frozen blueberries, toss them lightly in flour first. If you don’t the berry juice will bleed and the batter will look like some gross blue and yellow lava lamp batter.
Bake it in a hot oven until the top is golden, the edges are crisp, a toothpick should come out clean.
Start basting the cornbread with honey butter (even parts of both). It’ll melt into the bread, that’s okay. Baste it 4 or 5 times. Season with sea salt--we love Slack Tide Sea Salt out of York. Serve it right from the cast iron.
This is a delicious cornbread that is sweet, salty and savory all at once. We make it for our clients when we do brunch service and we always get asked for the recipe.
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