Regional Recipes: Crackling Bread
By Brenda Hyde
Crackling Bread is an old Southern speciality recipe.
It's basically a type of cornbread that has "cracklings"
added in. These are made from pork fat back, which
is the skin/fat of the pig that has been cooked crisp.
Ask for fat back at a butcher shop or the meat dept.
of your local grocery store. Cut the pork into 1 inch
squares- it doesn't have to be exact. Fry these in a
skillet with fat until they are very crispy and brown,
but not burnt. Drain on paper towel to cool.
Basic Crackling Bread
Ingredients:
2 c. cornmeal
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 c. buttermilk
1 c. cracklings, diced
Sift the cornmeal, salt and soda together, then add the
buttermilk and stir in cracklings. Mix this until moistened,
but don't over mix. Bake in a cast iron skillet or a cast
iron baking pan made for corn bread. Bake in the oven
at 450 degrees for 30 minutes.
There are many variations of this recipe. Some of them
include a tablespoon or two of bacon drippings added in.
Others add in an egg or two, and use a little flour mixed
in with the cornmeal. Crackling Bread was very popular
during the Civil War times. Ingredients would change
depending on the cook, what was available and what the
family preferred.
About The Author:
Brenda Hyde is a wife, mom to three kids, a freelance writer
and Regional Recipes editor here at StandBesideHer.com. She
lives in the midwestern United States with her family.
