Southern Crackling Pone. In the style of Dixie.

SGH

In my opinion, the only thing that maybe better than good bread, is good bread soaked in butter and pork grease. With that in hand, here is my take on true southern pone done for damn sure in the style of Dixie. If you like bread, butter and pork grease, then this one is for you. As far as Dixie style bread, it has no equal or peer. A true southern delicacy.
Directions:
Melt 1 table spoon of good fresh lard and a 1/2 stick of butter in a cast iron pan. Use only the heavy iron for this bread. It will flop with glass, aluminum or SS. 

For clarity. You want the pan 425 degrees when you drop in the lard and butter in. So while your oven is preheating to 425, have the pan inside the oven. This way when the oven is ready, so is the pan. Both are up to temp and ready to go at the same time.

Dixie Style Pone mix.  
In a bowl, mix together the following.
1 and 3/4 cup of self rising white cornmeal.
3/4 cup of white self rising flour.
1 teaspoon of baking powder. 
2 raw eggs. 
2 heaping tablespoons  of real Mayonaise. Don't worry, you will not taste even a hint of Mayonaise. 
Start whisking all of the above together. Slowly add buttermilk and keep whisking. The trick is to get the mixture just a tad thicker than say a good seafood batter. You don't want it to run, but you do want it to move. If I had to compare it's consistancy to something, I guess it would be honey at room temp. Now stir in:
1 tablespoon of salt.
1 tablespoon of black pepper.
And as many pork cracklings that the mix will hold without crowding or pressure. 

All the ingredients listed above minus the lard and butter mixed together. The butter and lard is in the 425 degree pan. 

Dump the mix into the pan with the melted butter and lard and bake at 425 degrees until it passes the toothpick test. 
Topside of pone. 


The crust on the bottom of the pone. 

Side view of the cracklings. 


A note on the text.
You want good soft cracklings. Not pork rind. You want the actual fat from right under the skin. As far as skin, the epidermis will become to hard and crunchy. As such, I remove it leaving only the dermis and sub-cutis remaining. This will yield very soft and chewy cracklings (akin to gum). However if you prefer crunchy, then by all means, leave the said dermis intact. If you buy cracklings instead of making them yourself, then you are at the mercy of what they make. As always, I hope that y'all enjoy this southern mainstay done in the style of Dixie my friends. Thanks for looking. 

buzd504

Good lord.

luckyboy

My wife makes her corn bread the same way minus the crackling. There no better than that.Some times we'll fry the batter like pancakes which is also great.

SGH

luckyboy said:

Some times we'll fry the batter 

At times I will deep fry it. However I usually make the batter just a tad "tighter" if I'm going to deep fry it. And thank you brother, I appreciate the kind words. 

SGH

Ham hocks and onions are a great addition to the pone. 

jabam

@SGH my friend you are a heart attack waiting to happen!....That's a compliment! I could eat that all day! As soon as I figure out how to make good cracklings this will be done!

theyolksonyou

You're speaking my language, as usual. We both speak southern gentlemen. 

Thats a a staple for Sunday lunch. 

SGH

theyolksonyou said:

You're speaking my language, as usual. We both speak southern gentlemen. 

Hiw does that old saying go?
"Oh I'll  speak my southern English, just as natural as I please
Im in the Heart of Dixie and Dixie is in the heart of me". 

theyolksonyou

We say grace and we say amen
if you ain't into that, we don't give a damn

Dredger

That looks soooo good! I made cornbread last night. Didn't look nearly as good as that.

SGH

jabam said:

 As soon as I figure out how to make good cracklings this will be done!

There is nothing to it my friend, especially if you do it the real old southern way and use fat only. Sadly this method has faded almost into obscurity in favor of the more common as better known "skin on" version. Nonetheless, it's great either way. Just a tad more Dixie style with the pure fat. 

@Dredger
Thank you sister, you are always very kind and thoughtful. I really appreciate it.  

SGH

@jabam
If you are unable to make your own, you can order "Gratons" from south Lousiana. This is as close to the old Deep South cracklings as you will probably ever find. They are roughly 95% fat and 5% skin. Pretty darn close my friend. 

SciAggie

I think that's your best "in the style of Dixie" yet. Thanks for posting. 

jabam

@SGH thanks brother, I will give it a go!

bob.bud

@sgh well done sir.

If only whistling dixie up here in the mid-west would result in a order of that ending up on my table.

SGH

SciAggie said:

I think that's your best "in the style of Dixie" yet. Thanks for posting. 

Thank you brother, I really appreciate it. 

Cookbook_Chip

Dang. Yum. 

SGH

Dredger said:

I made cornbread last night. 

Care to share your recipe sister? I'm always looking for new ideas. 

Biggreenpharmacist

theyolksonyou said:

We say grace and we say amen
if you ain't into that, we don't give a damn

I believe its: "we say grace, we say MA'AM, if you aint into that we dont give a damn". 

SGH

Biggreenpharmacist said:

theyolksonyou said:

We say grace and we say amen
if you ain't into that, we don't give a damn

I believe its: "we say grace, we say MA'AM, if you aint into that we dont give a damn". 

You are correct brother pharmacist. However brother yolk is one of my favorites so I wasn't going to point the error out. It's also possible that alcohol played a part in the typo. But you are certainly correct, it is ma'am.  

Biggreenpharmacist

I meant the correction as constructive, wasnt makin fun. 

SGH

Biggreenpharmacist said:

I meant the correction as constructive, wasnt makin fun. 

I have no doubt my friend, and I certainly wasn't implying otherwise. 

theyolksonyou

@Biggreenpharmacist a temporary case of lyricosis. You're correct, my bad. 

When I was at the processor buying meat for the weekend, I noticed they had skinless cracklings. I'll have to pick some up. Have a skin on belly in the fridge, but I usually make pork skins, or skin on cracklings. 

SGH

theyolksonyou said:

a temporary case of lyricosis. 

That's a mighty long word there brother yolk. You and Nola are killing me with those

Biggreenpharmacist

but yolk's are actual words, NOLA just makes them up as he goes. 

anton

Another crazy delicious looking southern specialty brother.  

Dredger

It's very similar to yours except it doesn't have the extra goodies in it, lol. We buy our corn meal and grits from Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CBVAOTI/ The product is Greenway non-GMO stone ground corn meal and we also use their finely ground grits. They are stone ground and nothing added. It tastes like it came from my grandmother's cast iron pan when I was a kid. We'll never be without this stuff. Even if you don't care about non-GMO factor, the flavor and texture of both the cornbread and the grits are the best we have found. I cook the grits in a rice cooker and add about twice the water that the package calls for. If you are going to cook them on the stove, be prepared to stand and stir a lot.

Here's our recipe:
Southern Style Non GMO Cornbread

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups white cornmeal
1/2  cup all-purpose flour
2   teaspoons baking powder
1  teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2   eggs, beaten
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Put the cast iron skillet in to heat. After it has heated, add half of the oil.

Mix all dry ingredients together using a whisk.

Mix buttermilk, the eggs, and 1/2 of the oil. Combine dry and wet ingredients and pour into preheated skillet. Cook for 20 minutes. Turn out on a rack to cool.

Here's a sliced pic of mine. I did pull off a corner to taste the crunch.

Legume

My doctor said I can't read anymore of your "in the style of Dixie" posts.  

SGH

Legume said:

My doctor said I can't read anymore of your "in the style of Dixie" posts.  

It's time to change doctors my friend

Griffin

That looks great. Never had craklin's in my cornbread. My recipe is similar to @Dredger but we add either green chiles or jalapenos, cheese and a little bit of cream of corn.

SGH

Griffin said:

That looks great. Never had craklin's in my cornbread. My recipe is similar to @Dredger but we add either green chiles or jalapenos, cheese and a little bit of cream of corn.

We make a mock "Mexican" cornbread similar to your recipe. We add all of the above plus ground beef.