Skillet Cornbread, No Sugar
Creamed corn and powdered sour cream carry a cast iron cornbread that stays moist for two days.
- calories
- 330
- weight
- 2.6 oz
- cal / oz
- 127
- protein
- 6 g
- serves
- 8, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 35 min
- total time
- 45 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Snack
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- Real dishes
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Self-rising cornmeal | 1 cup | |
|---|---|---|
| Creamed corn | 1 can (8 oz) | the liquid is the batter, do not drain |
| Canola oil | 1/2 cup | kept separate, half goes in the pan |
| Powdered whole egg | 6 tbsp | equals 3 eggs, rehydrated with 6 tbsp water |
| Powdered sour cream | 1/2 cup | plus 1/3 cup water to reconstitute |
| Salt | 1/4 tsp |
Method
- Build a bed of coals and let the flames die down. You want steady heat around 400F, not a fire.
- Pour 1/4 cup of the oil into a 10-inch cast iron skillet and set it over the coals to heat while you mix.
- Stir the egg powder into 6 tbsp water and the sour cream powder into 1/3 cup water. Let both sit two minutes until smooth.
- Combine cornmeal, salt, creamed corn, reconstituted egg, and reconstituted sour cream in a bowl. Stir just until there are no dry pockets.
- Lift the hot skillet off the coals with a glove. Pour the hot oil from the pan into the batter and stir it in. The pan stays greased.
- Pour the batter into the skillet, set it back over the coals, and cover with the lid. Shovel coals onto the lid so heat comes from both sides.
- Bake 35 minutes. A twig pushed into the center should come out clean. Rotate the skillet a quarter turn every ten minutes if one side of the fire runs hotter.
Preheating the oil in the pan is the whole technique. Batter hitting hot fat sets an immediate crust, which is what keeps a lidded cast iron bake from turning into steamed cornmeal. Pouring that same hot oil back into the batter is not a step to skip either. It warms the mix so the leavening starts working before the pan cools.
There is no sugar in this. The sweetness comes from the creamed corn, which is also most of the liquid. Between the corn and the sour cream the crumb stays moist well past the first night, so leftovers wrapped in foil are breakfast. The powdered egg and sour cream are the trail swap for the home version; both rehydrate close enough that nobody will ask.
Packing
Cornmeal, egg powder, sour cream powder, and salt go into one bag at home, premeasured. Oil in a leakproof bottle. The can rides on its own and is the heaviest thing here, which is why this is a car camping recipe.
Variations
- Fresh eggs and real sour cream work fine on a cooler trip. Three eggs, one cup sour cream.
- A can of diced green chiles stirred into the batter makes it dinner instead of a side.
- No lid? Bake it uncovered over lower coals for closer to 45 minutes and accept a paler top.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/henry-lodges-favorite-cornbread