Clearing up the facts and controversies surrounding the age-old American staple.
Cornpone.
Cornbread.
So what’s the difference between cornpone and cornbread?
Okay, let’s first establish some definitions. A pone is a type of unleavened bread, usually made from cornmeal, prepared with water and baked in the form of flat oval cakes or loaves, and originally cooked by the Native Americans in the hot ashes of their tribal fires. Bread, generally speaking, requires the use of a leavening agent. What is a leavening agent you ask? A leavening agent is anything that creates expansion in a dough or batter by releasing gas within such mixtures, for example steam, yeast, baking powder or baking soda.
So, we can surmise that the primary difference between cornpone and cornbread, broadly, is the absence of a leavening agent in the former and the use of a leavening agent in the latter. Additionally, cornpone recipes typically leave out the egg and milk which are essential to a proper cornbread. A true cornpone, according to the purists, is cooked in an iron pan over an open fire. But there are those who disagree on all points.
In Appalachia, for example, any bread cooked in any kind of pan or skillet is still referred to by the more archaic term pone. This is cultural; the remoteness of the region has historically resulted in a certain lack of available products, including oftentimes the ingredients necessary for cornbread. What was made then was, in fact, a cornpone. As regional supply increased, and the ingredients for cornbread became more readily available, the word pone persisted, and today many will argue that cornbread and cornpone are interchangeable terms for the same thing, and recipes also will reflect this confusion.
A true cornpone recipe calls for nothing more than cornmeal, salt, water and occassionally bacon drippings or pig fat—if you’re lucky. Because the truth is, cornpone doesn’t taste like much in its own right.
And as much as generations of Virginians have held an enduring affinity for true cornpone, the bad news is, it’s not very good for you. Slightly more flavorful than hard-tack, cornpone was eaten by Civil War soldiers, primarily Confederates, and favored for its use of simple ingredients and its portability. Unfortunately, because cornmeal lacks the Vitamin B3 present in wheat-based hard-tack flour, soldiers who subsisted on cornpone were more susceptible to a disease called pellegra, which manifests with symptoms ranging from weakness to mental confusion and death.
That said, we think we’ll stick to the slightly-more-nutritious and definitely-tastier cornbread recipes, but you can call it cornpone if you like.
Classic Cornbread
3 cups flour 4 ½ cups cornmeal 2 tablespoons salt ¾ cup sugar ¼ cup baking powder 6 eggs 3 ¾ cups buttermilk ¾ pound unsalted butter, melted
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine all dry ingredients and mix well. Beat the eggs and buttermilk and add to the dry ingredients. Add melted butter and mix well. Bake in greased 13×9 pans for 35 minutes or until done in the center.
Serves 5
Jalapeño Jack Cornbread
¾ cup cornmeal 1 ¼ cups flour 3 teaspoons baking powder 3 tablespoons sugar 2 teaspoons salt 1 ¼ cups buttermilk 2 eggs ¼ cup butter 1 cup shredded jalapeño jack cheese
Preheat the oven to 400. Mix the dry ingredients. Mix the wet ingredients (except for the butter). Melt the butter. Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients, then add the melted butter. Fold in the cheese. Bake at 400 degrees in your favorite pan (cast iron skillet, loaf pan, muffin tin) for 10 to12 minutes.
Serves 5
Cracklin’ Cornbread
¾ cup flour 1 ½ cups cornmeal 4 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 4 tablespoons sugar 2 eggs, beaten 1 ¼ cups buttermilk ¼ cup melted butter 1 cup fried pork rinds
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix dry ingredients. Whip eggs and buttermilk together, add dry ingredients, and pour into greased 8-by-12-inch pan. Bake 30 minutes.
Serves 6
For a classic pairing, bake some cornbread from the recipes above and check out our favorite chili recipes here.
