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Hot Water Cornbread - Depression Era Recipe

Learn how to make this simple cornbread that makes great use of your pantry staples and food storage.
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time35 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Americana
Servings: 6 servings

Ingredients

  • 2 cups Cornmeal For variations, see Recipe Notes below.
  • 1 teaspoon Salt
  • 2 tablespoons Lard
  • 2 cups Boiling water
  • Additional lard for frying

Instructions

  • To a large bowl, add cornmeal and salt and mix well.
  • To the cornmeal and salt mixture, add the lard and 1 1/2 cups of boiling water. Mix well until the cornmeal is fully saturated.
  • To create a loose "pancake" batter, slowly add the remaining water to the mixture until you obtain the desired texture.
  • Heat approximately 2 tablespoons of lard in a non-stick frying pan on medium heat. Once the fat is melted and sizzling, but not smoking, using a 1/4 cup measure pour 4 dollops ("pancakes") of the batter into the hot melted lard and fry each "pancake" for approximately 5 minutes on each side.
  • Once fried, transfer each "pancake" to a paper towel-lined plate.
  • Continue to fry all the batter in 1/4 cup dollops, adding additional lard to the frying pan as necessary, until you finish all the batter.
  • Serve warm plain or topped with butter, jam, or maple syrup. Enjoy!

Video

Notes

If you want to use Self-Rising Cornmeal, but do not have any, you can make it by taking 1 cup of cornmeal and to it add 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and a 1/2 tsp salt. Mix well.
If you are using plain cornmeal and also want to add baking powder to the original recipe, you will 3 teaspoons of baking powder. 
If you want to add additional ingredients to the basic Hot Water Cornbread above, you can also add up to 2 tablespoons of sugar and up to 1/4 cup of all purpose flour. If you are using plain cornmeal and also want to add baking powder to the original recipe, you will need to add 3 teaspoons of baking powder. 
You can find this recipe and accompanying video at https://marysnest.com/how-to-make-hot-water-cornbread/
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