Stacy Lyn Harris - the popular southern lifestyle expert, television host, celebrity chef, and best-selling author on the release of her eagerly-anticipated new book Love Language of the South: A Celebration of the Food, Hospitality, and the Stories of My Southern Home.
The Alabama native and mother of 7 has built an engaged social following of 250k+ with her simple approach to sourcing and preparing meals bringing seasonal ingredients straight from her garden, pasture and woods to create rustic elegant meals.
Fried Cornbread, aka Hot Water Cornbread
Serves 10
- 2 cups self-rising cornmeal
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 jalapeño, seeded and chopped
- 2 to 2 ½ cups boiling water
- ¼ cup bacon drippings, for frying
- ¼ cup vegetable oil, for frying
In a medium-sized bowl, mix cornmeal, salt, jalapeño, and water together. You'll want the consistency of thick cake batter. If it is too dry, add a little more hot water.
In a cast iron skillet, heat bacon drippings and oil until almost smoking. You will know the oil is hot when a few drops of water sizzle when dropped into the skillet.
Drop 2 tablespoons of cornmeal mixture into the oil and brown until golden crust forms around the edges of the cornbread, about 2 minutes.
Then turn and brown until cornbread is golden on the outside. Add more oil and/or bacon drippings if the skillet becomes too dry.
Remove to a paper towel to drain and serve hot.
Stacy Lyn’s Note: If the oil isn’t hot enough, the batter will absorb the oil and you won’t get that crunchy exterior and creamy interior. Also, I strongly recommend you make two batches–they disappear as you make them!
Excerpted from Love Language of the South by Stacy Lyn Harris. (Copyright 2024) Used with permission from Worthy Books, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc
