Cracklings are the crispy structures remaining after pork skins and attached fat are rendered. The pork fat that melts out of the skins is called lard. The leftover rendered skins show up in Southern and Mexican regional dishes, but these are not the puffy, fluffy snack food sold alongside potato chips. These cracklings are compact, and when rendered properly, the skin is brittle and the fat is chewy. One of the most prevalent dishes for cracklings is the Southern Cracklin' Bread, which is simply cornbread with chewy bits of rendered fat stirred into cornbread batter.
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Add the lard or bacon drippings to the skillet and put the skillet in the oven.
2. Mix the cornmeal and flour in a large bowl.
3. Add the egg and all but 1/2 cup of the buttermilk. Stir the mixture until well blended and check for thickness. You want a thick batter that still pours easily. Add remaining buttermilk as needed to get the correct thickness.
4. Stir in the cracklings.
5. Take the skillet out of the oven using oven mitts and add the melted fat in the skillet to the cornbread batter. Stir until well blended.
6. Pour the batter into the iron skillet and return it to the oven, again using oven mitts. Bake the cornbread for 20 minutes and test with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, remove the skillet from the oven and invert the cornbread onto a plate.
7. Slice the hot cornbread into wedges and then slice each wedge open with the serrated knife. Add a generous supply of butter with the kitchen knife, while the cornbread is still hot.
Tags: cornbread batter, oven mitts, skillet oven, Southern Cracklin, until well, until well blended