I admit it. I love cookbooks. Always have. I have a huge assortment and I use them when I can. So no one was surprised when I went to an antique mall’s big sales day and bought -- you guessed it -- another cookbook.
This one is a small staple-bound book from 1964. It’s titled Southern Appalachian Mountain Cookbook by Ferne Shelton. As I flipped through the pages, I knew I HAD to take it home. It’s filled with those old-time recipes that you just don’t find in modern cookbooks.
My Gran always made Crackling Bread and now my Mother does too. I don’t eat it. Not really. I like the bread but I pick out the cracklings. Seems kind of silly, even to me. My Mother, who doesn’t drink milk, crumbles the bread into a glass of buttermilk and seems to love it. I’ll trust her on that because I don’t plan to try it that way.
For those who don’t know -- and the cookbook does explain it -- “cracklings are the browned pieces of meat remaining after pure lard has been rendered from fat pork.”
Crackling Bread
2 cups cornmeal
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup cracklings
Mix the cornmeal, salt and baking soda. Add buttermilk and cracklings. Form into cakes and place in greased baking pan. Bake at 450 degrees for 30 minutes.
Different Version: My Mother fries her bread. She uses a cast iron griddle, pours the thick mixture onto the greased surface and cooks it until it is browned. Then she flips it and browns the other side.
