Ingredients
- 1 package (16 ounces) frozen whole-kernel corn, thawed but not drained
- 1 cup stone-ground white or yellow cornmeal
- 11⁄2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
- 1⁄2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1⁄4 teaspoon dried leaf thyme, crumbled (optional; not Southern but a welcome addition)
- 2 large eggs, well beaten
- 1 container (8 ounces) sour cream
- 1⁄4 cup each hissing-hot bacon drippings and vegetable oil, combined (1⁄2 cup in all)
How to Make It
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Spritz 11⁄2-quart casserole with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
- Alternately churn and pulse corn kernels in food processor until you have cream-style corn, then scoop into large mixing bowl. Whisk cornmeal with baking powder, baking soda, salt, pepper, and thyme, if desired, in second bowl and set aside.
- Mix eggs and sour cream into corn, then fold in combined dry ingredients easy does it. If you overmix at this point, your corn bread will be tough. Stirring lightly, drizzle in hot bacon drippings mixture. Scoop batter into casserole, spreading to edge and smoothing top.
- Slide corn bread onto middle oven shelf and bake uncovered 25 to 30 minutes until nicely browned and cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.
- Serve oven-hot. And don’t forget to put out plenty of butter room temperature, please so that everyone can mix a little (or a lot) of it into their corn bread.
