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Sylvia's Soul Food Cracklin' Corn Bread




Source of Recipe


"Sylvia's Soul Food-Recipes from Harlem's World-Famous Restaurant" by Sylvia Woods and Christopher Styler


List of Ingredients




Butter OR solid vegetable shortening, softened
1 cup pork cracklin's
3 cups yellow cornmeal
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt 11/z cups milk
1 cup cane syrup
3/4 cup solid vegetable shortening, melted
4 large eggs, lightly beaten





Recipe



If necessary, make the cracklin's (see the Note, below). Preheat the oven to 350° F. Lightly grease a 13- by 9- by 2-inch baking dish with the butter or shortening.

Stir the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl until well combined.

Beat the milk, syrup, shortening, and eggs in a separate bowl until blended. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients, add the cracklin's, and stir until just blended--a few lumps won't matter.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and bake until the edges are light brown and pull away from the sides of the baking dish, about 35 to 40 minutes. Cool on a wire rack 20 minutes before serving.

Note: To make cracklin's, cut the pork skin with attached fat into 1/4-inch pieces. Combine the pork skin pieces and 1/4 cup water in a large heavy skillet (cast-iron is perfect) over medium heat. When the water comes to a boil, reduce the heat to very low. Stir occasionally to keep the pieces from sticking until all the fat has been rendered and the pieces of skin are brown and very crisp. Keep the heat low to prevent the fat from browning. Strain the fat and drain the cracklin's briefly on paper towels. This strained rendered fat is lard and can be used for many dishes. Any unused cracklin's can be set aside and used in bean and vegetable dishes.

Yield: Makes 8 servings