Southern Culinary Arts: Holle's Crackling Bread
By habee
culinary arts - Southern food
Welcome to my online cooking school! Today's culinary art is bread - a very special Southern bread. This is a recipe for a traditional old Southern food favorite – crackling bread, or cracking corn bread. It’s also high on the list of favorites in the soul food category. It’s definitely delicious and addictive, but healthy, it ain’t! We refer to it as “heart attack on a plate” and eat it only a few times a year. When the kids hear that I’m making it, they all come running! Crackling cornbread is the perfect accompaniment to greens cooked with ham hock.
First of all, you need to understand what a crackling is. Some of you poor ol’ Yankees, city slickers, and other of my online cooking school students might not be familiar with the term. A crackling is pig skin that’s made when the fat of the hog is boiled and rendered into lard. People “cook out” the cracklings. It’s cut into small pieces and is used in cooking. The cracklings are soft and chewy after being cooked in dishes like cornbread. Cracklings are found in the meat section of most grocery stores.
Like many of my recipes, you have to have a black iron skillet to make this recipe correctly! The hot skillet creates a brown crispy crust on the bread.
Holle’s Crackling Bread
What you’ll need:
1 cup self-rising buttermilk corn meal (I use Pillsbury)
1 cup self-rising flour (I use White Lily)
1 ½ cups buttermilk
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 cup cracklings
¼ cup cooking oil
Directions:
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, the meal, the buttermilk, the egg, the salt, and the pepper. Stir until smooth.
Add the cracklings and stir.
Pour the cooking oil into the black iron skillet and heat on high on the stove. Tilt the pan to make sure the sides are coated.
When the pan is good and hot, pour in the cornbread mixture.
Bake at 450 degrees for about 30 minutes.
Get more great Southern online cooking classes and soul food recipes below the Amazon products!
 | Amazon Price: $20.95 List Price: $27.50 |
 | Amazon Price: $46.88 List Price: $100.00 |
 | Amazon Price: $9.43 List Price: $12.99 |
 | Amazon Price: $53.54 List Price: $69.99 |
More culinary arts, online cooking school, and online cooking classes::
- Best American Food - My New Website
If youve read many of my hubs, you know Im a foodie. I love eating and preparing food, and I especially enjoy creating new recipes. What better place to pour all this affection, creativity, and... - Southern Cuisine: Holle's Greens and Ham
Greens are a staple of Southern cuisine and soul food! In the Deep South, greens means turnip greens, collard greens, or mustard greens. Though all three are similar in taste and appearance, there are... - Southern Cuisine: Perfect Iced Tea
Okay, maybe Im stretching it a bit in labeling iced tea as part of Southern cuisine, but believe me, its the perfect beverage to serve with Southern dishes. And to most cooks here in the Deep South,... - Southern Cuisine: Fried Okra
Okra holds a special place in the hearts of most Southerners. I always grew a long row of it my garden for use in gumbos and winter soups, but the best way to eat it is fresh, right from the stalk - battered... - Southern Cuisine: Holle's Chicken and Dumplings
I just put a huge pot of chicken on the stove to boil. Im making one of our favorites chicken and dumplings! For those of you who are from parts north of here, let me explain what a dumpling is to... - Southern Cuisine: Crispy Fried Chicken, with How-To Video
If the South and soul food had a signature dish, surely it would have to be fried chicken! It's definitely one of my all-time favorites, although I try not to eat it too often because of the fat content. But... - Southern Cuisine: Georgia Peach Pie
Mmmm...Georgia peaches! If you live in the United States, you probably know that Georgia is known as the Peach State. The reason is obvious we grow a lot of delicious peaches here! Though most of the... - Southern Cuisine: Buttermilk Fried Shrimp
I was thinking this morning...what do I know a lot about? What kind of hubs can I produce from my life experiences - ones I can write without doing any research, and ones that I think people will enjoy? Well,... - Holle's Quick and Easy Party Dips and Spreads
Below are some of my quick and easy party dips and spreads. These are great for Super Bowl parties, Christmas parties, picnics, pool parties, or any get-togethers. These are so uncomplicated that you can make... - Southern Cuisine: Buttermilk Fried Fish
Folks in the South love fishing. Well, allow me to narrow that down: folks in South Georgia love fishing! We have ponds and lakes everywhere. Since much of the area is rural, there are numerous farms, and the...
Rate my crackling bread! Thanks
Comments
Prolly due to the amount of exercise they got. Thanks for readin, Sabre!
Looks like an easy one to make. I love corn bread, and i'm going to try 'crackling' this one for my hubby! YUM!
I'll get my husband to try this recipe. Souds delicious---never had cracklin' cornbread before.
Sounds to good to pass up. I will give this one a try. Thanks!
Yes we have pork crackling here. It is not fashionable in these cholesterol obsessed days. Yoyu can also buy pork scratchings which is supposed to be cold pork crackling. Looks more like toe nail clippings
Good, IV. Bet he'll like it!
Brenda Rose, thanks so much for stopping by!
It's really tasty, Bpop!
Hi, Eth. Ugh on the pork scratchings! We eat chrackling bread only a handful of times a year because of the cholesterol.
"Heart-attack on a plate" - I love it! I'm going to have to try this one for sure! I'll make sure to wash it down with some fish oil and nitrates though...
Good idea, De! Might want to throw in some krill oil, too!
Has anyone ever made or tasted cracklin pie crust using the rendered cracklin instead of lard. My mom used to do this - it was very crunchy crust??
When I was 10 yrs old my Mom's uncle had died of a heart attack while plowing on a hot day behind his mule...he was 106 years old! He loved crackling cornbread! I can no longer find pork cracklings in Central Florida or to buy online! Can anyone help? I want cracklings, not fried pork rinds or chicarrones.
sabrebIade 2 years ago
“heart attack on a plate”...LOL
You know...I wonder why my parents, grand-parents, great-grand parents etc lived into their 80s and 90s eating this kinda stuff.
Heck, I have an uncle that's in his 70s that works in the fields on his farm every day and I know he eats stuff like this everyday.