By Week 445. Fall 2024. I am 41 years old and standing in my kitchen — the Bench house kitchen, the one that held cancer and divorce and cinnamon rolls — and the stove is on and something is cooking and the house smells like cinnamon and falling leaves and this is my life. This is the life I built.
I went for a run this morning — the Saturday routine, the greenbelt, the river, the particular meditation of feet on a path and lungs filling and the body doing what it was told it couldn't do. The running group meets rain or shine.
Mason is 13 and navigating middle school with the quiet competence that has always been his way — focused, kind, certain of who he is in a way that took me thirty years to achieve.
Lily is 11 and riding horses with the fearlessness of someone who has never considered the possibility of falling.
I made beef barley soup this week. The food continues. The food always continues. It is the thread that connects every week to every other week, every year to every other year, every version of me to every other version — the woman on the kitchen floor, the woman at the chemo recliner, the woman at the grill, the woman at the outdoor table under the string lights. All of them, connected by the food they made with their hands. All of them, me.
Beef barley soup needs something beside it — something to soak up the broth, something with a little crust and a little give, something that feels like it was made by hands that knew what they were doing. I’ve made this oven-fried cornbread so many times that it barely registers as a decision anymore. It’s just what comes next. The soup goes on, the cornbread goes in, and the kitchen smells the way it’s supposed to smell on a Saturday in fall.
Oven-Fried Cornbread
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes | Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil or bacon drippings, divided
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
Instructions
- Heat the pan. Place a 9-inch cast iron skillet (or oven-safe skillet) in the oven and preheat to 425°F. Let the skillet heat for at least 10 minutes — a hot pan is what gives this cornbread its crispy fried bottom crust.
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until evenly combined.
- Mix the wet ingredients. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and egg. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until combined — do not overmix.
- Oil the pan. Carefully remove the hot skillet from the oven. Add 2 tablespoons of the oil or drippings and swirl to coat the bottom and sides completely. The oil should shimmer immediately.
- Add remaining oil and pour batter. Stir the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil into the batter, then quickly pour the batter into the hot skillet. It should sizzle as it hits the pan — that’s the crust forming.
- Bake. Return the skillet to the oven and bake for 20–25 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Rest and serve. Let the cornbread cool in the pan for 5 minutes before cutting into wedges. Serve warm alongside soup or stew.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 175 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 7g | Carbs: 24g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 280mg