Test on cool grease. What's the secret? Bacon grease. But don't forget the green cheese. Music
Hey thanks y'all for stopping by camp on a beautiful morning. Oh my goodness we got a little rain in places. It is nice and cool
You see Mage there he be looking really bad. He got grounded by the dew
I was going to say something I'm sorry. Is that like a dramatic pause? I don't know I was going to move the butter. Music
Folks this is the easiest dish that you can cook in a Dutch oven as a beginner and I'll walk you through that as we begin to bake this
But corn bread has always been a staple on wagon when I was cooking on ranches. I always made corn bread at least maybe three times a week
Because cowboys really like it and you can put a lot of stuff with some corn bread to make a full blown meal
But the best thing you can do to cook corn bread is what? Cook it in cast iron
Cup of corn meal. Yellow corn meal. And I want to ask y'all a question
Y'all can leave a comment down there below. Yellow or white? You know when you look at something they all taste the same. But I grew up eating yellow corn bread
And the first time I ever seen white corn bread I'm thinking I don't know does that look good? Do I need it
But it all tasted the same. It's just preference of what you have
And speaking of preferences. When I be preferring. Me I want a skirt I do. I be choosing areas
Because folks they always fit so good. They have the kind that are you never have to iron
And that is a big deal to me because I don't like to iron. It's wrinkle free. I can hang it in the closet
Throw it in the back of the pickup. Bring it out here. Put it on. And it is good to go
So I really thank the folks at ARIOT for making me look good and comfortable because that's what they are
Back to some salt Will. We're going to have how much? Well I'll go ahead and say it
You standing on the hay bale back there in the back. That is right. Just the right amount
And to that some baking powder. Be sure to check your date on your baking powder
Because I have used it before to where you be thinking that bread did not rise what it should have been
So always check the date on it. I prefer. I have a girl. We're going to put about four teaspoons
Which if you measure that out exactly. We're going to just do a little scientific experiment
We know where the measuring spoons was. Folks you ever seen that show Myth Busters
You know. Sam does not trust me here. I want to see it like. There's one. Okay
Two. Okay. It's going to be close. Oh my gosh. It's going to be close
Three. What was on my hand is. Time to get that in there
You said three. Yeah. You were a little off but kind of close
On behalf of Sam and all the folks who like dishy cornbread mix and have it a little sweeter
We're going to put a third of a cup of sugar in there. Just for you Sean. Just for you
Get it all mixed up. Dry again. So let's get the wet started here
We have one cup of milk which is leaked a little out here cause look here
I want to show y'all something. See where the handle broke off of it. The cow is leaking. So we're going to have to make that up here in just a second
To that. One hen fruit. Tackleberry rooster bullet. From Gladys and the girls. So I always like to start right there where that egg was
And just go ahead and get it mixed first. And then just begin to whisk that on around here
One of my favorite people in the world and they're not paying me to say it
Hatch Green Chili. Go ahead and put them in there. And I got to thinking to myself. You know self. A lot of people at old
But I've got to thinking what would be better than all that's going to make cornbread even more light and fluffy
Butter. One third of a cup. Make sure that it is not hot hot
Okay. I got my friends in there. It's warm but it's not going to hurt you that bad
You can see how that changed it just a little but not much with that butter in there
But it's not going to hurt you that bad. When we're talking about cornbread we're talking about something that I want to eat all the time
I need a little more in it than that. Know what I mean? Mace what do you think we can have in there? Huh? Mace says we should have bacon
Now if I'm going to use bacon I'm going to use thick cut bacon
I never was a fan of that bacon that you could see through. So make sure you get good quality bacon when you're doing this because it's going to make a lot of difference
But guess what else we need. We need that bacon grease. So this is really an extra plus that we're not only adding the bacon but we're getting the flavor of the grease
because we've got to have that for that cornbread. You can use anywhere from six to eight slices. I used about six today
And you know let me just get this in there. Let's go ahead and get this all mixed up in there
I can remember one time when I was in the Palo Verde Canyon one of the first years that I cooked there in December
We'd been there about ten days and we'd been there three weeks and it was bullshit
I mean wind, snow, drift, five or six foot high there for a little weight
We had to stay extra days and it got down to where it was to the end and things was running a little short
And it was the last meal. Me. It was going to break temp to get out of there right before Christmas and go home
I got to looking in that old gray box that I had for what I was going to make for lunch
And you know there wasn't a lot of offerings there. There was a pound of hamburger meat in that chest, a pound of sausage
There was two sacks of yellow cornmeal, onions, some green chilies, and some white corn
So I'm thinking folks we're just going to have to do just like it is
Cooked up the bacon, then I frayed that grease, put a little in there to cook that with, made gravy to go on that
Hamburger meat, sausage, browned it up, put it all back in there together, put it in a 16 inch Dutch oven
It got about that tall and marinated with about this big of a ramp
Had 12 cowboys. So folks really when you look at stuff and you think, well I need to go to the store, look around a little more
That's where stuff comes to when it just jumps out at you and you think, I can create that in my life
So I'm thinking folks we're just going to have to do just like it is
Cooked up the bacon, then I frayed that grease, put a little in there to cook that with, made gravy to go on that
I can create that and it will be good. You never know. And get you some cowboys, they're the best thing in the world experiment with
Now if you're going to do this in the house, and that's fine, preheat that oven to 400 degrees
Get you a 10 inch cast iron skillet. Well if you're cooking in the outside, use you a 10 inch oven
Remember that bacon grease that we had left over from that bacon
We don't want it all, but we want about that much. And folks I'm going to tell you this right now, this is when you got to get your hands just a little bit greasy
Because I want you to grease the sides, everything up here. Just make sure that it gets around there everywhere
Not only is the bacon grease going to give us flavor here, it's going to help us create a frying effect on the bottom to where we get that good crispy, crispy crust
But be careful, it might burn. So we better pay attention. Little tip for you folks, whether you're baking cakes or you're baking cornbread
you get it in your oven or your skillet. I need you just to make sure that it is sort of tamped down in there
It sort of gets everything set where it's supposed to be. But it's also going to help that cake when you're cooking it get some air bubbles out of it
so things don't just make an air pocket in there and you've got nothing left but a hollow spot in there
And you're thinking, what the heck happened to my cake? So cornbread, little shake, I'll meet you over our trivet
and we're going to show you how to cook the easiest thing in the world in a Dutch oven, and that is cornbread
So, tall trivet. That's what I prefer if you're a first-time user baking cornbread
And when I'm talking tall, it is five inches. Lay it out there, get you a good spot on the ground
If you're cooking in sort of wet conditions like it was this morning, I had that one covered
The ground is dry, so we're not wasting any heat. Place your trivet, make sure it is level when you are cooking cakes, cornbread, stuff like that
so it don't be leaning one way or the other. We want a consistent thickness throughout
Set her on the trivet, get you a shovel full of them coals, sift the ash out of it, OK
Remember it's got some holes in the bottom of that shovel. Sift it out of there because we're wanting live coals, not ash
Pretty good layer around the outside edge of that Dutch oven, heavy on top
Now, say we didn't have no trivet. We didn't have three rocks. We was cooking in the desert
There wasn't nothing to be found to make a trivet with. So, we would put it on the ground
I would back the coals off probably about that much from the outside edge, and they would be light
But remember, you can bring that heat to it if you need more, or you can scoot it back away from it
But start out with less than you need because you can always add to it, and if it's burnt, it's done too late
But I will check it. Ain't much wind today, so we won't have to rotate too much
We'll keep an eye on it. I just like to scoot everybody back to where I know when I take that lid off, there's not going to be any ashes in there
So, let's just see if any fall up in there. I don't think there's not
So, you can see things are heavy. I mean, it is doing some good
It is. We're going to go ahead and give it a quick rotate
When you rotate an oven that way, you're just moving it around halfway most of the time, and then we'll move the lid halfway back around
It evens out any hot spots you have in cold placement where if you have one hotter side than the other side
You can always tell by the way something's baking if one side is ahead of the other
Be sure and rotate to get that around there to where everybody evens out. You can see when we took that lid off there, that one side had started separating
Separating, you mean like far apart? No, like you could see a little bit of space coming in around that oven between it and the cooling grid
What cast iron is trying to tell you there is, hey, first thing tell you, the bottom is near done on that side
So, I rotated the ground because still the other side, the opposite side, it still likes just a little
So, I'm going to move some of these coals away from the side that is near done on the bottom, leave them on the other side
I know the bottom is getting close due to the separation around of the cooling grid beginning to shrink
That is the cast iron telling me that, hey, it is getting close. So, we're going to put the lid on here, and we're going to get us some good hot coals to put on top
Very close on the bottom. I figure we're about five minutes out
Woo! I mean, it's what's happening in here. Did y'all see me over there check that top, put my hand on it, got a little spring, and it was bending to brown just right there in the middle
We took it off that bottom because you can feel that set up firm, and it's got separation all the way around
Put me some more hot coals right on top, the lid there, let it cook for about another five minutes, and voila, what do we have
We have cornbread, yes we do. Let me do the big reveal of what the bottom looks like
What are you thinking? I don't know. Look at that! That is what you call uniform
Now, when I was judging Dutch oven people from cooking, I would never just check one piece
I would check all sides to see if it was what you call uniform. Wow
So that way you know you're cooking with pretty even heat. That's why we rotate
But folks, you can see as this is glistening here a little bit, never leave cornbread in here
It'll sweat. Go ahead and take it out of there, place it on something, a wire rack, wrap it in a cup towel, something, because that cornbread is going to sweat if you leave it in the Dutch oven very long, or a skillet
Sam, this is for you because it's got a little sugar in it, honey. Folks, that is some kind of very good
Might be the best cornbread I ever ate or made in my life, and I have made many a Dutch oven
It gets me to thinking of the cornbread course line. I love me some cornbread
I love me some cornbread. It is good. I have cut cornbread open on cornbread judging, and when you do this, it's just, folks, there's just sort of crumbling out of there
It's too dry. That's when you have to add 38 pounds of gravy
Now, I've got two little bites here, Kool-Aid, for my two little helpers
Sam's going to flash you a picture up there when you're wondering why the other two was not here
They have been grounded. They have because at most twice we've come and three times we've given bags because they've been in the muddy water
There you go, bees, I know you like cornbread. Where's my lady
Tell you all a quick story on the bee. We're not too far from here
We're not too far from a senior citizens deal, and they be eating down there a lot
I looked up the road one day, and I could see V was bringing something back, but I wasn't sure what it was, so he's always bringing presents
But I looked up, and he had a big old piece of cornbread. Now, it might not have been fresh
It was pretty dry because it was been in, but that pup do love him some cornbread
It is with great pride and honor that I tip my hat to all our servicemen and women and all the veterans who have kept that old flag flying over there
That old flag is flying over camp, wherever me and son are at. Hey, we want to thank the folks in the area, too, for all those people who have been good
Folks, we thank you all so much for always watching our videos. Be sure to share the food and the videos, and guess what
I'll see you around the best cornbread you've ever eaten in your life forever