Thanks for posting the link, @Jilly. Those sound interesting. I might switch up the choice of greens for my audience, though. As to cornbread mixes, you are lucky that you have access to CornKits in your area if you ever want a shortcut. I always bring back a couple of packets when I visit Texas. Here, I can only find the sugary, cakey kind of cornbread mix.

That recipe does look good, but I do not have self-rising cornmeal - I only have regular cornmeal, and I store it in the freezer so that it will keep longer.

I used to eat collard greens and cornbread as a small child in Texas. I like cooking collard greens also. I always had pepper sauce with collard greens, and so I agree that this recipe needs some jalapeño in it, which I would use instead of the 1/4 tsp of Cayenne.

I've never bought canned collard greens - what are they like?

I miss my grandmother’s collard greens so much! I’m sure yours are delicious, Lars, you have such an impressive talent for cooking.

I’ve never had canned ones.

Thanks, Jilly! I've made my own self-rising flour before but have never heard of self-rising cornmeal. Anxious to try these!

@Lars, look for frozen collard greens instead of canned, but be prepared to spend some time picking out the big stems.

This is the cornbread recipe I use. It is from the Tyler, TX, Junior League cookbook ”Cooking Through Rose Colored Glasses.” It can be halved and cooked in a 6” cast iron skillet.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup corn meal

1/2 cup flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 cup milk

2 Tablespoons melted butter

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Mix dry ingredients; add slightly beaten egg; add milk; then add melted butter. Stir until mixed. Pour into greased heated muffin tin or cast iron skillet. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until browned.

It looks really interesting, it's naturally gluten free, I already have homegrown greens in the freezer, and I happened to have ordered both coarse and medium grind cornmeal last night! Not self-rising, but all the rest is just too much of a coincidence for me to not try it. :)

Interesting. I have never used milk in cornbread, always buttermilk. i always bake in a cast iron skillet.

I only use buttermilk, too.

Party, you might be the first to try it, please let us know!

I use self-rising cornmeal mix, which has salt, baking powder and a bit of flour added to the cornmeal. I've always used whole milk to make cornbread and so did my mother. I don't care for the sour taste buttermilk gives cornbread. My Mom used to make cornbread in a cast iron cornstick mold sometimes, and i loved it's crunchy goodness. I'm sure I would like the Crostini, too.

Interesting recipe - not sure about the collards tho, or that it might be too hard to bite comfortably.

My latest cornbread add-in is diced smoked gouda and green onions using a basic cornbread recipe from Fanny Farmer. I always preheat the pan with the shortening (I use olive oil) first, and use a cast iron skillet. I never have buttermilk so I often make quick breads with plain yoghurt and milk combined.

I know it's heresy to some, but I recently started adding 2 tsp. sugar to the cornbread recipe and we like it 😋

Also thinking about how I've never been able to slice cornbread thinly - even cold - it's too crumbly, IMPE.

What’s a reasonable substitute for collard greens? Spinach? Kale? Chard?

Bunny, good question, I’m not sure.

I just found this:

I’ve started adding baby spinach to everything, from quiche to creamed tuna.

Thanks, Bunny! Saving that for future reference. :)

Iirc, my grandmother used to make a big pot of mixed greens — collard, mustard, and turnip. Simmered wth bacon and bacon grease, seasonings, and pieces of ham. So good.

But I might be remembering wrong on which greens she used.

Jilly, I suspect you are remembering correctly. That is the same mix of greens my mother used to use, too.

bb 😊

I so miss it!

I’ve traveled and lived all over the world, nothing compares to southern cooking! (And Jamaica.)

I can’t relate to most cooking threads here; just not my thing.

Turnip Greens.

I prefer self rising cornmeal and self rising flour. One less step. I do not need to get plain flour, baking powder, and salt for the bread, just add oil, and milk, and egg for the cornbread. I like King Arthur, but it is hard to find here except in plain. I like Jim Dandy for cornbread and Martha White for biscuits.

Cornbread

1 cup self-rising cornmeal

2 tablespoons oil

1 egg

1 cup buttermilk or 1 cup non dairy milk for dairy free

add 1/4 cup self-rising flour for a more cake like bread

Bake at 425* until brown

Heat cast iron skillet in oven as it gets hot with a bit of oil

Cut in half to make the corn sticks

I've never heard of self-rising cornmeal, only cornmeal mix, as I mentioned in my previous post. I use Martha White, but my favorite is a stone-ground cornmeal from a mill about 40 miles from where I live. Cornbread is delicious any way you make it!

I live in the Chicago area, and my local grocery store carries fresh collard greens in the produce section. They're so inexpensive--I think a bundle of several stalks costs less than $2. I cut out the ribs, chop, and then saute with olive oil and spices, and finish with mustard and apple cider vinegar.

I, too, didn't realize you could buy self-rising cornmeal. That's a great tip!

Forgot to mention I think jalapenos/chile peppers are a great addition to cornbread. I like to make corn muffins or bread with cumin, cheese, chiles and whole corn kernels, and I used to add veggie bac'un bits too, back when I still bought them.

I always use self-rising cornmeal (not cornmeal mix which is different), an egg, buttermilk and a smidge of oil (bacon grease if I have some) cooked in an iron skillet that is hot with oil/bacon grease before adding the batter. My favorite brand is White Lily.

Lars, if you want me to mail you a bag I’m happy to do so.

We usually had turnip greens but occasionally my mother would fix collards. I never cared for them as a kid but will eat them now.

I just picked up some Bob's Red Mill cornmeal because I'm looking forward to making cornbread without sugar. I really don't see the appeal of self-rising flour, since it's so easy to add my own baking soda or baking powder or salt and without those ingredients more uses are possible.

Jilly, I meant to say, the crostini looks sooo good and easy, I’d love some right now with pimento cheese!

OutsidePlaying, thanks for that generous offer, but I want to look in my local market first. There is a market in Ladera Heights (an upper class Black neighborhood) that I go to sometimes that is close to me, and they have a very good supply of items for making Southern food. I like to go there to get grits because they have half of one side of an aisle stocked with them, and I like to buy them in large boxes.

I generally sauté Collard greens (and other greens) with garlic and chilies in olive oil, and I do not add other ingredients except some salt. I generally use chiles de árbol, but I used to use cayenne. If I am lazy, I sprinkle the greens with Aleppo pepper instead.

Lars, you turned me on to Aleppo pepper. I always have it on hand now, and my young adult kids enjoy it, too.

Jilly, I'm toying with making the crostini this weekend for guests.

Feathers, I hope it turns out great if you do. :)

I made the cornbread crostini yesterday (Wednesday), after buying some more cornmeal and a bunch of collard greens. I made some minor adjustments to the recipe, partly because we could not find self-rising cornmeal.

For the two cups of self-rising cornmeal, I substituted 1-1/2 cups cornmeal plus 1/2 AP flour, 1 Tbsp baking powder, and 1/2 tsp baking soda.

Since my brother does not eat bacon, I added 1/2 tsp salt, since there was otherwise no salt in this recipe, which I like, although the cheese is a bit salty.

I used one bunch of fresh collard greens, and I removed all the stems and cut the leaves into approximately 1-1/2" squares, which I sprinkled with a bit of salt and microwaved for 3 minutes. Then I squeezed out the excess moisture in a strainer and put the leaves back in the small bowl with one minced Serrano chili, and I microwaved this for 3 more minutes.

I cut off a piece of cheese to grate, and it weighed 5 oz instead of 4, and I used it anyway.

For the cast iron pan, I used 2 Tbsp shortening instead of oil, and I found this amount to be excessive - I think 1 Tbsp would have been sufficient. Also, I think 1 Tbsp of oil for the batter would have been enough.

My main criticism of this recipe is that it comes out a bit too greasy for my taste. I think the amount of butter could be decreased to 1/4 cup instead of 1/2 cup, but I think the amount of cheese could be increased to at least 6 oz.

Overall, it is very tasty, in spite of being excessively oily. I would make it again with reduced oil, reduced butter, and increased cheese.

My substitution for self-rising cornmeal worked very well, and my substitution for canned collard greens worked pretty well, but perhaps I should have used two bunches. I did not measure the leaves after I microwaved them, but I think they were about 1/3 cup, but that is just a guess.

Next time I will use two jalapeños (if I have them) instead of one Serrano. I used Aleppo pepper instead of Cayenne.

Incidentally, after cutting the cornbread in half, I saved one half to toast later, which is a good idea because these taste better when warm.

Lars, thank you so much for the excellent and detailed information! I’ll definitely save your post for when I try it.

I really appreciate you sharing how it went! :)

Thanks for the info and review, Lars!!! I fully intended to do all sorts of substitutions on mine and your comments on the amount of butter confirmed what I was already thinking. Since I would make it gluten-free, and I have also never heard of self-rising cornmeal, I'm planning to make it with almond flour which I think works well in the right style cornbread. I would have tried making it already but on Wed. I won the lottery when a Vet called to say he had a cancellation and could take Abby for spaying immediately (yes, Abby, not Agnes :). And last evening we were in the midst of a very windy winter storm when we lost power, so I'm glad I wasn't in the middle of baking. :p

When I put the batter into the skillet, there was so much oil (2 Tbsp) that it spilled over onto the top of the batter, which is why I think it was an excessive amount. If it had been bacon grease, I think this would have been less of an issue.

Anyway, the batter came out very thick, and I had to spend a bit of time spreading it out into the skillet so that it would make an even layer to the edge of the pan. The cornbread still formed a slight dome during baking, and so it is important to spread the batter into an even layer, even though as I did this, more oil spilled onto the top of the batter.

Question to all:

Would Jezebel Sauce be good with cornbread crostinis, do you think?

https://www.southernliving.com/jezebel-sauce-7253385?utm_campaign=southernliving&utm_content=likeshop&utm_medium=social&utm_source=instagram

Jezebel Sauce is good on bark, but I’m not so sure about cornbread crostini.

Thanks, bb. I haven’t had Jezebel Sauce since I was a kid, so can’t remember the taste well.

Jilly, think spicy pineapple preserves. Since I made it in early January, I’ve made it 2 more times. In January, I served it as a sauce over pork chops. The other 2 times, it was used as an appetizer over a block of cream cheese. The recipe I use: https://www.southernliving.com/jezebel-sauce-7253385

Thanks, bb! It’s the same I linked to — I’m glad to hear you like it. We love pork chops, so will definitely try that, thanks for the idea!

Jilly, I ran out of time to make this recipe last weekend for guests, and I'm so disappointed! I bought the self-rising cornmeal mix, so I'm hoping I'll have reason to make it soon. I had planned on serving it with chicken chili.

Feathers, what a great idea! I love chicken chili.

Has anyone made the cornbread crostini yet? My reading of GW has been sporadic at best this past week, so I may have missed it. I’m curious about the texture…is it crunchy? dry? crumbly? One of the cookbook club girls made a salad called Cornbread Panzanella. I thought the cornbread croutons were awful.

Bb, can you see Lars’ post above? Great info about how he made them.

I haven’t had a chance yet, hopefully soon!

Y’all do know if you do not want to buy self rising, you just add 1 teaspoon salt and 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder to 1 cup flour or cornmeal. You can also add 1/4 teaspoon baking soda.

I prefer to keep self rising, plain, and bread flour. I also keep plain and self rising cornmeal.

Now, there are two self rising cornmeals. One is self rising cornmeal and one is self rising corn meal MIX. The mix contains flour.

I thought I had posted this comment yesterday. Perhaps I forgot to hit Submit.

I finally read all the reviews on Southern Living’s Cornbread Crostini recipe. Our very own @Lars is the only one to leave an actual review…and a helpful one at that. The other reviews are along the lines of ”oh, this sounds so good. I think I’ll make it sometime.” Those sorts of reviews drive me around the bend! They are less that helpful, but they are at least a step up from ”I was out of cormeal, so I used brown sugar….” or ”I don’t like walnuts so I substituted anchovies….”

WTG, Lars, for posting a thoughtful, useful, review. You made substitutions that were well thought out and similar to what others might do.