Cracklin' Bread

Cornbread studded with crispy bits of rendered pork rind — cracklings. Every fall after hog butchering, mountain families rendered lard, and the crispy browned solids left behind were pressed into cornbread batter. The result crackled with every bite. A staple from the earliest Appalachian settlements through the 1970s.

Ingredients

• 1½ cups stone-ground cornmeal

½ cup all-purpose flour

• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp bacon grease or lard
• 1 cup pork cracklings (chicharrones), crumbled — store-bought works fine

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Place a cast iron skillet in the oven to heat.

Mix cornmeal, flour, baking soda, and salt.

1. Stir in buttermilk, egg, and melted bacon grease until just combined.
2. Fold in crumbled cracklings — don’t overmix or they’ll sink.
3. Carefully grease the hot skillet with bacon grease. Pour in batter.
4. Bake 22–25 minutes until firm and golden, with a crackling crust.
5. Cool slightly. Cut into wedges. Equally good hot or cold from the lunch pail.

Notes

Authentic cracklings come from hog butchering — the browned solids left after rendering lard in a large iron kettle. Chicharrones from any grocery store are an acceptable substitute. The cracklings add rich, porky flavor and a satisfying crunch that plain cornbread can’t match.