Mama Ida was a second mother to me. When my father was shot down and killed over Burma in WW II just a few days before I was born, my young mother went home from the hospital broken hearted and most distressed. Her mother, Mama Ida, pitched in and cared for me like her own son. In fact, she was the first I called “Mama”, but they quickly changed that to Mama Ida. My wonderful sweet grandmother and I were very close.
In summer, after school, I often spent a week at Mama Ida’s house in Raleigh. She “carried” me fishing with Sister Wall and cooked and served my favorite meals and treats. She always had Orange Crush in those brown bottles in the refrigerator and a tray or two of homemade ice cream in the freezer compartment. She spoiled me with homemade custard and strawberry Jell-O, which today, is still my favorite dessert of all. She cooked fried squash and onions, fried okra, collards, grits, fried chicken and all the things I loved. But perhaps my favorite was Mama Ida’s Fried Cornbread.
As a boy raised in the south, I never knew cornbread could be prepared any other way than fried. While I suppose most think of cornbread as baked, fried cornbread is a different animal.
Mama Ida was meticulous about the cornbread. It had to be water-ground. There are several methods of reducing whole, kernel corn down to a finer meal. It can be stone-ground, steel-ground or water-ground. Stone-ground and steel-ground are more efficient methods. They grind the meal finer, remove most waste and give it a longer shelf life. Water-ground cornmeal is coarser because it retains much of the corn’s hull and germ, which give the corn meal a higher fat content and thus more flavor, but for long term storage it needs to be refrigerated to keep from spoiling.
To fry cornbread with any other that water-ground corn meal was sacrilege to Mama Ida.
Her fried corn bread, patties actually, were simply scrumptious with a big slab of melted butter on top. There was nothing better when served along with a mess of deep-fried bluegills and homemade, southern style cole slaw.
I still have her simple recipe for Fried Cornbread, it’s just hard to find good cornmeal. If you are fortunate enough to come across some good water-ground meal, try this recipe. It will change your life.
Mama Ida’s Fried Cornbread
2 C water-ground corn meal
1 t salt
2 ½ T self-rising flour
Mix with water until you get the right consistency – not too thick, not too soupy
Fry in Crisco till golden brown on each side