Skillet cornbread with a real crust

The crust comes from batter hitting hot fat, the same way a pancake browns. If the skillet is only warm, you get a pale cake. Heat the pan in the oven with the butter in it until the butter smells nutty and the pan is too hot to touch. Then move quickly. The batter sizzles when it lands. That sound is the crust starting.

160 g of yellow cornmeal is about one cup of fine or medium meal. Coarse polenta grind is heavier and bakes gritty in this batter. The cornmeal chart splits that difference. The flour is only 60 g, half a cup, so the bread tastes like corn and not like a muffin. See all-purpose flour in cups if you are converting a card that lists cups only.

Buttermilk

245 g is one cup. It is acidic, so the baking soda belongs in the recipe along with the baking powder. No buttermilk? Use the ratio on buttermilk substitutes. Milk plus a teaspoon of lemon juice works here because everything is baked. The batter will be a little thinner. Do not add a pile of extra cornmeal or the crumb dries out.

Sugar is one tablespoon. This is a side for chili, not a dessert. If you want it sweet enough to eat with honey, go up to 30 g. More than that and it burns at 220°C before the center sets.

Pull it when a skewer is clean and the edges have pulled slightly from the iron. It dries if it sits in a hot pan for half an hour. Ten minutes, then eat it. Leftovers reheat in the skillet over low heat, cut side down.