Buttermilk Cornbread (Stephen & Evie Colbert) by Barbara
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| PAC-MAN appeared |
Sadly, Stephen Colbert ended his run as host of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS on May 21, 2026. What a loss. I have been a fan of his since he was a correspondent on The Daily Show and then had his own funny parady political show, The Colbert Report.
And I am also a fan of his family cookbook, Does This Taste Funny? by Stephen and his wife, Evie Colbert. Everything I have made so far has been pretty good, so I keep going back and tabbing more recipes (or receipts as Evie says) to try.
They live in New Jersey now but both Evie and Stephen are from coastal South Carolina so they have many southern influences to their favorite recipes in the book.
Their cornbread is not sweet which is the Southern way to make cornbread, and it is made in a cast iron skillet, also a classic Southern method so the cornbread develops a crusty exterior. Buttermilk is also common.
The Colbert method is a little different. They brown the butter. And they use a lot of butter.
The only thing I did differently was double the recipe because I was using an 11 inch cast pan instead of a 9 inch pan. But I am posting the recipe as is.
---Barbara
Buttermilk Cornbread
(adapted from Stephen & Evie Colbert's cookbook Does This Taste Funny?)
Makes one 9 inch skillet of cornbread
2 T. unsalted butter for the pan
4 T. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled for the batter
2 cups fine yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup flour
2 T. sugar
2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1 1/4 cup buttermilk, preferable whole
2 large eggs, room temperature
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Get the ingredients ready.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients: cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a Pyrex cup, melt the butter in the microwave and let it cool.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, the eggs and then add the melted butter.
On the stove, on very low heat, start melting the 2 T. of unsalted butter.
Go back to finish the batter: add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Don't worry about a few lumps.
Now turn up the heat on the skillet. The butter will start to foam but it will eventually stop.
The butter will start to turn light brown and create little brown bits. This will go pretty fast, so stay on top of it.
Turn the batter into the pan. Use a hot pad, to shake it to smooth it out to the edges of the skillet.
Use a hot pad and move the skillet into the oven.
Pull it from the oven and let it sit for about 30 minutes.
Remember to use a hot pad. The skillet will still be hot. Then cut it into wedges
and serve with additional butter.
B