20
tasteofthesouthmagazine.com /
taste of
the
south
cornbread andmilk out of a tall glass with a spoonwhile
we watched
Hee Haw
on Saturday nights. The skillet sat
cooling on the stovetop. “Now y’all kids don’t touch this
skillet here. It’s still pretty hot,” my Grandmama would
say if we ventured into the kitchen for more wedges to
crumble into our glasses.
Eventually, my great-grandmother went to heaven
and that skillet lived with my Grandmama, where it
was used on a regular basis. But long before then, the
years wore a smooth, deep shine into its well-seasoned
coating, and Grandmama’s cornbread always turned
out just perfect.
Slowly, but surely, it made its way through the
generations and ended up in my kitchen. Each time I
reach for it, I feel like I am reaching for the hand of my
ancestors and drawing them near.
Regardless of what some folks tell you, I know with
certainty that some things never wear out. In fact, they
even get better with time…like our love of family and
cast iron. And we might need to add
Hee Haw
reruns
and a cornbread recipe to that list, too!
’ve often heard older folks lament over how
things aren’t made to last anymore. My
grandparents used to say you could buy a refrigerator
that was so well made, it could be passed down to the
next generation. Today, that’s hard to imaginewhenwe
buy a cell phone and hope it lasts as long as its two-year
contract.
But on my kitchen counter is the cast-iron skillet
my great-grandmother used to make cornbread for
my Grandmama when she was a little girl. That skillet
has lived in many houses in its lifetime. My great-
grandparents used to uproot their family every few
months to move to a new farm where they’d settle and
work the land. The skillet was always lovingly wrapped
in an old flour sack and packed up for the short move,
only to be put right back to work as soon as there was
time to chop firewood for the stove.
Later in my great-grandmother’s life, that skillet
was introduced to an electric stove bymy Grandmama.
And that is when I first ate cornbread from it. I’ll
never forget curling up in my Grandaddy’s lap to eat
food
styling
by
kathleen kanen /
photography
by
Kamin Williams
I
An heirl om for g erations to co e
C
with
CHRISTY
JORDAN
S U P P E R S
