Kathy's Cornbread

Preheat oven to 450 F Decide what fat(s) you are going to use, and put them in an 8 inch cast iron skillet.* Place the skillet in preheated oven, and let the fat(s) melt and become hot while you prepare the cornbread batter. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together 1 1/3 cups of the cornmeal, the sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. In a small bowl, combine the remaining 2/3 cup cornmeal and the boiling water, stirring to blend. Add the buttermilk to the cornmeal/water mixture, whisking till most of the lumps are gone. Stir in the beaten eggs. Stir together the wet and dry ingredients, mixing till just combined. Remove the hot skillet from the oven, and pour any excess fat into the cornbread batter. Spoon the batter into the skillet, spreading it evenly over the bottom. Return the skillet to the oven, and bake the cornbread for about 20 minutes, until it's starting to brown around the edges, and the center springs back when lightly pressed with your fingertip. Remove the skillet from the oven, and transfer the cornbread to a cooling rack. It should slide out of the pan easily. Enjoy hot with butter or olive oil. *Note; If you don't have a cast iron skillet, use an 8 or 9 inch round cake pan. Don't heat the pan in the oven, but brush the pan generously with the melted fat, add the remaining fat to the batter as directed, pour the batter into pan, and bake slightly longer than above.