Cornbread That Gets the Most Out of Butter

Some cornbread falls on the light and fluffy side of the spectrum, sweet enough to pass for dessert. Then there is crisp, lean and salty cornbread, nearly as savory as the fried chicken that often goes with it.

This recipe splits the difference. Crisp-edged, maple-syrup-spiked and tender-crumbed, a buttered slice works equally well with a drizzle of honey or with hot sauce, or both if you just can’t decide.

The crunchy texture comes from pouring the batter into a hot well-greased skillet, which sears it on contact. The copious amount of butter in the batter keeps the center moist.

To get the most flavor out of the butter, instead of just melting it, I leave it in the pan, letting it turn brown and nutty. I originally did this by accident, a happy result of too much multitasking. That cornbread turned out so richly flavored that I made browning the butter a habit.

One note of caution: If you’re using a dark cast-iron skillet (which I recommend, as it will give you the crispiest crust), it can be hard to tell nicely browned butter from terrifyingly burned. Your nose comes in handy here. Pay attention to the scent wafting around the kitchen. When it smells like chestnuts roasting on a street corner in December, immediately pour the butter into a bowl to stop the cooking.

I like to make this cornbread in my biggest skillet. It makes an extra-large loaf that I would say feeds a crowd but, to be honest, our small household of three manages to polish it off without any help. We eat it warm from the oven as soon as it’s baked, then for breakfast and snacks in the following days until we’re reduced to licking crumbs off the plate. That said, it will satisfy up to a dozen if you offer other dishes to go with it.

Store any leftover cornbread at room temperature and reheat in a toaster oven before slathering with butter. Or halve the recipe and bake it in a nine-inch skillet.

This version is minimalist, but feel free to jazz it up. At times, I’ve added shredded cheese, minced herbs and corn kernels. You can also swap out the maple syrup for honey. Whatever else you change, just make sure to brown the butter. Other than the cornmeal itself, the browned butter is the defining characteristic of this estimable loaf.