Big Mama’s Hot Water Corn Bread

***What you need***


• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 cups water
apprx 1 tsp of butter
apprx 2 Tbls fried meat grease or bacon drippings or even Crisco (but not Olive Oil!)
• enough cooking oil to cover the bottom of your skillet to almost 1/4 inch up the side.
• a medium-sized mixing spoon (about three times size of a regular soup or place spoon)
• a mixing bowl
• paper towels to drain cooked bread
• a pot to boil the water
****What you do***
• Mix together the cornmeal, salt & sugar in the bowl with a fork. Set aside. This is your "dry mix."
• Put the 2 cups of water in pot and let come to a boil. When water is boiling, stir in the 2 Tblsp of fried meat grease and the tsp of butter & let it all boil again. This is your "hot water mix."
• Get your skillet & cooking oil ready for frying. You are going to want the frying oil hot enough to "pop water."
• Slowly add some of the water mix to the dry mix in the bowl, stirring it in. You only want to add enough of the hot water mix to get a mushy consistency that will let you scoop the mush with the mixing spoon.
• When your skillet & frying oil is ready, you can start frying the scoops of cornmeal. Don't let it cook too fast or slow. Too fast & it will burn; too slow & it will be over oily.
• Let each side brown as much as you want. (My sister likes hers crunchy, but I like mine golden & kind of soft.) Take out & drain on paper towels.

Hot water cornbread is best eaten hot. If you do save some for later, you can break the patties up into hot soup, beans or gumbo, but hot is best.