Buttermilk Corn Dodgers

A plain skillet bread of the kind cooked over a fire or on a flat griddle, held together by nothing but cornmeal, buttermilk and heat. The whole thing turns on the batter being stiff enough to hold a shape.

• Batter consistency is the hingeThe dough should be stiff enough to pat into a flat cake that holds its edges when set down, closer to a thick biscuit dough than a pancake batter. Start with about 1 cup of buttermilk and add a tablespoon at a time; too loose and the dodgers spread and steam rather than crusting.
• Cornmeal choiceUse plain, unsweetened cornmeal, not a self-rising cornmeal mix and not cornbread mix, which already contains leavening, sugar and wheat flour. Stone-ground medium grind gives a coarser texture; fine degerminated meal makes a smoother, softer dodger.
• Soda and baking powder togetherThe soda reacts with the acid in the buttermilk, and the baking powder covers whatever lift is left. Mix the batter and cook it promptly; letting it sit spends the reaction and the dodgers come out dense.
• ButtermilkCultured buttermilk from a carton works. With sweet milk the soda has no acid to react with, so you lose that lift (the baking powder still works) and may get a faintly soapy taste.
• The fatTwo tablespoons of melted fat goes into the batter, and separate bacon drippings go on the griddle. Bacon drippings are what gives these their character, but lard or a neutral oil will do; butter tends to brown too fast at the heat needed.
• Griddle heat and timingMedium-high on a stove, or a well-established bed of coals outdoors. Figure 4 to 5 minutes a side for a cake about half an inch thick, turning as needed until golden brown on all sides as the recipe directs.
• YieldThree dodgers from two cups of meal means large cakes, roughly hand-sized. Divide the batter into six for something easier to turn and quicker to cook through; either way this feeds two to three people alongside beans or greens.