Cornbread

This recipe came from my stepdad (the best dad in the world). My mom has been fixing cornbread like this for as long as I remember. After I got married I started fixing it the same way and have ever since. This is very simple to prepare and makes the best cornbread ever.

Ingredients:
*1c. flour
*1c. cornmeal (sometimes I use just a little more cornmeal than flour)
*1 egg (optional)
*milk
*oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 to 425 degrees. Mix flour and cornmeal together in a bowl, stir in the egg (I usually don't do the egg).  Before adding the milk, cover the bottom of your pan or cast iron skillet (I always use a cast iron skillet) with a thin, thin layer of vegetable oil and place in hot oven. Make sure to watch your oil, it can get too hot and smoke. If this happens you will want to wash your pan and add new oil. Back to the batter... add milk, stirring as you pour. You want your batter pourable, but not too thin (similiar to cake or pancake batter).  When your oil is bubbly hot, remove pan from oven and immediately pour batter into hot pan. Bake until the top of your bread is browned (usually 20 minutes or so). This cornbread is fairly thin, if you like thicker cornbread you may want to use 1 1/2 cups of the flour and cornmeal. Getting the oil hot, makes your crust turn out crunchy.  I love my cornbread like this, makes me want some soup beans and cornbread just thinking about. No wait, chicken and dumplings, green beans and cornbread.