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1
Place a 25–30 cm cast-iron skillet in the oven with the lard or bacon drippings inside it. Heat the oven to 220 °C. Allow the skillet to remain in the oven until the fat is shimmering and approaching the point of smoking — the iron must be genuinely hot before any batter enters it.
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2
In a large bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, baking soda, salt, and sugar if using. Whisk briefly to distribute the leavening evenly. The dry mixture should appear uniform in colour with no streaks of white.
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3
Add the buttermilk and beaten eggs to the dry ingredients. Stir only until the batter comes together — it will be thick, coarse-textured, and visibly grainy. Stop mixing the moment no dry pockets remain. Overmixing toughens the crumb.
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4
Remove the skillet from the oven. Working quickly, pour the batter into the hot fat. The batter must audibly sizzle and begin to set at the edges the instant it contacts the iron — this thermal shock is where the crust is born, and this is where the cornbread lives or dies: a cold or insufficiently heated skillet produces cornbread without identity.
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5
Return the skillet immediately to the 220 °C oven. Bake until the top is golden and faintly cracked at the centre, the edges have pulled fractionally from the iron, and a skewer inserted at the centre comes out with moist crumbs — not wet batter, not dry. The interior must remain moist; overbaking reduces it to powder.
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6
Bring the skillet directly to the table. Cut into wedges in the pan. The bottom crust should crack audibly under the knife. Serve warm.