Old Virginia Batter Bread

Directions

1. 1
   Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. 2
   Combine the cornmeal, sugar, salt, and baking soda in a large mixing bowl.
3. 3
   Place the lard in an 8-inch heavy iron skillet, set in oven, and let melt.
4. 4
   Meanwhile, mix the eggs lightly into the combined dry ingredients, then stir in just enough buttermilk to make a batter about the consistency of pancake batter.
5. 5
   Remove skillet from the oven, tilt so that lard greases both the sides and the bottom, and then pour the hot lard into the batter.
6. 6
   Stir briskly just to mix.
7. 7
   Pour batter into the hot skillet and bake in hot oven until firm and lightly browned, about 25 minutes.
8. 8
   Serve oven-hot, directly from skillet.
9. 9
   The way to eat batter bread is to cut it into wedges as you would a cake, then to split each wedge horizontally and tuck in a lump or two of sweet butter while the bread is still hot enough to melt it.