Making Sausage Cornbread

I told you last time we would be doing Sausage Cornbread as a follow-up for my cornbread recipe, well here it is. My buddy and fellow banjo player Tucker McCandless loves this sausage cornbread, and I fix it every so often and take him some, his Mama Cassie likes it too. I am going to repeat my cornbread recipe so you don't have to keep scrolling around the blog looking for it. I do this in two different skillets, the reason is frying sausage seems to stick in my cast iron skillet, plus I like to keep it nice and slick for cornbread. I use quite a large skillet (11 in. across the top) and use whatever saute pan for the sausage and onions.

The sausage filling consists of...

1 lb country breakfast sausage (broken up)
1 med onion (diced)
8 - 10 leaves of fresh dried sage (rough chop)
4 green onions (sliced thin with green)

½ tsp red pepper flakes (opt)
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp black pepper

Crumble up the sausage and combine with all other ingredients into the saute pan and cook until sausage is done. Drain grease and set aside to cool.

Now for the Cornbread

2 cups yellow cornmeal (I like martha White)
1 tsp Tony Chachere's Cajun Seasoning
1 tsp parsley flakes
3 eggs
1 ¼ cups buttermilk
2 tbs oil (I like corn oil)
2 tbs bacon grease

Put bacon grease in a cast iron skillet, and place in a preheated 425º oven for 10 mins. Mix first 3 dry ingredients thoroughly in a bowl with a whisk. Mix next 3 wet ingredients in another bowl or big measuring cup. Combine wet and dry using whisk. Add sausage mixture and combine thoroughly.

Remove skillet from oven. Pour batter mix into melted, hot bacon grease and give the skillet a little shake to settle the mix. Bake for 15 mins. or so until top of the cornbread browns a little and you cap tap the top and feel it is solid. Tucker I hope your Mama dont see this or she'll do it better than me, you won't want mine anymore. I got this dish from my dearly departed Aunt Stella Yeary Burnette. She was one of the best cooks ever. I love her and miss her. She taught me a lot in her kitchen and when she'd come over to mine. This was my favorite of her specialties.