Cornbread is yellow-cornmeal batter baked in a cast-iron skillet with a butter or bacon-fat crust, the canonical Southern bread for any savory meal.
Where to eat it: 3 restaurants across 1 city.
Cornbread is the Southern bread, predating wheat-flour biscuits in Alabama and persisting through Reconstruction as the staple grain bread. Birmingham meat-and-three counters serve it with every plate; Niki's West runs the cafeteria version, Eagle's serves it with collards and Saw's puts it next to the white-sauce smoked chicken. The Alabama version is unsweetened or only mildly sweetened; sweet Southern cornbread is a more Northern interpretation.
Common allergens: Dairy, Eggs
Tip from the editors. The skillet must be screaming hot before the batter hits it; that's what gives the canonical crackly bottom crust.
This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.
Niki's West on Finley Avenue West Birmingham has run the meat-and-three from a cafeteria steam table since 1957, opposite the Alabama Farmers Market.
Why locals love it: Tourists rarely cross the rail tracks to the Acipco-Finley district to find this 1957 cafeteria; locals queue for the catfish.
Tip: Get there by 12:30 for the fried catfish and turnip greens; weekday lunch is the peak.
Eagle's Restaurant on 16th Street North in Smithfield is the Black-owned soul-food anchor since 1951, with the Friday catfish and a multi-generation kitchen.
Why locals love it: The Smithfield Black-owned soul-food kitchen since 1951 sits a block from Acipco and most non-locals never find it.
Tip: Order the Friday catfish; closed Saturday and Monday so plan around the schedule.
Saw's BBQ in Homewood near Birmingham serves the canonical Mike Wilson pulled-pork sandwich with Alabama white sauce slaw under $12 from the 2009 shack.
Try: Pulled pork sandwich, $9-12
More cities are in research. Want cornbread covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.