True Tennessee cornbread: white cornmeal, buttermilk, bacon fat, baked screaming-hot in a cast-iron skillet with a crackling crust. No sugar, no flour added in the meat-and-three tradition.

Tennessee cornbread descends from the Cherokee tradition of corn cakes; the cast-iron skillet preparation became standard by the 19th century when iron cookware replaced stone hearth methods. The unsweetened, flourless style remains the Tennessee marker, distinguishing it from the cake-like Yankee cornbread version. Loveless Cafe in Bellevue has baked the same recipe since 1951.

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