Skillet Fried Corn Bread

Damn, I love the taste of corn. But what's better than corn? Yes, bacon. And what is better than bacon? Corn AND bacon. Let's do this:

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Combine in a medium sized mixing bowl

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1-3 tbsp sugar (I use 2 tbsp)

and blend until the flour and cornmeal have completely mixed together. In a small bowl, melt

4 tbsp butter

but be sure the butter is cool enough to beat in

2 eggs

without cooking them in the heat of the butter. Beat them well, then add

1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp milk

and blend them all together. Before adding the wet and dry ingredients, fry up

6-8 strips of bacon (as much as you want, really)

in an 8'' cast-iron skillet. Drain all but 2 tbsp of grease from the pan after cooking. Add the wet ingredients, chopped up bacon, and

3/4 cup grated sharp cheese (cheddar, for example)

to the flour mixture. Mix everything together with as few strokes as possible. Drop this batter into the cast-iron pan, spreading it to the edges roughly evenly. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the top begins to brown.

Serve this right away, bringing the whole skillet right to the table and taking slices out with a pastry spatula or a dull knife. If you're not serving this right away (not recommended) then remove from the oven and let sit in the skillet for a few minutes until it can be removed to a cooling rack. Only leave it on the cooling rack for a short time: we want to let some moisture escape so that the crispy crust doesn't become soggy, but we still want the bread to be moist. Return the bread to a plate after cooling and serve.