This Is Damaris Phillips' Favorite Southern Meal

Between her creamy grits, bourbon cherry jam, and green apple, smoked cheddar, and chives biscuits, Damaris Phillips is known for her mouth-watering, comfort-style Southern food (via Phillips' website). The Southern Girl Meets Vegetarian cookbook author has made a career out of teaching at-home chefs how to cook via her cookbook and a litany of TV appearances on Food Network, which is where she got her start in 2013.

Now, her recipes make their way into family cookbooks in homes all over America, especially in the South. But what is Phillips' favorite Southern meal? In a fun, candid conversation with Food Network, the chef revealed her favorite Southern food is cornbread and milk. 

"First you have pinto beans or butter beans and cornbread for dinner, and then the next morning, inevitably, there's leftover cornbread. You take that cornbread into a glass, cold milk over the top and you just eat it — [with] maybe some honey," she said. Phillips goes on to elaborate, "It's like cornflakes, kind of. Not really, but kind of."

Cornbread is a fluffy, moist bread that typically has a buttery taste to it. The trim, or outside, of the bread is usually a little crisper (think of a piece of toast — the crust is the crunchiest part), while the middle is a soft, crumbly mess of yummy heaven. Once cut and served, it can be extremely messy, making it the perfect pairing for dunking into milk.

According to Southern food pro Damaris Phillips, the only appropriate way to make cornbread is in a cast-iron skillet. "The only way to cook cornbread correctly is in a cast-iron skillet that has been heated until it is screaming hot. I didn't make these rules, I just follow them!" she told Food Network Magazine.

To make Phillips' homemade skillet cornbread, you'll need coconut oil, yellow cornmeal, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, syrup, an egg, milk, and applesauce, all at room temperature. All you have to do is mix the dry ingredients in one mixing bowl and the wet ingredients in another. Then, add the wet to dry, fold and combine, and pour the batter into the skillet. The cornbread will need to bake for at least 25 minutes. It's best served warm.