Don't even try to understand cornbread unless you've eaten it every day for at least 10 years. The subtleties and nuances of the cornbread will elude you.
Sure, you can put japs in there if you like. But it's the bacon grease that makes cornbread real. Martha White's Self-Rising cornmeal mix is all you need to start with. Use buttermilk, not regular milk. (Do they have buttermilk outside the South? I can just see a bunch of Yankees throwing a stick of butter in a glass of milk and putting it in the microwave.) Water is out! Out, I say! No wonder some people think it's a freaking cake.
You don't need a measuring cup. Just throw a bunch of Martha White in a bowl, add an egg, put some bacon grease in there (2 tablespoons per pan of cornbread will be about right), and add buttermilk until it's about the consistency of . . . sperm. Or whatever. That's all I could think of right now. The thing is, you don't want it so thick that you can't stir it, but you don't want it so watery that if you turned the bowl sideways, it would immediately run out. Clear enough?
Now, one of the biggest things that ruins cornbread is what you cook it in. Are there options? Hell fucking no! A black skillet is the only option. And you've got to put some bacon grease in there and heat it up in the oven for at least five minutes (425 is the recommended degree of hotness), so that when you put the mix into the skillet, you hear a decided sizzle. Never wash a black skillet! You have to season it, and that means you clean freaks will just have to live with a bit of a mess if you want real cornbread.
Cook it at that temperature until it's brown on top; probably about 15 minutes. Either eat it hot with real butter or put it in a glass of cold milk (some prefer buttermilk) and crumble it up. If you're going to eat it with food, beans would be your best bet. A bowl of pinto beans with some hot cornbread and a slice of onion and some pickle relish and some coleslaw -- man, what you talkin' 'bout? This is the best cheap meal you'll ever have.
Oh, and the japs part. If you want Mexican cornbread, add japs, one of those little cute cans of whole kernel corn (drained), pimentos, a bunch of grated cheddar cheese, and diced onion to the mix before you cook it. It's a colorful and delicious "cake."