Put enough vegetable oil in a cast iron skillet (8 inch skillet for this recipe) to coat the bottom. Place the pan into the oven and turn it on to 200C (400F).
Mix all ingredients together except the oil, adding enough buttermilk to make the batter thick but easily pourable. When the oven has heated to 200C (400F), pour the batter into the heated skillet and bake until brown (about 30-40 minutes). Be careful! The skillet and oil are very hot.
This recipe takes lots of practice and experimentation to get right, just keep practicing. Sometimes I like to put niblet corn in the batter.