Johnny Cake #2

From: bbarrett@comp.uark.edu (Brenda Jo Barrett)

Date: Tue, 2 May 1995 12:00:21 +0000
Here’s how we do it in my family:

Take a cup of yellow corn meal, add one-half cup flour, one-half teaspoon
salt, one egg, chopped up green onions (optional), and then:

Method 1: Mix with *just* enough water to make an even-textured *thick*
batter. Pour one-quarter cup of batter on dry, hot griddle like you would
for pancakes, and cook similarly until golden brown.

Method 2: Mix with *just* enough water to make a thick, slightly crumbly
dough. Pat into flat cakes and cook on a dry, hot griddle until golden
brown.

Historical note: The reason why they’re called “johnny cakes” is that when
the pioneers were going West across the Plains, they had to cook over an
open camp fire at night, and eat left-overs for breakfast and lunch. So,
the pioneer women would make a thick corn dough, press the cakes on the
flat bottom side of a hoe, and prop the hoe next to the fire so that the
cakes could cook (they didn’t have griddles-natch!). These cakes would be
used on the trail next day for lunch (stashed in your pocket so you could
eat it on horseback), and were call “journey cakes”, which eventually got
corrupted into “johnny cakes”.

REC.FOOD.RECIPES