Johnny Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Boil the ground maize in water with baking soda until softened but not broken up.
Knead the mixture on a stone until smooth and homogeneous.
Divide the dough into portions and shape into cakes.
Cook and serve
Cook the cakes on a hot plate until browned on both sides.
Serve hot with butter or treacle.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Ground maize (cornmeal)
- Forms the body of the dough and sets into a firm, cohesive cake when cooked.
- Baking soda
- Raises the mixture's alkalinity, which helps the maize soften and promotes browning.
The step that matters
Boil the maize until softened but not broken up. Boiling gelatinises the starch so the maize becomes pliable enough to knead and shape. Overcooking breaks the grains down into a paste that will not hold its shape or brown well on the hot plate.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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