Hoe Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Mix corn meal and salt in a bowl.
Pour in boiling water and mix well.
Cook
Form the mixture into thin cakes.
Heat enough fat in a skillet to nearly cover the cakes.
Fry the cakes until brown on both sides.
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
- Corn meal
- Forms the main body of the cakes, and boiling water turns it into a firm, cohesive dough.
- Boiling water
- Hydrates the corn meal so it swells and binds into a mouldable mixture.
- Fat
- Conducts heat in the skillet and browns the outside of the cakes.
The step that matters
Fry the cakes until brown on both sides. Browning comes from direct contact with hot fat and dry surface heat. If the fat is too cool, the cakes absorb grease and steam instead of crisping and browning.
“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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