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Rhode Island Johnny-cake

A batter of ground meal and salt, boiled into a stiff batter, then fried on a buttered griddle.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Ronald · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 2 ingredients
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Rhode Island Johnny-cake

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Ground the Rhode Island meal between stones.

  2. Take one pint of meal and one teaspoonful of salt.

  3. Scald thoroughly with boiling water until it is a stiff, smooth batter.

  4. Thin with cold milk until about the consistency of sponge-cake batter.

Cook and serve

  1. Drop tablespoonfuls onto a hot buttered griddle.

  2. When the underside is brown, turn the cakes and brown the other side.

  3. Eat with butter.

By Mary Ronald. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Meal
Forms the body of the cake, absorbing water to set into a sturdy batter.
Milk (in the method)
Adds moisture and softness, thinning the stiff batter to a pourable consistency.

The step that matters

Scald thoroughly with boiling water until it is a stiff, smooth batter. Boiling water gelatinizes the starch in the cornmeal, which thickens the batter and makes it cohesive. Hydrating it fully before adding cold milk keeps the batter smooth and stops lumps from forming.

“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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