Hoe Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Pour boiling water over the Indian meal.
Stir in the butter or lard and salt.
Knead the dough until stiff for about 10 minutes.
Bake and turn
Bake the dough on a board in front of the fire slowly.
Turn the cake using a thread when one side is nicely brown.
Bake the other side.
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
- Indian meal
- Provides the starch and structure that forms the dough and sets as the cake bakes.
- Boiling water
- Hydrates the cornmeal so it becomes a workable, cohesive dough.
- Butter or lard
- Adds fat for richer flavor and a softer, more tender crumb.
The step that matters
Bake the dough slowly. Slow heat lets the centre cook through while the surface browns evenly. Strong heat scorches the outside before the inside sets, leaving it raw in the middle.
“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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