Hoe Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Sift the cornmeal into a bowl and add the salt.
Pour boiling water over the mixture while stirring continuously until well combined and hot.
Wet your hands with cold water and spread the mixture onto a board.
Bake and serve
Place it before the fire to bake until one side is done, then turn it to bake the other side.
Once baked, split it open, butter it generously, and serve hot.
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
- Cornmeal
- Forms the main body of the bread, and its starch sets into a firm crumb as it bakes.
- Boiling water
- Hydrates the cornmeal and gelatinizes its starch, so the mixture binds and can be shaped by hand.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat to the hot bread, giving flavor and a softer eating texture.
The step that matters
Pouring boiling water while stirring. Adding the water gradually while stirring hydrates the cornmeal evenly. Uneven wetting leaves dry pockets or sticky lumps, so the dough cannot bind or spread smoothly.
“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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