Hoe Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Combine cornmeal and salt in a bowl.
Pour enough boiling water to moisten the meal.
Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes.
Add cold water until the mixture can drop from a spoon.
Cook and serve
Cook the batter on a hot griddle or hoe like griddle cakes.
Top each cake with a bit of butter before serving.
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 cakes and sets into a firm, grainy texture when cooked.
- Boiling water
- Hydrates the cornmeal, softening its starch so the batter holds together.
- Cold water
- Adjusts the batter to a spoonable consistency after the meal has absorbed the hot water.
- Butter
- Adds richness and flavor to each finished cake at serving.
The step that matters
Adding the cold water. Cornmeal absorbs liquid as it rests, so the batter thickens over time. Adding cold water until it drops from a spoon gives an even consistency that cooks into a cake rather than a dense or runny one.
“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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