Hoe Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
In a bowl, mix corn meal and salt.
Pour in boiling water and mix well.
Shape the mixture into thin cakes using your hands.
Fry
Heat enough fat in a frying pan 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; boiling water hydrates its starch so the mixture binds and holds its shape.
- Boiling water
- Hydrates the corn meal, letting it swell and form a pliable dough that can be shaped by hand.
- Fat
- Conducts heat to the cakes during frying, browning their surfaces and giving a crisp exterior.
The step that matters
Shape the mixture into thin cakes. Cakes that are too thick may cook through slowly while the outside over-browns. Thin, even cakes fry at a steady rate and brown evenly on both sides.
“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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