Aunt Lyda's Hoe-cake
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Mix cornmeal with water to form a soft dough.
Grease a hot griddle lightly.
Cook
Spread the dough onto the griddle, leaving about ½ inch around the edges.
Cook until the bottom is browned, then flip to cook the other side.
Serve
Serve warm with butter or sweet milk, or with greens or vegetables.
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 bulk of the bread, giving it its grainy, sturdy structure.
- Water
- Hydrates the cornmeal so it binds into a soft, spreadable dough.
- Butter or oil
- Greases the griddle so the cake releases cleanly and its surface can brown.
The step that matters
Cook until the bottom is browned before flipping. Flipping too early leaves the dough fragile and it may tear or stick. The cake needs a set, browned bottom to hold its shape and develop flavour, so wait until the underside has coloured.
“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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