Name: Hoe Cakes
Ingredients: 1 quart Indian meal; water (enough to make a thick batter); 2 tablespoons butter; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 2 teaspoons salt

Hoe Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

Scald the Indian meal in enough water to make a thick batter.
Mix in the butter, baking soda, and salt.

Bake

Bake in a buttered pan for about 30 minutes.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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: Forms the main body of the cakes, giving them their structure and grainy texture.
Butter: Adds fat for richer flavor and a tender crumb while the cakes bake.
Baking soda: Reacts with the batter to help the cakes rise and lighten.

“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.