Southern Hoe-cake
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, combine the cornmeal and salt.
Gradually add boiling water while stirring to form a stiff batter.
Shape and bake
Wet your hands with cold water and shape the batter into oval cakes.
Place the cakes on a board and set them before the fire to bake.
When one side is baked, turn the cakes to bake the other side.
Serve
Once done, split the cakes open, butter them well, 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
- Provides the starch and body that set into a sturdy, firm cake when cooked.
- Boiling water
- Hydrates and gelatinizes the cornmeal starch, binding the batter into a shapeable dough.
The step that matters
Gradually add boiling water while stirring. Cornmeal starch swells and gelatinizes as it hydrates. Adding the boiling water slowly and stirring keeps the batter free of dry pockets and lumps, and lets you stop at a stiff consistency that holds its shape instead of a wet batter that spreads.
“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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