Johnny Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Make a hole in the center of the Indian meal in a pan.
Pour in the warm water and add salt.
Mix with a spoon gradually, stirring hard for 15 minutes until light and spongy.
Bake and serve
Spread the mixture out on a board or the head of a flour barrel.
Place the board nearly upright before the fire and bake well.
Cut into squares and serve hot with butter or molasses.
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 body of the cake, providing structure once baked.
- Warm water
- Hydrates the cornmeal so it forms a soft, spreadable batter.
The step that matters
Stirring the mixture for 15 minutes. Vigorous stirring works air into the wet cornmeal batter, which is what makes it light and spongy rather than dense. Stopping early leaves the cake heavy.
“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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