Name: Johnny-Cake
Ingredients: 1 pint scalded milk or water (or half of each); 1 cup yellow or white cornmeal; 1 teaspoon salt

Johnny-Cake

Ingredients

1 pint scalded milk or water (or half of each)
1 cup yellow or white cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

Mix and bake

Stir the scalded milk or water into the cornmeal and salt until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a buttered pan.
Bake for about 18 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

Cornmeal: Forms the body of the cake, giving it its grainy texture and structure.
Scalded milk or water: Hydrates the cornmeal so it forms a spreadable batter and stays moist.

“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.