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Hominy
Hominy, which is maize, hulled and coarsely ground in the same way as oatmeal, is a pleasant and nutritious breakfast dish, and may be thus prepared. Put half a pound of hominy in a basin, pour over it a quart of boiling water cover the basin, and leave it all night until the morning. The hominy will then have absorbed all the water. Put it in a saucepan with another quart of water and a pinch of salt, and stir over the fire until nearly boiling. Withdraw the pan to the side, simmer for half an hour, stirring occasionally; add a quarter of a pound of sugar, mix well, turn out on hot plates, and eat with milk or cream. Probable cost of the hominy, 1 1/2d. per pound.
A straightforward overnight porridge that needs only a few translations for a modern cook.
- What hominy means hereThe book describes hulled maize coarsely ground, which is what an American cook would call hominy grits — not the whole hulled kernels sold in cans as posole. Buy coarse or stone-ground grits, not instant, or the overnight soak is pointless.
- QuantitiesHalf a pound is roughly 1 1/3 cups of coarse grits. Note that an imperial quart is 40 fl oz, nearer 5 US cups than 4. Either way, two quarts of liquid to half a pound of grain gives a loose, spoonable porridge rather than a stiff one.
- The soak is the hingeCoarse grits soften slowly and scorch easily. The overnight steeping in boiling water does most of the hydrating so the half-hour simmer is enough; skip it and you will need well over an hour and constant stirring.
- Heat control"Withdraw the pan to the side" refers to a coal range, where the side of the hob was cooler. On a modern burner, bring it just to the boil then drop to the lowest setting, and use a heavy-based pan — thin aluminium will catch on the bottom.
- The sugarA quarter pound is half a cup, which is very sweet by current taste and closer to a pudding than a breakfast cereal. Start with a couple of tablespoons and adjust; salt-and-butter grits, savoury throughout, are the other legitimate treatment.
- YieldHalf a pound of dry grain gives roughly four generous breakfast servings. At this ratio it thickens rather than sets hard as it cools, so serve it straight from the pan; if it has been cooked drier, leftovers can be sliced and fried.
Hominy came into British cookbooks by way of America, where maize treated with wood ash or lime to loosen its hull — a technique long predating European arrival in the Americas — produced the hulled grain that could then be dried and cracked. Cassell's presents it as part of the late-Victorian enthusiasm for cheap, filling cereal breakfasts backed by the new language of nutrition; note that the entry bothers to call it "nutritious" and quotes a price per pound. At a penny-halfpenny a pound it was cheap fare, which is very much why it earned a place in a general dictionary of cookery aimed at British kitchens.