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Corn Griddlecakes
I CUP CORN MEAL I CUP BOILING WATER 2 TABLESPOONS FAT 2 EGGS, WELL BEATEN I CUP MILK I TEASPOON SALT I CUP FLOUR 2 TEASPOONS BAKING POWDER I TABLESPOON SUGAR Pour boiling water over meal, add fat, stir, and let cool. Add eggs and milk, and then dry ingredients sifted together. Add a little more milk if too thick, and more flour if too thin.
A scalded-meal batter, which is what separates this from a plain wheat pancake: the boiling water softens the cornmeal so it does not stay gritty on the griddle. The recipe gives no griddle temperature or yield, so both are worth pinning down.
- Scald the meal first, and waitPouring boiling water over the cornmeal and letting it cool fully is the hinge of the recipe. Rushing it means the grains never hydrate and the finished cakes are sandy; it also means hot batter will begin to cook the eggs when they go in. Give it 15-20 minutes, until it is no more than warm.
- Corn mealUse plain yellow or white cornmeal, not self-rising cornmeal mix and not coarse polenta grind. Degerminated supermarket meal works; a stone-ground meal gives more flavor but drinks more liquid, so expect to loosen the batter.
- "2 tablespoons fat"In a recipe of this vintage this generally means bacon drippings, lard or shortening. Melted butter or a neutral oil is a direct substitution.
- Griddle heatThe recipe gives none. Medium works, roughly 375F on a griddle with a dial, or hot enough that a drop of water skitters rather than sits.
- ConsistencyThe batter should pour thickly and spread slowly. It thickens noticeably as it stands, since the meal keeps absorbing, so check it again between batches and thin with milk as the recipe allows.
- Baking powder timingMix the dry ingredients in just before cooking. Modern double-acting baking powder gives a second lift on the griddle, but a batter left to sit will lose some of its rise.
- YieldAbout sixteen 4-inch cakes, serving four. The recipe doubles cleanly for a camp crowd.
Scalded cornmeal batters run straight back through American griddle cooking to johnnycakes and hoecakes, where cornmeal, water and salt were the whole formula and wheat flour was the luxury addition. What this version shows is the compromise reached by the twentieth century: half meal, half flour, with eggs, milk, sugar and chemical leavening added to lighten a batter that would otherwise cook dense and flat. It is a practical formula: sugar, salt and cornmeal all travel well and keep without refrigeration, and a griddlecake needs nothing but a flat iron surface over a fire.