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Paper-Thin Hoecakes
(For the barbecue hot plate) I CUP WHITE CORN MEAL (WATER GROUND PREFERRED) 1/2 TEASPOON SALT I TEASPOON SUGAR WATER OR MILK Mix corn meal, salt and sugar. Add enough water to make a soft dough that won't run. Have a steady fire under hot plate-but a little less hot than for pancakes. Pat out a cake 1/2 inch thick 7-8 inches in diameter. Grease a spot on the hot plate with fat, preferably fresh lard, and lay cake on it. Cook slowly until well browned on one side. Turn over onto a freshly greased part of the hot plate, peel off the crusty top of the cake, spread it with butter and eat at once or keep it hot until you have a stack of these crunchy crusts made from turning the original 1/2-inch cake back and forth. As soon as cake is browned anew, turn it onto another freshly greased spot, peel off the crust and butter it, etc., repeating until the cake has all been turned into these nutty and delicious crusts. The point will be to keep as many cakes going as there is room for on your hot plate, since you will never be able to keep up with the appetites clamoring for them.
A single thick cake of cornmeal batter is browned, and the browned face is peeled off and buttered, then the cake returned to the griddle to form another. The recipe reads as one cake but produces a stack of thin crusts.
- The hingeThe whole method depends on the cake being cooked slowly enough that a firm crust sets while the interior stays soft and damp. Too hot and the crust fuses to the wet dough and tears instead of peeling cleanly.
- "Barbecue hot plate"This means a flat steel plate over the fire; a griddle, plancha or heavy cast-iron skillet does the same job indoors. The recipe asks only for a steady fire "a little less hot than for pancakes," so work by feel: moderate rather than hot.
- Water-ground mealStone- or water-ground cornmeal retains the germ, giving the nutty flavour the recipe is after. Degerminated supermarket meal works but tastes flatter; because it keeps far longer, the stone-ground kind is the one that wants storing in the freezer.
- The waterNo quantity is given because meals vary. Start with about 1/2 cup for 1 cup of meal and add by the spoonful until the dough holds a patted shape without slumping. Some cooks scald the meal with boiling water, which stiffens the dough and makes patting easier.
- Fresh lardThe recipe prefers fresh lard, presumably for flavour; rendered pork fat behaves well at griddle heat. Bacon drippings are the usual substitute; butter alone is more likely to burn over the time this takes.
- Grease a fresh spot each turnNot fussiness — the peeled cake goes down wet and will stick to a spot already scorched with cooked meal. If your griddle is small, scrape it clean between turns rather than crowding onto used ground.
- YieldOne cup of meal makes a 7-8 inch cake; how many crusts come off it depends entirely on how thin you peel, and the recipe does not say. Double or triple the batch and run several cakes at once, as the closing line suggests.