Hoe Cakes

[Don P]

Maybe MoHoe Cakes.

 Somebody had to  :D



 

I hit the youtubes and this one came up, I'm enjoying them with butter, honey and maple syrup. I'm thinking 
"Not at the same time" but now I'm thinking "why not".

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ cups fine cornmeal
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 3 large eggs
• ¼ cup melted unsalted butter
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2/3 cup water
• Oil for cooking

[WV Sawmiller]

   I did not remember sugar in them but I would certainly not turn those down if you offered me some. They look mighty tasty!

  We had an old black lady come clean and cook for us a few weeks when I was a kid when my mom broke her leg. She told us the slaves used to come in from the fields and sharpen their hoes for the next days work so the hoes were all sharp and clean and they'd cook their little hoe cakes on them. I was too young at the time to ask her why the hoe handle did not burn up but then again, the hoes were often designed to side down a handle like a mattock so once removed it was just a flat piece of steel.

[Don P]

I am sure no expert... "man with rocks"  ;D. I think a real hoecake is just cornmeal, salt and water, although I think that is what corn pone is. I think I probably crossed the line to johnnycakes, with sugar, eggs, buttermilk and leavening. It seems to be a group of names for a range of recipes. These were light and fluffy and got a thumbs up from the real cook. Well, 3 eggs, how could they go wrong. I was thinking half a recipe would be good for the 2 of us, then I saw the 1-1/2 egg problem. I'll try a half recipe and one egg with finer cornmeal and see how it does.

Dad describes Grandmamma's as being about this recipe but very thin, a lace curtain of all crust.

An obsolete tool or name for a long handled griddle/peel was a hoe. I was curious and the youtube from Mt Vernon debunked the grub hoe connection.

Which makes me wonder if someone bent a cooking hoe over a copperhead and in the process chopped the weeds, and the rest is history.

[Don P]

I've made a couple of batches of lacy cakes today, in proper fashion I didn't measure anything because it was so simple there is no need.
I put about so much cornmeal in a bowl, salt to taste, I liked a fair amount, and warm water until the batter is very thin. adding more as needed as you go to keep it thin.

I had 1/2" or so of hot oil just a little below smoking and a spatter lid in hand. Ladle a dollop in the oil in a spreading motion and cover quick. When the splatter calms uncover to release the steam and finish browning both sides. If its right it'll be thin and about half open bubble holes and crispy brown. I don't have or know an air fryer but If it works in one of them it would probably be better, less oily.

We made the trip down to stock up on corn for grinding and came home with a couple hundred pounds. I'm not inspected yet and I doubt I can ever sell across state lines but I think I can give it away without that. Sammie, the 96 year old gentleman that restored the mill has passed. His grandson remembered me as we were loading and we caught up a little bit but the puppy was being a puppy so we got out of their hair quicker than I wanted.

[Southside]

So you went to town and came home with a couple hundred pounds of corn you say??  Needed that copper line to fix a leak in the kitchen too I suppose?  :D

[Old Greenhorn]

I hope you remembered enough sugar. ;D

[Don P]

Old school, sour mash  ;D

We were working on a big cedar roof on a log home. It had an impressive amount of heavy copper flashing and valleys. We were running out and I sent my wife to the city for several more sheets. Those guys razzed her, from the deep hills, you say your husband is working on a roof, riiight.  :D

The heyday of these mills was during prohibition. They could run anywhere using a flat belt off a car tire. And prohibition hastened the demise of the small time water powered gristmills, taking away one more income stream in a market that was squeezing small operators out. It's a shame they couldn't have done artisinal shine back then. We now have a distiller here in town and no millers. We jerk along in fits and starts a lot it seems.