Hoecakes!

[Johnny Lloyd]

I searched this forum for the word "hoecakes/hoecake" and got surprisingly little hits on it... so:

Anyone have a great hoecake recipe they'd like to share? Yum!

[Finn McCool]

Re: Hoecakes!

Johnny,

Hoecakes have been one of my favorite dishes to make for a while. In the field when dealing with the average campaign rations it can be difficult to pull of good hoecakes, especially when using rations that are theater/time appropriate.
My general field recipe is:

1 handful cornmeal (coarse, as issued)
1 handful flour*
a few pinches sugar to taste
enough water to make a thick batter

Fry the pork ration first to collect the grease, or use butter/lard/whatever you can find. Make sure the grease is hot. In a cup mix cornmeal, flour, sugar, and water to get a good thick batter. The flour is not necessary, but it will help hold the meal together; without it the meal will not stick and will disintegrate, especially if the grease is not hot enough and not in ample supply. Spoon (or use your hand) the batter into the pan. Let fry on one side until brown (5 or so minutes, depending on heat) and flip. Cook other side until brown. This will make about two hoecakes about the size of your fist**.

*Because cornmeal and flour were not often issued together, hardtack that is crushed as fine as possible is a decent substitute.
**Fist size will vary.

As for a more civilized recipe that is easier on the palate, I use the following recipe:

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour
2 eggs
2-3 tablespoons sugar
Water or milk sufficient to make a thick batter.
Butter/lard/oil/grease

In a good cast iron, heat cooking oil until very hot. Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, mix dry ingredients, then beat in eggs and add milk until the butter is thick enough to spoon but not runny. Spoon batter into hot, greasy pan. Cook for about 5 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Serve with honey, maple syrup, or jam.

As for period recipes, The American Home Cook Book (1864) has several recipes detailing various cakes of corn and flour. On page 112 is a recipe for Indian Johnny Cakes which is very similar to a hoecake. Here is the link: https://books.google.com/books?id=j3...q=cake&f=false

Hope this helps!

Adam

[Palmyra Possum]

Re: Hoecakes!

I have seen lots of recipes for hoe cakes that are supposedly of the Civil War era, but most of these, while doable in a home kitchen, are much too complex for a typical campaigner impression. Most likely, the ones cooked in the field consisted of boiled cornmeal, formed into pancakes and fried in grease. While I don't have a specific description of this being done exactly like this in the field, I do have this description, which is similar, from "Camp Fires and Camp Cooking; or Culinary Hints for the Soldier," by Capt. James M. Sanderson (1862), p. 8.

TO BOIL HOMINY.

Whatever be the size of the kettle, fill it half full of hominy, covering it with water so as nearly to fill it to the top; throw in a handful of salt, and boil it, over a very moderate fire, for at least an hour, stirring it constantly to prevent scorching.

TO FRY HOMINY.

Should you have too much of it boiled for one meal, place the balance in shallow dishes – mess pans being the handiest – and let it grow cold. When it is to be used, cut it into slices about half an inch thick and three inches long; have your fat as hot as fire can make it; then slip your slices into it, and fry it until it obtains a golden brown color on both sides. When you take it out, lay it on cloths, and let the fat drain off; and, when serving, sprinkle a little salt over it.

This is also supported by looking at the rations of Confederates such as this account from "The Story of a Confederate Boy in the Civil War" by David E. Johnson, Co. D, 7th Virginia Infantry (1914), p. 236.

Our rations were not abundant while at Taylorsville; one pint of unseived meal and a quarter of a pound of bacon per day.

While he mentions that they supplemented the rations with other items, the only two things they were actually issued were a source of grease and meal (although he mentions that there often was so little bacon that they ate it raw).

I've also seen references to it being cooked by twisting the dough onto a ramrod or bayonet (but little firsthand documentation), but the only way I've been able to get the batter thick enough to keep it from falling off was to add some flour to it to make it like a thick dough (see Adam's recipe above).

[PogueMahone]

Re: Hoecakes!

In the field, you are only going to have cornmeal, water and grease to work with 90% of the time. There isn't much you can do with that. Mix water and cornmeal, pat out cake, put in grease and fry.

In all my life the only people I have ever known to add flour to cornmeal are those of northern extraction with no upbringing.

[lwtaggart]

Re: Hoecakes!

A great soldier quote can be found in letter home written by, Marion Hill Fitzpatrick. ANV member 45th Georgia dated March 11th, 1864.

"We drawed corn meal lard pork and coffee yesterday evening and had patty bread and coffee for breakfast this morning. They have drawn no flour here for four weeks and do not know when we will draw any more."

George Taggart

[LibertyHallVols]

Re: Hoecakes!

Curious if cornmeal was simply mixed with flour and lard and fried

-vs-

Either boiled or soaked with water to create a "mush" (I won't say "polenta" *wink* ) before frying?

[Tyler Underwood]

Re: Hoecakes!

Adding fat certainly adds flavor to the finished product. However it also acts as a binder to help the cakes stick together.
If a fellow was to find himself in the field and has the time to do so, it would serve him well to simmer or boil his cornmeal prior to using it to make hoecakes. The reason why is it releases the starches and when it cools down, the corn starch then acts as a binder to help hold the cakes together better.
It is the same principle as making cornmeal mush.
Now I have never run across any accounts of the original cast cooking hoecakes in this manner, that's not to say it didn't happen.

[yellowthornoftexas]

Re: Hoecakes!

Gentlemen,
This is all great information for a newb such as myself. As stated in earlier posts of mine, I'm in an effort to get my unit at least a 'little' more Campaigner minded and as such, since 'we' shut down for the winter out here in the oh so harsh climate of cali (notice sarcasm....LOL), I'll be attempting some of these to our Spring Tactical come March. If anyone has any good advice "do's and don'ts" on preparing that you don't want to clutter this topic with, please pm me. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

V/R
Al Martin

[Tyler Underwood]

Re: Hoecakes!

Let's say Pvt. Jonah finds himself in a position having to make a lot of hoecakes for an entire company. He is going to need a large mixing bowl to get the job done quickly and efficiently. So how would he go about finding a large bowl for the task at hand?

Easy! He would simply dig a small hole in the ground and lay his ground cloth over it rubber side up. Push that portion that is over the hole into the recently excavated void and just like magic, you have an instant mixing bowl!

[Elaine Kessinger]

Re: Hoecakes!

MOD BONNET ON:
Please allow me to give a gentle reminder that this is the citizen's section and thoughts here should reflect a non-military bias.
I'll let the thread stand, for now, as the same kinds of limited ingredients and ...shall we say "creative" cooking techniques can be found in non-military camping situations also.
Please feel free to start a brother thread in the Camp Of Instruction section to discuss further military usage of fried cornmeal in all it's delicious glory. :-)

Thank you. Carry on.

[Elaine Kessinger]

Re: Hoecakes!

A selection of documented period recipes for hoe-cakes.

From: American Cookery by Amelia Simmons, 1798
Johnny Cake, or Hoe Cake.
Scald 1 pint of milk and put to 3 pints of indian meal, and half pint of flower--bake before the fire. Or scald with milk two thirds of the indian meal, or wet two thirds with boiling water, add salt, molasses and shortening, work up with cold water pretty stiff, and bake as above.

From: New-England Cookery by Lucy Emerson, 1808
Johny Cake, or Hoe Cake.
Scald 1 pint of milk and put to 3 pints of indian meal, and half pint flower-- bake before the fire. Or scald with milk two thirds of the indian meal, or wet two thirds with boiling water, add salt, molasses and shortening, work up with cold water pretty stiff, and bake as above.

From: The Cook Not Mad by Unknown, 1831
No 106.
Johnny cake, or hoe cake.
Scald one pint of milk and put three pints of Indian meal, and a half a pint of flour; bake before the fire.
Or scald with milk two thirds of the Indian meal, or wet two thirds with boiling water, add salt, molasses and shortening, work up with cold water pretty stiff, and bake as above.

From: Directions for Cookery, In Its Various Branches by Eliza Leslie, 1840
HOE CAKE. --Beat the whites of three eggs to a stiff froth, and sift into a pan a quart of wheat flour, adding a salt-spoon of salt. Make a hole in the middle, and mix in the white of egg so as to form a thick batter, and then add two table-spoonfuls of the best fresh yeast. Cover it, and let it stand all night. In the morning, take a hoe-iron (such as are made purposely for cakes) and prop it before the fire till it is well heated. Then flour a tea-saucer, and filling it with batter, shake it about, and clap it to the hoe, (which must be previously greased,) and the batter will adhere till it is baked. Repeat this with each cake. Keep them hot, and eat them with butter.

From: Domestic Cookery by Elizabeth Ellicot Lea, 1869
A Virginia Hoe Cake.
Pour warm water on a quart of Indian meal; stir in a spoonful of lard or butter, some salt, make it stiff, and work it for ten minutes; have a board about the size of a barrel head, (or the middle piece of the head will answer,) wet the board with water, and spread on the dough with your hand; place it before the fire; prop it aslant with a flat-iron, bake it slowly; when one side is nicely brown, take it up and turn it, by running a thread between the cake and the board, then put it back, and let the other side brown. These cakes used to be baked in Virginia on a large iron hoe, from whence they derive their name.

From: What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking by Abby Fisher, 1881
9. Plantation Corn Bread or Hoe Cake.
Half tablespoonful of lard to a pint of meal, one tea-cup of boiling water; stir well and bake on a hot griddle. Sift in meal one teaspoonful of soda.

[fahtz]

Re: Hoecakes!

Having had the opportunity to cook the glorious hoe cake in many settings, I can say it is do-able. But to truly enjoy one, and have something that holds together- some of those methods have been covered. But we missed one. The Tallow Candle. You get some odd looks, but it adds a flavor and a consistency that you simply can not find in any other method. I dice up the candle, cut it in like you would butter. Drop a bit of the candle chunk in the pan, and fry away- just remember to take the wick out- it makes great fire starting material!

[10TnVI]

Re: Hoecakes!

Here's a period account of one method-Wilber Fisk, 2nd Vermont, Petersburg, 1864.
"fry out grease from salt pork-mix cornmeal and water to the consistecy of milk, dump into pan. Add oinions or potatoes if desired. Cook it down until it's almost starting to brown the cornmeal, then add more water. Keep stirring it almost constantly. Repeat the process with the water at least twice to remove the sandy texture of the cornmeal. After that cook it to dry and starting to brown"