Hoe Cakes

Submitted by Fawndog

"This is an old civil war recipe that was found to be very good made from a hoe garden tool back then. Of course, if you don't have a garden hoe handy, a cast iron skillet should do."

 

• Ready In: 30mins
• Ingredients: 4
• Serves: 4-8

ingredients

• 2 cups cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 - 3⁄4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons bacon drippings

directions

1. Add salt to cornmeal, then water, & lastly, 1 T of the bacon drippings.
2. Heat the other T of drippings in a heavy iron skillet & make a round cake of cornmeal dough about 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick.
3. Place in hot skillet & cook slowly on top of stove (or over open fire) until brown on one side, then turn & brown the other side.
4. Serving size is approximate.

Reviews

[BeeTheLight]

This is fawndog's mom, and the above review is correct in that it is a very stiff batter, (obviously since if it was thinner it would not have been able to be made on the back of a hoe, hence the name "hoe cake"). When we made these, we did find them to have a rather bland taste as well, & a certain level of finesse is required when handling this thicker batter. However, it is important to remember when making these older recipes that their available ingredients were limited, & food was different back then, as were the expectations. To adapt it to modern use, you may want to add 2 T of sugar & 1-2 T more oil (bacon drippings) & thin it down some with a little more water to make it easier to work with in a frying pan. However, I am giving it 3 stars because the recipe as listed, for it's original intended use, is accurate.

 

[Darkhunter]

I'm really sorry that I could not give any more than 2 stars to this recipe. I tried and tried to make it work and it just wouldn't. The batter was crumbly and wouldn't hold a shape with the amount of water called for. I think the cakes should have been thinner than called for, also. What I finally got was tasteless. Unfortunately, will not be making this again.