Olde Timey Johnny Cakes | SouthernPaddler.com

Olde Timey Johnny Cakes

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
171
86
Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
1 egg, beaten
Stir into 2 cups cornmeal
1 tsp salt
1 1/4– 1 ½ cups milk to make thick batter
(Stir batter occasionally while cooking.) Drop spoonfuls of batter onto well-greased, hot skillet and fry to golden brown on both sides. Serve hot, with butter.
 

JEM

Well-Known Member
Tried these this morning as I enjoy my last day of holiday vacation.

These are good but heavy. Only needed one to satisfy me. Good camp food if you don't want to haul a lot of ingredients. Thought about cutting 1/2 the corn meal with bisquick. But then I pretty much of corn bread. Oh no! Break my heart. :lol:

Maybe I'll try cutting it with masa de harina (corn flour used to make corn tortillas, tamales... ). top with salsa for a southwestern type breakfast.
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
171
86
Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
Good ideas, Matt. Like you, I prefer all corn, and hadn't thought of masa harina.

For camp, I'd pre-mix this with powdered milk and powdered eggs. I'd also like to try them with minced onion added. EVERYTHING'S better with onion added.
 

oldsparkey

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2003
10,479
123
Central , Florida
www.southernpaddler.com
2 cups boiling water
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup cornmeal

Slowly add the cornmeal to the boiling water and cook for five minutes. Add the sugar, butter and salt. Add to a skillet with some bacon drippings in it and fry them up. At home , put them in a pan and then in the oven.

The Old Time Florida recipe for Johnnycake. ( I call it Cornbread )

1 cup sifted all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup corn meal
1 egg well beaten
1 cup buttermilk
2 Tablespoons butter , melted
2 Tablespoons Molasses

Sift 1st 5 ingredients together in a bowl; stir in the cornmeal.
Make a well in the center and mix the last 4 items to the dry ingredients.
Beat in till smooth but do not over beat it , a few lumps will not hurt.
Pour the batter into a greased pan and spread to the corners.Bake at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes or till the sides shrink from the side of the pan and it is brown on the top
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
171
86
Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
I made some up tonight. I added about 1/2 cup of diced sweet pepper, and 1/2 cup of diced onion. Next time, instead of 2 cups of cornmeal, I'll try 1 3/4 cups of cornmeal and 1/4 cup whole wheat flour. Some gluten will make them hang together better.
 

WDfrmTN

Well-Known Member
Kayak Jack said:
1 egg, beaten
Stir into 2 cups cornmeal
1 tsp salt
1 1/4– 1 ½ cups milk to make thick batter
(Stir batter occasionally while cooking.) Drop spoonfuls of batter onto well-greased, hot skillet and fry to golden brown on both sides. Serve hot, with butter.
They cook well on a hoe, shovel, etc. - or even a heated flat rock!
 

rhutchinson

Well-Known Member
Jan 18, 2008
138
0
Middle Tn.
Chuck, I had a grandmother that was a old time Flordia gal and there are some recipes of hers that I haven't been able to duplicate. One of them is her cornbread. She used to fry it in an 8" castiron skillet to have with fish or dried limas for supper. Does your old time recipe work on the stove top as well?

Richard
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
171
86
Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
Richard, if you're doing cornbread in a pan (cast iron's best) and not using an oven, you can "set" the dough partially by setting the pan on a stove or fire. After a few minutes, prop up the pan so the upper surface of the dough is exposed to heat from a fire. You'll likely have to turn the pan a few times as the yet uncooked dough sags in the partially upturned pan.

This is something I've read, but never tried. Bill Shook and I did try baking biscuits on a stick over a fire one time on hte North Fork of hte American River in the Sierras. We didn't have much good luck.
 

rhutchinson

Well-Known Member
Jan 18, 2008
138
0
Middle Tn.
Grandma's was fried, she turned it like a pancake so it was brown on both sides and about twice as thick as a pancake. I make a cake like hers that is edible, but something just ain't right! I worked up the recipe for it myownself :mrgreen: .I Am going to try Chuck's and see if it's a little closer.

Every Granny had her own thing going. I watched my Louisiana granny make biscuits dozens of times, she never measured anything, they came out the same every morning, and no one in the family have ever been able to copy them. She made two pans of biscuits and one pan of baked cornbread every morning. One or two slices of cornbread and half pan of biscuits were eaten most mornings and then out to the chickens went the rest of it! I asked one day why she made so many, she said "Honey, thats the least I can make"! She had raised 13 kids and that was as small as she could get her recipe down to!

Sorry so long winded, I like thinking about my Grannys!

RE: Cast Iron It's the only frying pan or roaster we use. We have a bunch, from dutch ovens to oven roasters, skillets, fancy cornbread pans, chicken friers etc. It's the only way to go!

Richard