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The Great Cornbread Conundrum: The Problem: For the first few years, there was something
missing at "Something Different": Cornbread, in at least one of its
infinite iterations, is featured at just about every traditional Southern
eatery and barbecue joint – and with good reason. Cornbreads
are simple and quick, easy to make, and the perfect accompaniment for
barbecue, soups, seafood and just about anything else. It is one of those
"comfort" things deeply engrained in American culture. We make our
own buns and subs but we have customers who have problems with wheat flour,
and so we wanted to offer a gluten-free alternative. The Cornundrum: Many restaurants make cornbread on
sheet pans in the morning, allow it to cool and serve it all day long. It
soon gets dry and crumbly and loses the moist, steamy "goodness" of
fresh cornbread. Most of the time it won't even melt butter. Many barbecue
joints throughout the South bake corn sticks or fry hushpuppies. To get that
nice crunchy crust on corn sticks you need to bake them in hot, cast iron
molds, which we don't have. We would also need to operate an extra oven just
for corn sticks – it gets hot enough in our deli in the summertime,
thank you. Hushpuppies are easy and good, but quickly mess up cooking oil and
require a separate fryer. I never
found a recipe that I thought would work for us. Most modern recipes for
cornbread and hushpuppies call for wheat flour and sugar – no help for
the gluten intolerant and an affront to cornbread connoisseurs. The Solution: Enter the homely, primitive and mostly
forgotten hoecake. Eminently practical and delicious, hoecakes (AKA
Johnnycakes, journeycakes, griddlecakes) are the
simplest and quickest of all cornmeal quick breads. We have the grill on all
of the time anyway, so there is no problem with dropping a few globs of
batter for a fresh batch. Wet and dry ingredients can be mixed ahead of time
and combined, along with a liquid (we use buttermilk) as needed. They are
good hot or cold and travel well for parties and catering. They are great for
breakfast slathered with butter and topped with syrup, molasses, honey or
jelly. As far as I know, nobody else in the business makes hoecakes, but,
after all, we are
"Something Different"! The Story: When English settlers first came to
photo
by Dan Gill Remnants of Colonial era
tobacco hoes and an Indian grindstone, used to grind corn, acorns and seeds
into meal. Found on Remlik Hall Farm (patented
1648-50) o
Ashcakes, as the name implies, were simply pones (oblong
pieces of dough about two inches thick, from the Algonquin word "appone") covered with hot ashes to bake. When done,
the ashes were brushed off and the pones sometimes rinsed in water. Pones
were often coated with dry meal or wrapped in leaves or cornhusks when
available, to keep them relatively ash free. o
Hoecakes: From Maryland on South, practically every
settler owned a tobacco hoe for planting and cultivating: Not like our modern
light garden hoes but, forged from heavy iron, they were wide and flat with
an iron strap on the back side for inserting a handle. A quick tap on the
ground dislodged the handle and the blade could then be placed over the fire
or on coals for a makeshift griddle. Thus, in the South, corn cakes cooked on
a griddle or on top of a wood stove are called "hoecakes". I have
found the remnants of several colonial "tobacco hoes" around our
farm and I have one at the store that the pigs rooted up last winter. The
flat top of the firebox on "Old 97" makes an excellent griddle and
I plan to put it to good use at the Oinkster
Festival. o
In the Northern colonies, there were not many hoes but
lots of rocks. Travelers could cook corn cakes on hot rocks, or fix a mess
before they left home, to eat on the trail. These little cakes traveled well
and were infinitely better than hard tack, so they acquired the name
"journey cakes", which was eventually corrupted to "Johnny
cakes". Food historians have other versions of the story, but I like
this one so I'm sticking to it. o
Bannock bread was baked by radiant heat on a flat board
(called a bannock board) inclined before a fire. During the War Between the
States, a soldier could prop his tin cups up in front of the fire as a small
bannock board. o
Dodgers were small patties of stiff cornmeal dough fried
in oil or fat. Later, when onions were added, they became
"hushpuppies". o
Mush (porridge, gruel) is simply cornmeal, water and a
little salt boiled in a pot until smooth. Once popular for breakfast, mush
has fallen from grace – probably because of the unappetizing names.
Italians re-introduced it as polenta and it is experiencing a resurgence in popularity. Cold mush can be sliced,
rolled in flour and fried. When made with eggs and milk, mush becomes batter.
The epitome of batter breads is spoon bread – light, rich and a test of
any good cook. As the country became more settled, cooking methods improved
and cornbreads became more sophisticated. Dutch
ovens and spiders (cast iron frying pans with three legs for hearth cooking)
allowed backcountry housewives to make true cornbread. The more primitive
hoecakes, ashcakes and bannock bread soon fell from favor, as they were
associated with a class of people too poor and backwards to make proper
cornbread. Eggs and milk or buttermilk were often added and cornbreads were baked in an oven. Some innocent but
misguided souls, obviously putting on airs, added flour and sugar or molasses
culminating in Anadama bread. The Recipe: I started my experiments with traditional
hoecakes: cornmeal, water and salt. They were good. Then I added minced
onion, eggs and baking soda and replaced the water with buttermilk to get
more rise and flavor. They were better. Then one evening I added minced
jalape–os and canned corn and the "Something Different Jalape–o
hoecake" was born – moist and flavorful but not really spicy as
jalape–os just add an assertive dimension. It took a while for customers to
figure out what they were, but now we make them all the time. This basic
recipe can be used for muffins, cornbread or hushpuppies. Something Different
Jalape–o Hoecakes Dry Pre-Mix for three batches: 6 cups (2 lbs.) finely ground corn meal 2 tsp salt 2 tsp adobo con pimento seasoning 3 tsp (1 Tbsp)
baking soda Wet Pre-mix for about 3 batches 1 Cup Jalapeno peppers, drained 1 1/2 Cups onion – about 1 medium Pulse in food processor to mince 1 – 15 oz can corn, drained 3/8 Cup Olive oil Pulse briefly Pack in ½ Pint (1 cup) Containers To make 1 batch or about 20, 3-4 inch hoecakes 1 Pint (2 cups) dry mix in mixing bowl ½ Pint (1 cup) wet premix In empty premix container lightly beat 2 eggs Stir into dry ingredients Shake buttermilk and stir in about 1 cup or enough for a fairly
stiff batter. Drop by spoonfuls on hot oiled griddle
and level with the back of the spoon. Flip when bubbles appear on the upper surface Bile
dem cabbage down Once
I had an old gray mule How that mule would kick He kicked with his dying
breath He shoved his hind feet
down his throat Traditional Appalachian fiddle
tune Something Different Country Store and Deli More Blurbs from a Country Store
Published in Pleasant Living
magazine September- October 2006 Previous: BBQ 101, Part III: The Meat |
