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Cornmeal Griddle Cakes

Source of Recipe

From "Jubilee" by Toni Tipton-Martin


Recipe Introduction

"Visitors to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello praised his enslaved French-trained chef, James Hemings, for a special meal of fried chicken with corn cakes and cream gravy. In early twentieth-century Charleston, gubernatorial butler William Deas was honored for the identical meal. And the recipe for cornmeal batter cakes earned a cook named Marcellus star status in Minnie C. Fox's Blue Grass Cook Book. I brought the 1904 edition of Blue Grass back to life, publishing a facsimile edition in 2005, because of its tributes to the black cooks of the region. Marcellus followed a recipe for cornbread, stirring in less milk to make cakes that were just thick enough to drop from a spoon and cook on a hot surface rather than in an oven. After tasting dozens of updated and classic versions to compose this recipe, I am convinced that finely milled or medium-grind cornmeal is a fine alternative to the stone-ground variety that would have originally have been called for. These cakes cook up light, making them a surprising alternative to plain bread at any meal."

List of Ingredients

◦ 1 cup cornmeal
◦ 1 tablespoon sugar
◦ � teaspoon baking soda
◦ 1 teaspoon baking powder
◦ � teaspoon salt
◦ 2 large eggs
◦ 1 tablespoon melted butter, shortening, lard, or bacon drippings, cooled, plus more for greasing the pan
◦ 1 cup buttermilk


Recipe

In a bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, melted butter, and buttermilk. Mix the buttermilk mixture into the cornmeal mixture and stir just until blended.

Heat a lightly greased griddle or skillet over medium-high heat. Drop the batter by tablespoon onto the hot pan. Cook until bubbles form on the surface and the edges are set, then flip and cook another 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Makes 20 small pancakes




❧ Plantation Corn Bread or Hoe Cake
What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking (Abby Fisher, 1881)

"Half tablespoon of lard to a pint of meal, one teacup of boiling water; stir well and bake on a hot griddle.
Sift in meal one teaspoonful of soda."