1 cup white cornmeal
1 cup plus a little more water........about 1 1/4 cup
salt to taste
The water does not have to be hot for this kind. You just mix it together
and let sit for about 10 minutes. It will be like a slurry and you will have to
stir with each one you pour out. You have to use a flat hoe cake
skillet......without sides. I use about 1/8 inch of corn oil and stir and ladle out onto
the not too hot skillet. The batter will spatter and spit and make lace as
it runs across the surface. That is what you want. When the edges are golden,
you can turn it. You don't want these thick at all but full of holes just
like lace. You can turn them out on a plate and flip over but given the amount
of oil, I find this to be very messy. I have two wooden flippers and I put
one under and the other over and flip them that way. Then when golden and
crisp, I remove to paper towels. The above amount is what I worked out for my 82
year old mother to make for herself. I double it for our dinner. Take note of
the consistency of the batter and you may have to add a little more water as
you go along to keep it the same. I find it tricky at first until you get the
feel of it. You may have to work with it testing the consistency to make
sure they are not too thick or too thin and stir because the meal will settle
with each one. These are wonderful and very delicate. Learned these from my
Granny too. Just one historical point on the old meal. When our ancestors ate
stone ground cornmeal and wheat flour, they inadvertently ate powdered stone.
Very few of them got to middle age with their teeth as a result of this. It
wore them down terribly.
Judy
My Bertie County connection is my Davis line. My Granny learned this
recipe from her GM Herodius Davis whose ancestors spent some time in Bertie Co.
before the Revolution.
horace@peele.info Horace Peele
My Mom "Miss Annie" used to make flour hoe cakes rather than corn meal hoe
cakes, but she also used the griddle on top of the stove... I wish I had
one now. The last time she did that for me was when she was about 98 or so,
I asked her if she would make me one and she took a whole can of ready made
biscuits and kneed them together and got out the griddle. It was good just
because she did it for me but not the same as she used to make. Best in the
world.
Rose Denson
Hello from Texas,
My Great grandmother on down to myself have made Hoe Cake for our broods. I
remember as a child of 4 years old a fall spent camping in a cedar break
while my Dad and grandpa cut cedar post. We were there about three weeks. I
have pictures and wonderful memories of that time. Mom and grandma cooked
pinto beans in a huge cast-iron pot , like a washpot, over the fire. At meal
time the lid was put on them while they simmered , greased and Hoe Cake
was baked on top of the lid.
No exact recipe that I know of, just the following:
Flour, baking powder and salt. Water enough to make a batter sort of like a
pancake batter. Then fried in the lard on the lid of the pot.
At home in later years mom used selfrising flour and water. That is how I
have always done it. No measuring the salt and baking powder that way.
Mom always called the bread made with cornmeal, Hot Water Corn Bread or Log
Cabins. The Log Cabin name was due to the impression left on the round cake
as she patted it out. I don't have an exact recipe, but it went like this:
White self rising cornmeal
Boiling water
A bowl of cold water ( to dip her hands in between patties to keep from
being burned!)
Cast iron skillet with hot melted lard
The water was hot poured in a large bowl holding the cornmeal, just enough
to do three or so patties at a time. These were fried, turning once until
golden brown. SOOOO GOOD!
Things that go with Hoe Cakes and Cornbread
Nina Cobb
My family raised pigs, peanuts and tobacco in Bertie. So that country ham went in those beans and with those hoe cakes. Keep up the good work.
Reese Moses reese7@earthlink.net
Turnip greens, Virginia, what else? I grew up in the country and learned to eat and love greens. Nothing in the world today as good as turnip greens and hot water cracklin' bread. No one has mentioned that either, I don't believe. My dear black Mammy made regular hot water bread with meal, salt and boiling water and added finely chopped cracklings from our smokehouse. Fried in bacon grease, best in the world. I love it all today and forget the calories!
Bryant7898@aol.com
What kind of beans? During the depression, any beans that were moving, we would eat, but dried lima beans (butter beans) navy beans, with a little fat back, and black eyed peas. We usually didn't have meat to put in them, but they filled the tummy (as well as the air after about 2 hours). When nothing else was available, the corn field peas would be cooked. I haven't a clue what corn field peas were, but they worked when you were hungry. A pot of beans with a piece of hot hoe cake after church was a treat for a hungry kid, which I always was.
Hot water cornbread
My Grandma Cowan made these at least twice a week and my daughters and
sons-in-law want them every time we cook at my house. As for what goes with
them, try good old pinto beans cooked with ham or sausage, thickened Irish
potatoes and greens, of course. It's an absolute guarantee that I'm going
to overeat.
Use equal amounts of meal and flour (not self-rising). It doesn't matter if
you make a small amount or a large amount, just equal yellow cornmeal and
flour. Salt to taste. Mix well and add boiling water, about 1/2 cup at a
time, stirring well after each addition. When all of the meal is wet (It
should be about the consistency of Pla-Doh) let it sit a few minutes to
absorb the water. Use a bowl of cold water to wet your hands before making
each patty. It will keep your hands from burning and also make the dough
easier to handle.Scoop up a big spoonful and shape into patty about 1/2
inch - 1 inch thick and fry in about 1/2 inch of hot oil until golden
brown. If your oil is too deep your bread will cook apart. 1 cup flour and
1 cup meal makes about 8 large patties. I guarantee there'll be seconds and
even thirds called for ! Lynelle lynelle3@bellsouth.net
Corn Bread
These recipes tell us alot about our ancestors and their migrations and
adaptations! Enjoy!
OVEN VARIETY
"Reese Moses"
Yes, Virginia, I know. My Sunday guests fight for the last piece!
Buy some Lily White corn meal mix, add 1/2 teaspoon sugar,(no more!) 1/3 cup
corn or olive oil, an egg and 2 1/2 cups of corn meal mix. (I've tried them
all and Lily White makes the best but all are quite good) I use 3/4 cup
instant dry milk and enough tap water to make a medium thin batter.
I spray my 8 sectioned iron skillet (two of these) with Pam or similar, add
about 3/4 teaspoon olive or corn oil to that, heat to a just smoking temp
and put about 1/4 cup of mixture in each.
Bake in 475 * oven til brown It's thick enough to slice and butter, no
crumbles, and thin enough to be delicious, crusty all over because the
pieces are trianglar in shape. What's left over, if any, I freeze and
reheat, either by placing in slow oven about 325* or slicing and buttering
and toasting.
Recipe (didn't use the mix of course) from the Jacocks family from Bertie
to TN.
================
Arline L. Dement"
I have baked corn bread like my mom and grandmother for years in nothing
but a iron skillet, Black one that I have had for years. They were both
from Georgia.
I do not measure anything. I
use
1 cup corn meal (yellow or White)
1 cup Flour
couple of tablespoons of any Oil I have on hand
salt to taste
I add cup of sugar ( and my daughter started add the sugar, as her father
had a sweet tooth.)
1 egg
couple of Teaspoons of Baking powder
Oil Skillit and flour it and bake in the oven until crisp and very brown.
It does not fall apart unless you use to much shortening or oil in it. that
is why they fall apart.
My husband still puts it in his glass of milk, and that is his desert.
===============
"Jan Holloway"
My Bertie Co folks left in 1835 ultimately ending up in Texas,
but I know how to make real southern cornbread since my
grandmother taught me as a girl and her grandmother taught her.
Here's the recipe. Like all great cooks my grandmother seldom
measured anything so amounts are approximate).
:
1 c flour
1 c cornmeal
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoons salt
1 egg
1 cup milk or enough to make a thick pourable batter
Mix together but don't over stir.
Now here's the trick to that crisp crust. Melt a tablespoon or
two regular Crisco in an iron skillet and heat it in a 450 degree
oven until it's almost smoking. Pour the batter onto the fat and
bake for fifteen or twenty minutes (shorter time if in a large
skillet). Can also make individual muffing, just put a small
amount of fat in each tin.
One last thought -- no sugar added ever. Grandmother always said
sugar in cornbread is a Yankee invention.
====
"Harper"
I really don't have a recipe for the cornbread that you want but I will
tell you how I make it. These measurements are approximate:
2 cups corn meal (plain)
1/2 cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 egg (beaten)
1/4 cup oil
Milk (enough to make batter almost soft.)
Pour into oiled and heated iron skillet and bake at 450 degrees until
brown. My folks think it is very good.
Mary Harper
=====
TOP OF THE STOVE VARIETY
"Terri P. Powers"
This is how my Mamma made cornbread. Until I left eastern North
Carolina, I never knew that you could fix cornbread in the oven.
Make sure that you use yellow corn meal, and not the self-rising kind
either. Mix it with canned evaporated milk. Add a little sugar for
flavoring. Bacon grease or lard is most likely what my mamma used to fry it
in. Don't try to make a big batch of this. Use a small iron skillet that
has years of cooking built up on it. The cornbread needs to be just a
little thicker than a pancake. Most likely if it is crumbling, it's because
it's too thick.
====
"Sally M. Koestler"
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.7 [en] (Win98; I)
X-Accept-Language: en
To: Crilley
Subject: Re: [NCBERTIE] Cornbread!
Hi! I believe that the corn bread requested is the very simple corn pone
or griddle cake. My mother said -2 cups cornmeal mixed with 1 cup water
or more --1/2 teaspoon salt --mix,
add water until stiff. Cook on hot greased griddle. about 10
minutes to each side.
The trick is to get enough water in the mixture, but not too much. My
grandmother told me that was what she cooked for those her father and
those 10 brothers of hers when she was eight.
Anyway this is the corn pone Mama served with fried fish. It was cooked
on top of the stove. There were also many many different corn breads
baked in the oven. Sally
=======
Judith
Dear Virginia, and all, Well, finally something we can sink our teeth
into since some of us have yet to find our lost relatives. This is how
we make it in Texas--passed down from SC since before that War of
Northern Aggression.
Skillet Cornbread
1-1/2 Cups of yellow cornmeal
1-1/2 Cups flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 Cup sugar
2 Eggs
Enough milk to make a stiff batter--about a cup or so.
1/4 cup melted butter
Heat the 1/4 cup of butter(1/2 stick) in 10 inch cast iron skillet on
top of stove. This will grease the skillet for you. when melted, pour
melted butter into batter and mix. Pour into skillet and bake in 400
degree oven for about 25 minutes. Don't brown top too much as the
bottom of this will always be quite a bit browner than the top. Makes a
nice crust, top and bottom. It's pouring it into a hot buttered skillet
that does the trick for the nice firm crust.
--God bless all the South and God bless Texas,
======
charlotte young
Old-To: NCBertie-L@rootsweb.com
Subject: [NCBERTIE] Cornbread!
To: NCBERTIE-L@rootsweb.com
Resent-From: NCBERTIE-L@rootsweb.com
X-Mailing-List: archive/latest/4273
X-Loop: NCBERTIE-L@rootsweb.com
Resent-Sender: NCBERTIE-L-request@rootsweb.com
Try these lacy hoecakes:
Mix 1 c. self-rising cornmeal, 1/2 tsp. salt and 2 T.
flour until blended. Stir in water until mixture is
soupy. Place about 1 Tbs. oil (of course, Ma-Ma used
lard) in a hot cast-iron skillet. Pour in enough
batter to lightly cover bottom of skillet, shake
slightly until frilly around the edges. Cook on
medium-high so as not to burn. When lightly browned,
flip and cook other side. Grease pan after each
turning. Cool on rack to prevent sweating while the
next hoecake is cooking. Now you can slather the
butter on. Don't burn your tongue.
Charlotte Carter Young
===========
(Yes I do )( skchaff@foothill.net ) I like it so much that my family sends
it to from N.C. it to Calif. You have to have water ground unbolted white
corn meal . Not found in Calif. You mixes the meal with water and a pinch of
salt I don't measure it is almost like pancake batter, just a tiny bit
thicker. Put it in a black iron skillet in about a fourth of a inch of oil(
I use olive now because, it is better for you) but old time way was with bacon
grease. or lard .and bake it in a very hot oven about 450 to 500 don't make
it thick about a 1/2'' that's the baked way If you want to fry it make it
the same way Put frying pan( Blk.Iron is best kind ) add grease 1/2' or so get
it real hot and spoon in the small cake and brown both side, this is hoe
cakes . if you want to make, lace cakes just make batter thinner than a pan
cake and spoon it in brown both side and put a little salt on it (some people
now put eggs and milk , Buttermilk and baking powe and soforth in it I do
for other types of bread) But.that's not the way my mother and grand
mothers made and I like it the way they made it . My children and
Grandchildren love it I always fix it for them when they come to visit. I do
use other receipt , For spoon bread , Batter bread, corn sticks ,Hush puppies,
and Ect. If you want to try it order from Abbitt's Mills , Williamston N. C.
27892 order the white meal Stone ground unbolted, Plain not self raising..
They will send it to you the cornmeal is cheaper than the shipping . but worth
it to me ..I have been ordering cornmeal sent all over the USA and even over
seas when we were living their. I live in a Sun City Villages everyone is over
55 and I have people over to eat real often they all love my cornbread and
it's something very few people have ever had and , they did it was when they
were very young. Just like the Smoked hams fromN.C. I guess I told you
more than you wanted to know. But I love to share and I love to cook and I
cook different kinds of food but the food from home are what I like bests.
as
always Sarah skchaff@foothill.net I am in
Roseville,calif
=====
"Daisy M. White"
In my personal opinion cornbread is only as good as the cornmeal
you use. For many years I transported a local cornmeal to my
family in Florida as they were unable to buy it there. Believe
me, the cornmeal I bought in FL was like eating sand.
My mother was a great cook, and she never used a recipe. She
used white medium ground cornmeal, added maybe one tablespoon of
flour to a cup of cornmeal (this is to hold the cornmeal together
and not crumble) and salt to taste. She stirred in water until
she got a creamy mixture, then she spooned enough batter into
a skillet of oil to make the size cornmeal cake she wanted. Brown
it on one side and then turn over to brown the other side.
Small cakes are made about the size of the top of a cup. To keep
from standing over the stove and frying individual cakes a lot
of people bake the cornbread, and then cut it up into squares. The
thinner the batter is, the crispier the cornbread will be.
CORNMEAL DUMPLINGS
To make cornmeal dumplings she used the above with less water and
patted cornmeal dumplings to go in the hot boiling pot licker that
she was cooking her vegetables.
=======
"JeanneBain"
You talking about the johnny cakes? The one that you use cornmeal
(white or yellow, your choice) , add salt and enough water to make it
all hold together (enough water that it is not dry and crumbly), so that
you can put a ball of in your hand and pat it out to a circle (about 1/4
inch thick). It helps to wet the hands.
In the "skillet" melt just enough lard to cover the bottom, get it nice
and hot, add the cornmeal patties and cook slowly, turning once so
that they are nice and tan with brown on the "high marks"...drain on
paper towel.
These are good with anything on them.
They are also good with all sorts of greens and beans.
Jeanne
=====
Carroll Leggett
Virginia:
I am not really sure what kind of cornbread this person wants, but can tell
you about one kind my mother made, and she must have learned how in Bertie
where she was reared.
Fried "lace" cornbread.
As made by Ruby Inez Harden Leggett (later Lanier)
Born near Green's Cross (or "Hardentown"), then reared in Windsor, then
lived on the Williamston Highway near "Pollocks."
Ingredients are corn meal (plain, not self-rising), "dash" of plain flour
(though not required),salt, pepper and water. Mother never made cornbread
with sugar, eggs, etc, as ingredients. For "lace" cormbread, mix the
ingredients so the batter runs freely out of a big spoon. Have cooking oil
very hot (flip a drop of water in and if it pops and sizzles it is ready)
and use a teflon coated pan for easier cooking (though Mother used an iron
skillet). Pour a large serving spoonful of batter into the cooking oil,
The "cake" should be thicker in the middle and get thinner around the
edges. You have mastered it when the cooking oil will bubble through the
edges and cook without having the batter break up. Brown on one side until
edges are crisp and flip. Watch carefully because it will take far less
time to cook the second side. Should be able to get six or eight into a
good sized frying pan. Electric fry pan is great for this because you can
control the leat better. If you don't want to make "lace" cornbread, just
make the batter thicker. Still should run out of the spoon. It it will
not, you have the batter too thick.
Wish I could give measurements for ingredients, but have never measured
them in my life. Just have to learn to do it right by trial and error.
Wish I had time to share two more kinds. Maybe later.
CORNMEAL DUMPLINGS
Carroll Leggett
How about talking about cornmeal dumplings? Is becoming a lost
art. My Mother made them. I can make them and I know the ladies around
Siloam Church can make them because they show up on the table at
homecoming, etc. same ingredients as above but they are made up in thick
cakes that you shape and mold in your hand and are steamed/boiled on top of
vegtables that are cooked "in the pot." was an easy eway to feed lots of
hungry mouths, including family and "hands" in the days when you had to
feed everyone who worked for you at noon. Mother called it "boiling the
pot" because everything -- meat (you ate the seasoning meat), vegetables,
bread -- was cooked in one big pot.
======
I would suggest that anyone interested in information about Bertie County
Schools check the Bertie County High School Principals Report found in the
NC Archives in Raleigh. This is a yearly report of graduating students with
names and class year starting in c1926 until 1964 until the county open
Central Bertie County High School. In 1924 NC passed legislation stating
that students who graduated from non-accredited institutions could not
enroll in any of the state owned colleges or universities. Due to pressure
from parents the school board change the school year to 160 days (8 Months)
and from nine to eleven grades with eight to eleven designated as high
school. A few years pry to 1926 the school year was only four months
starting in late November through March. This schedule was to accommodate
the planting, growing and harvest of farm products.
In 1943 the school year was increased to 180 days or nine months. Grade one
through twelve was also added that year. Today we have Kindergarten through
grade twelve in all schools.
Research minutes: Bertie County Board Education in Windsor NC.
Visit Office: Superintendent of Bertie County Public Schools, Windsor NC.
or
Virginia Crilley varcsix@hot.rr.com
Last update:Thursday, 04-Mar-2004 15:50:21 MST
