The most basic recipes call for nothing but cornmeal, boiling water, and a little salt. The name, exact type of batter and cooking method varies from region to region. In this list is a historical recipe made with lard and sweetened with cider. The texture of this corn cake is dense.
Theses cakes can be cooked with bacon grease, lard, or oil. Some recipes include both eggs and milk. Others require the milk to be scalded.
The earliest reference to the term "johnny cake" is from South Carolina in 1739. They are sometimes called "johnnycakes," "journey cakes," "hoecakes," "corn cake," "corn pone," "ash cake," "Indian fritters," or "Shawnee cake."
Johnny cake recipe
1 tablespoon sugarCombine sugar and salt with meal in large mixing bowl. Scald with boiling water and stir well. Thin immediately with milk to a mixture that will drop easily from spoon (additional milk may be necessary: mixture should be consistency of thin mashed potato).
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup Carpenter's Johnnycake Meal
1 cup boiling water
3 to 4 tablespoons milk
Bacon grease for frying
Sweet butter
Drop by the spoonful onto medium hot griddle greased with 1 to 2 tablespoons of bacon grease (do not let griddle get dry or the cakes will stick). Cook 5 to 6 minutes on each side until a brown, crunchy crust is formed and inside is soft. Serve hot with butter.
Historic St. Mary's City
Southern Maryland Corn Cake recipe
3 cups corn flourCombine corn flour, cider, salt, and lard together into a large bowl. Add water until doughy (like play dough) consistancy. Roll a hand ful of dough into a ball. The ball should be the size of a golf ball. place the ball into the palm of your hand. Postion your other hand above the ball. Flatten the ball into a disk shaped cake. Brown the cake on both sides.
1/2 cup cider
2 pinches of salt
1/2 cup of lard
African American Johnnycake
1 cup of fine white cornmealIn a large bowl, combine the cornmeal, brown sugar, and salt with enough boiling water to make a batter just slightly thinner than mashed potatoes.
1 tablespoon of dark brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon of butter, melted
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil for the griddle
Stir in the milk and butter. Heat the oil on the griddle over medium high heat until hot but not smoking. Drop the batter by spoonfuls onto the griddle and fry, turning once, until both sides of the cake are well-browned, about 3 to 5 minutes per side. Serve with molasses and butter.
Hoecakes recipe
3/4 cup flourCombine all ingredients except the extra oil. Mix well. The batter should resemble a thick pancake batter. You may need more or less milk than called for. Just add milk slowly while watching the batter consistency.
1 1/2 cups corn meal
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 beaten eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup oil
extra oil, as needed for frying
In a heavy skillet, heat enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan (you can use a griddle if you have one).
Place several spoonfuls of batter in the skillet and smooth into a pancake-like shape.
Cook on one side until brown, turn & cook on other side (just like cooking pancakes). Add additional oil to skillet as needed to prevent sticking.
Makes a bunch of hoecakes--depending on size of each hoecake.