jerem@tekgvs.UUCP (Jere Marrs) (02/10/85)
This is in response to a request by Edward Bennett for a recipe for johnnycakes. It must be a recipe originating in New York. I searched all of my Kentucky cookbooks for anything similar to what you described and came up wanting. But, so that it isn't a complete loss, here is a recipe for spoon- bread which, I believe, could be cooked as you describe johnnycakes. Preheat oven to 400 deg F. 2C milk 1t sugar (more or less) 1/2t salt 2T butter 1/2C white cornmeal (NOT yellow!) 3 eggs, separated A 1&1/2 qt. greased souffle dish Pour 1&1/2 C of the milk into a saucepan to gently heat. Mix the dry ingredients in a small bowl and mix in the remaining 1/2 C milk. Allow this to sit until milk is hot. When steam rises from the heating milk, add the cornmeal mixture. Cook gently with stirring until the mixture has thickened. When large bubbles are forming, remove from the heat, place the butter on the top, cover, and set aside to cool. Add the yolks of the three eggs to the cooled cornmeal mush and mix. Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold into the mush mixture. Pour into the greased souffle dish and bake in the oven until the top is brown all over. It will puff quite a bit, even above the sides of the souffle dish. It will cook for about 40 minutes to reach this stage. It should be rushed to the table out of the oven to the oohs and aahs of your guests. It's wonderful. I think you could spoon out the mixture onto a greased cookie sheet and get something similar to your description of johnnycakes. The spoonbread (cornmeal souffle) browns in a manner similar to your description. You could whip the whole eggs in a powerful mixer until they are fluffy and fold into the mush. The result would be a bit heavier and might be closer to a "cake" texture and weight. In fact, my original recipe from my mother,grandmother, etc., whipped the whole eggs rather than separating them. I guess separating the eggs makes it a souffle instead of spoonbread! Either way, I can't get enough of it. A note regarding the cornmeal: Only white cornmeal should be used. You are lucky, Mr. Bennett, living in Lexington. You can get Weissenberger's water-ground white cornmeal. That's the best there is. In case your local store is out, you can get a price list from: Weisenberger Mills, Inc. Box 215 Midway, Kentucky 40347 They also have a retail sales room right there at the mill on Elkhorn Creek in Midway. Weisenberger Mills publishes a recipe book too. You can get it at Garrett Orchards store out at Patchen Village there in Lexington. There are some other recipes for cornmeal breads such as: Cornbread Corn dodgers Cornmeal icebox rolls Fried cornbread which I'll have to put on the net. -enjoy! Jere M. Marrs Tektronix, Inc. M.S. 50-324 P.O. Box 500 Beaverton, Oregon 97077 tektronix!tekgvs!jerem