edward@ukma.UUCP (Edward C. Bennett) (01/27/85)
When my mother was young, her grandfather used to make her something called Johnycakes. She descibes them to be similar to cornbread, but made from cornmeal mush and when baked they rise much the same way popovers do. They also had a 'shiney surface', not unlike the tops of fudge brownies (probably suggesting suger in the recipie). Her grandfather was a cook-from-memory type and never wrote the recipie down. He was from Oxford, New York and we suspect that the recipie is native to that area. Has anyone out there ever encountered anything like these? If so, would you please mail me a copy of your recipie? Even if you have something that only sounds 'close', mail it along anyway as my mother isn't quite sure what she is looking for. Many thanks in advance, edward ...cbosgd!hasmed!qusavx!ukma!edward "Bee healty, eat your honey"
kolling@magic.ARPA (01/30/85)
> When my mother was young, her grandfather used to make her >something called Johnycakes. She descibes them to be similar to >cornbread, but made from cornmeal mush and when baked they rise >much the same way popovers do. They also had a 'shiney surface', >not unlike the tops of fudge brownies (probably suggesting suger >in the recipie). Jonnycakes are indigenous to New England. True jonnycakes are made of just cornmeal, salt, and water and fried in a frying pan. Think of them as something you'd cook up as an alternative to starving if all you could afford was cornmeal, salt, and water, and you get the idea; (I think this is actually their origin.) Real jonnycake afficionados insist on white cornmeal rather than yellow, and the jonnycakes have to be made very carefully or they turn into leaden lumps. I'm not surprised if someone dumped in some sugar to try and improve things. Mercifully, I don't have a recipe for the original jonnycakes at hand, so I won't inflict it on the world.