Thursdays Are For Cooking….
Pancakes – Cornmeal Griddle Cakes From Scratch
This is an old-timey favorite, and occasionally, my dad used to fix it. I loved it, because the griddle cakes had a crispy edge to them and really soaked up the butter and maple syrup – but that’s just me. I was a kid. Kids are always hungry. Fix some good sausages to go with these bad boys, and I’m back in the kitchen with the snow outside flying and the wind howling around the chimney.
And yes, we had a real fireplace that could hold a real fire, not these video things for people who are afraid of the Real World. (No, that photo is not a couple corn cakes. It’s pancakes. Sorry.)
Note: you need both baking soda and baking powder for this.
So here goes:
Ingredients:
1 cup of boiling water
¾ cup of yello corn meal
1 cup of buttermilk or sour milk
2 eggs
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ cup salad oil
Directions:
– Pour water over the corn meal and stir until it is thick.
– Add milk and beat in the eggs
– Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda,
– Add dry ingredients (above) to the corn-meal mixture
– Stir in the salad oil
– Bake on a hot, ungreased griddle
Makes about 14 pancakes
I’m assuming that you are to drop these by the large spoonful (or dipper) onto the griddle, but I would start with a test pancake first. And by “bake”, the cookbook means that you stand there, monitor the cornmeal cakes and flip them once to fully cook. If I recall correctly, the edges should be a tiny bit crispy.
These are good when hot and fresh, with the addition of melty butter and maple syrup (the real stuff) to swim in. And of course, good sausages to add to the mix. And it is a very inexpensive way to feed your grandkids.
If I’m not mistaken, they may be what people used to call hoecakes, because they were cooked in the fireplace on the blade of a hoe used for gardening (no bent stem and cleaned up, of course) or some other kind of flat metal bladed instrument.
Did someone say “sausage?”
Home made breakfast sausage.
You’ll need:
2 1/2 pounds ground pork
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh sage leaves
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
You’ll do:
Combine ground pork with all other ingredients and chill for 1 hour. Form into patties and sauté (fry, Gun Bunny) over medium-low heat in a non-stick pan. Saute until brown and cooked through, approximately 10 to 15 minutes.
Find bulk ground pork at your local meat mart, or ask the butcher to grind some up, 70/30 % lean to fat. Or roll your own, even better.
Thanks, Ex.
My pleasure!
“…roll your own…” Why, I have nevah done that. I am glad that you saw Ta, I missed seeing him myself. Work on your spell check thingie tho.
Lubs me some pancakes/flapjacks/johnnycakes or whatever term you want to use for God’s little round bacon/sausage/syrup holders. Wanna get high speed low drag wid them boys, crumble up some cooked meat or sprinkle some fruit on your batter when you put it in the CAST IRON SKILLET for the “baking” process. A well seasoned cast iron skillet IS non stick cookware.
Got a deal yesterday at the K Roger on some bratwurst dogs and combo ground beef and porked beast. They seemed to have held the price of bacon to around $6-8. Upon checking the packages were not a 16 oz # but were 12 oz. I saw a repeat of what I saw week and 1/2 ago. The shelves were very spotty and this was on the morning after they received a truck shipment. Another talk with higher and the same story, they are only getting about 1/3 of what they order. Paper products aisle was nearly empty. Pet food was the same. Guess it’s time to bait the hog traps.
Thanks Ex, have butter, will travel. Let’s eat!
I have an article coming up on why goods haven’t been shipping, KoB. That should change before too long.
Those sound really good. Dammit, I gotta go buy cornmeal though. Hopefully I won’t need a small loan for it. Have you guys looked at the price of bacon lately? ~$10/pound where I am.
$10/pound for bacon? Holy cow, nobunny. Glad I bought a bunch of it a while back and froze it.
Lawsy, what IS the world coming to?
Gas at the pump this morning was $3.699 for 87 octane and creeping upward, and the other levels were far worse.
In the GB AO I paid $3.959/gal for 87 octane.
And we are in Texas!
I don’t get bacon often (or sausage) but given the family history I’ll live longer without them on a regular basis. Mrs. GB is very, very good keeping us on a budget – until I buy ammo.
Hmmm, price of bacon?
Just bought some at Wally World this past Sunday. $19.30 for a three pound package (Wright Brand) Same price now as it was back in August and September.
Great Value Brand was 17.28 for a three pound package.
Are you being taken for a ride there where you are?
Admittedly that’s at Kroger for the Oscar Meyer brand. A local brand is less expensive at about $7/pound. A few months ago bacon was about $7ish for OM and $5ish for the local. It’s sad, but I do not trust the local Wal-Mart. I’ve gotten so much spoiled food from them that I typically won’t buy perishables. I’m in a large metro area that has real meat markets(!) and I’m their #1 fan. But I keep my eye on how things are going at the Kroger as an indicator of the food supply and stuff.
We’re all being taken for a ride Claw. 😉
Meanwhile, Stone cave to the “woke”-tards are won’t perform “Brown Sugar” any more:
Personally, I feel ol’ J.C. Van Damme has a few choice words for Mick and the boys:
Just may have to try this one.
The grandkids enjoy eating my pancakes on Saturday mornings – it’s become a tradition on the GB Compound. This may add some variety to the offerings.
The blog upon which I help is called “Raised on Hoecakes.”
The name comes from an insult hurled at Thomas Jefferson by John Adams in the 1800 election.
Hoecakes are made with corn meal rather than wheat flour.
They were George Washington’s favorite breakfast.
The video below is a reenactor / historian at Mount Vernon.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecnSW1t4dLk&w=640&h=360%5D
They are also called “johnny cakes in some parts of the south.
They are really tasty as a breakfast staple, and as a base for something like pulled pork and coleslaw.
Drool drool.
Yum. Would indeed be a welcome change in the great eats department.
Must report on the results of last weeks penne trial. While the immediate results were outstanding, a further truth was uncovered. Maybe it was something I was supposed to already know, but however it should have gone down, I tried freezing some of the extra. Now, while it can be said that pasta freezes just fine, the thawed product is less than ideal. Very much less. Had the flavor not still been great, the texture was akin so impossibly vile that it would have been tossed.
Oh, well. Live and learn. Sometimes it’s live and relearn. Again. Or not.