The modern johnnycake is found in the cuisine of New England[3] and is often claimed as originating in Rhode Island.[1] A modern johnnycake is fried cornmeal gruel, which is made from yellow or white cornmeal mixed with salt and hot water or milk, and sometimes sweetened. In the Southern United States, the term used is hoecake, although this can also refer to cornbread fried in a pan.
johnnycake
Indigenous peoples of the Americas using ground corn for cooking are credited with teaching Europeans how to make the food.[15] It is also claimed that johnnycakes were made by the Narragansett people as far back as the 1600s.[16]
The difference between johnnycake and hoecake originally lay in the method of preparation, though today both are often cooked on a griddle or in a skillet. Some recipes call for baking johnnycakes in an oven,[22] similar to corn pones, which are still baked in the oven as they were traditionally.[23]
Yaniqueques or yanikeke are a Dominican Republic version of the johnnycake, supposedly brought over in the nineteenth century by English-speaking migrants (possibly of Afro-Caribbean descent). These cakes are made with flour, baking powder, butter and water; they are typically deep-fried.[29] They are a popular beach snack, especially in Boca Chica.[30][31]
Johnnycake is a traditional staple across the island.[32] Some people call these fried dumplings whilst others say fried johnnycakes. Recipe incorporates flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, margarine or butter and water or milk. Once kneaded, the dough is fried in cooking oil.
The modern johnnycake is a staple in the cuisine of New England,[3] and New Englanders claim it originated in Rhode Island.[1][16] A modern jonnycake is fried gruel made from yellow or white cornmeal that is mixed with salt and hot water or milk, and sometimes sweetened. In the Southern United States, the same food is referred to as a hoecake.
The settlers of New England learned how to make johnnycakes from the local Pawtuxet Indians, who showed the starving Pilgrims how to grind and use corn for eating. When the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in 1620, most of their wheat brought from England had spoiled on the long voyage. It is said that Myles Standish (1584-1656), the military leader of the Plymouth Colony, discovered a cache of corn stored by the Indians.
A second version involves a tavern that never materialized, a drunken visitor and a Johnnycake food item prank. The last and most plausible version as well as most humorous involve the pioneer tale of Tobias Williams and this local 1818 tavern. Seems Tobias stopped at the area tavern and was served johnnycakes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. He left a review of his dining experiences via a sign. In time and perhaps as a joke saw a large Johnnycake added to the sign. Stagecoaches came and pulled up to the tavern on Johnnycake Ridge.
A johnnycake is a small, round pancake made from Rhode Island-grown whitecap flint cornmeal. It has been a staple here since the tiny colony was founded in 1646. Johnnycake took the place of bread in Colonial times and is still widely eaten at dinner as well as at breakfast in rural parts of Rhode Island. But there all agreement ends.
The main controversy concerns the proper texture of a johnnycake. People in western Rhode Island scald the cornmeal with boiling water to make their johnnycakes thick and soft. Eastern Rhode Islanders prefer johnnycakes made with unscalded meal and fried as thin and crisp as crepes.
I ate johnnycakes that were as crisp as cracklings and almost as skinny as playing cards. I ate johnnycakes made with scalded meal that resembled pan-fried polenta. I ate johnnycakes at greasy spoons, swank country inns, private homes and lunch counters. I ate newfangled dishes, such as johnnycakes with creamed lobster and whitecap flint cornmeal polenta, and time-honored classics such as traditional Indian pudding.
This is the simplest johnnycake. Serve it as a side dish for supper or for breakfast with maple syrup. (A purist might take exception to the syrup, but it goes well with the sweetness of the cornmeal.) Johnnycakes are quite fragile. For the best results, use a thin, wide spatula to turn them.
Heat about 2 teaspoons butter or oil in heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Ladle batter in 2- to 3-tablespoon batches onto skillet to form 3-inch pancakes. Fry 1 minute per side or until edges are brown. Slather with butter and serve at once. Makes 20 to 24 johnnycakes.
Johnnycake is a cornmeal flatbread, similar to a pancake, consisting of fried cornmeal, salt, and hot water or milk. It is a staple food in the Rhode Island area, where they are consumed at all times of the day - for breakfast, when they are drizzled with butter and syrup or broken up and combined with milk and sugar, or for other meals, when they act as a substitute for rice or potatoes, and sometimes even get served as a dessert. The name is likely based on jonakin, a word that is derived from another word, jannock, which is the term used by the slaves to describe a cake made of Native American corn. Another theory says it derives from journeycake, an English term referring to durable cornmeal cakes made with no butter or eggs which were carried in saddlebags and on ships during long journeys. It is believed that johnnycakes were invented by the corn-growing Native American tribes that were once the dominant group around Rhode Island. In addition to being popular in the United States, the modern version of the dish is still consumed in Colombia, Bermuda, and Saint Croix.
Other historians that think the colonists, who often slurred their words, called these Shawnee cakes. But either could be the origin of the johnnycake, which is a cornmeal flatbread that is something between a tortilla and a pancake. 2ff7e9595c
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