In any sort of home-made bread (either white or brown) a handful or more of Indian meal will be found an improvement, rendering it moist and sweet.
BOSTON RYE AND INDIAN BREAD.--Two quarts of Indian meal.--Two quarts of rye meal.--Half a pint of strong fresh yeast.--Half a pint of West India mola.s.ses.--A small table-spoonful of salt. Sift the rye and Indian meal into a large pan or wooden bowl; and mix them, well together, adding the salt. Have ready half a pint of water, warm but not hot. Mix with it the mola.s.ses, and then stir into it the yeast. Make a hole in the middle of the pan of meal; pour in the liquid; and then with a spoon work into it a portion of the flour that surrounds the hole, till the liquid in the centre becomes a thick batter. Sprinkle the top with rye meal; lay a thick cloth over the pan; and set it in a warm place to rise. In three or four hours it should be light enough to appear cracked all over the surface. Then pour into the middle (by degrees) about a pint of warm water, (it must not be hot,) and as you pour, mix it well all through the dough, till the whole becomes a round ma.s.s. Sprinkle some rye flour on the dough, and having floured your hands, knead it long and hard, (at least half an hour, and after it ceases to stick to your hands,) turning it over as you proceed. Then sprinkle the dough again with flour, cover it, and again set it in a warm place to rise. Have the oven ready, and of the proper heat, so that the bread may be put in as soon as it has completely risen the second time. When perfectly light, the dough will stand high, and the surface will be cracked all over. This quant.i.ty will be sufficient for a common-sized loaf. Set it directly into the oven, and bake it about two hours. When bread has done rising, it will fall again if not put into the oven. As soon as it is done, wrap it immediately in a clean coa.r.s.e towel wrung out of cold water, and stand it up on end till it is cool.
This is a palatable, cheap, and wholesome bread.
It may be mixed thinner, with a larger portion of water, and baked in a deep tin or iron pan.
If the dough should have stood so long as to become sour (which it will, if mixed over night) restore it by kneading in a small tea-spoonful of pearlash or sal-eratus melted in a little warm water.
EGG PONE.--Three eggs.--A quart of Indian meal.--A large table-spoonful of fresh b.u.t.ter.--A small tea-spoonful of salt.--A half-pint (or more) of milk. Beat the eggs very light, and mix them with the milk. Then stir in, gradually, the Indian meal; adding the salt and b.u.t.ter. It must not be a batter, but a soft dough, just thick enough to be stirred well with a spoon. If too thin, add more Indian meal; if too stiff, thin it with a little more milk. Beat or stir it _long and hard_. b.u.t.ter a tin or iron pan. Put the mixture into it; and set the pan immediately into an oven, which must be moderately hot at first, and the heat increased afterward. A Dutch oven is best for this purpose. It should bake an hour and a half or two hours, in proportion to its thickness. Send it to table hot, and cut into slices. Eat it with b.u.t.ter, or mola.s.ses.
INDIAN MUSH.--Have ready on a clear fire, a pot of boiling water. Stir into it, by degrees, (a handful at a time,) sufficient Indian meal to make a very thick porridge, and then add a very small portion of salt, allowing not more than a level tea-spoonful to a quart of meal. You must keep the pot boiling all the time you are stirring in the meal; and between every handful stir hard with the mush-stick, (a round stick about half a yard long, flattened at the lower end,) as, if not well stirred, the mush will be lumpy. After it is sufficiently thick and smooth, keep it boiling an hour longer, stirring it occasionally. Then cover the pot closely, and hang it higher up the chimney, or set it on hot coals on the hearth, so as to simmer it slowly for another hour. The goodness and wholesomeness of mush depends greatly on its being long and thoroughly boiled. It should also be made very thick. If well made, and well cooked, it is wholesome and nutritious; but the contrary, if thin, and not sufficiently boiled. It is not too long to have it three or four hours over the fire, first boiling, and then simmering. On the contrary it will be better for it. The coa.r.s.er the corn meal the less cooking it requires. Send it to table hot, and in a deep dish. Eat it with sweet milk, b.u.t.termilk, or cream; or with b.u.t.ter and sugar, or with b.u.t.ter and mola.s.ses; making a hole in the middle of your plate of mush; putting some b.u.t.ter into the hole, and then adding the sugar or mola.s.ses.
Cold mush that has been left, may be cut into slices, or mouthfuls, and fried next day, in b.u.t.ter, or in nice drippings of veal, beef, or pork; but not mutton or lamb.
INDIAN HASTY PUDDING.--Put two quarts of milk into a clean pot or sauce-pan. Set it over the fire, adding a level tea-spoonful of salt, and, when it comes to a boil, stir in a lump of fresh b.u.t.ter about the size of a goose-egg. Then add (a handful at a time) sufficient Indian meal to make it very thick, stirring it all the while with a mush-stick.
Keep it boiling well, and continue to throw in Indian meal till it is so thick that the stick stands upright in it. Then send it to table hot, and eat it with milk, cream, or mola.s.ses and b.u.t.ter. What is left may be cut into slices, and fried next day, or boiled in a bag.
INDIAN MEAL GRUEL.--This is an excellent food for the sick. Having sifted some Indian meal, mix in a quart bowl three table-spoonfuls of the meal with six of cold water. Stir it smooth, and press out the lumps against the side of the bowl. Have ready a very clean sauce-pan, entirely free from grease, with a pint of boiling water. Pour this, scalding hot, on the mixture in the bowl, a little at a time, and stir it well, adding a pinch of salt. Then put the whole back into the sauce-pan. Set it on hot coals, and stir it till it boils, making the spoon go down to the bottom, to prevent the gruel from burning. After it has come to a boil, let it continue boiling half an hour, stirring it frequently, and skimming it. Give it to the invalid warm, in a bowl or tumbler, to be eaten with a teaspoon. It may be sweetened with a little sugar. When the physician permits, some grated nutmeg may be added; also a very little wine.
RYE MUSH.--To make smooth rye mush, sift a quart or more of rye meal into a pan, and gradually pour in sufficient cold water to make a very thick batter, stirring it hard with a spoon as you proceed, and carefully pressing out all the lumps against the side of the pan. Add a very little salt. The batter must be so thick at the last that you can scarcely stir it. Then thin it with a little more water, and see that it is quite smooth. Rye, and also wheat flour, have a disposition to be more lumpy than corn meal, when made into mush. When thoroughly mixed and stirred, put it into a pot, place it over the fire, and boil it well, stirring it with a mush-stick till it comes to a hard boil; then place it in a diminished heat, and simmer it slowly till you want to dish it up. Eat it warm, with b.u.t.ter and mola.s.ses, or with sweet milk, or fresh b.u.t.termilk. Rye mush is considered very wholesome, particularly in cases of dyspepsia.
COMMON HOE-CAKE.--Take an earthen or tin pan, and half fill it with coa.r.s.e Indian meal, which had best be sifted in. Add a little salt. Have ready a kettle of boiling water. Pour into the Indian meal sufficient hot water (a little at a time) to make a stiff dough, stirring it with a spoon as you proceed. It must be thoroughly mixed, and stirred hard. If you want the cakes for breakfast, mix this dough over night; cover the pan, and set it in a _cool_ place till morning. If kept warm, it may turn sour. Early next morning, as soon as the fire is burning well, set the griddle over it, and take out the dough, a handful at a time.
Flatten and shape it by patting it with your hands, till you form it into cakes about the size of a common saucer, and half an inch thick.
When the griddle is quite hot, lay on it as many cakes as it will hold, and bake them brown. When the upper side is done, slip a bread knife beneath, and turn them over. They must be baked brown on both sides. Eat them warm, with b.u.t.termilk, sweet milk, b.u.t.ter, mola.s.ses, or whatever is most convenient. If you intend these cakes for dinner or supper, mix them as early in the day as you can, and (covering the pan) let them stand in a cool place till wanted for baking. In cold weather you may save trouble by mixing over night enough to last the next day for breakfast, dinner, and supper; baking them as they are wanted for each meal. Or they may be all baked in the morning, and eaten cold; but they are then not so palatable as when warm. They will be less liable to stick, if before each baking the griddle is dredged with wheat flour, or greased with a bit of fat pork stuck on a fork. You may cover it all over with one large cake, instead of several small ones.
In America there is seldom a house without a griddle. Still, where griddles are not, these cakes may be baked on a board standing nearly upright before the fire, and supported by a smoothing-iron or a stone placed against the back. Where wood fires are used, a good way of baking these cakes is to clear a clean place in the hottest part of the hearth, and, having wrapped the cake in paper, lay it down there, and cover it up with hot red ashes. It will bake very well, (replenishing the heat by throwing on from time to time a fresh supply of hot ashes,) and when taken out of the paper they will be found sweet and good. The early settlers of our country frequently baked their Indian cakes under the ashes of their wood fires; and the custom is still continued by those who cannot yet obtain the means of cooking them more conveniently.
This cake is so called, because in some parts of America it was customary to bake it on the iron of a hoe, stood up before the fire. It is better known by that name than by any other.
COMMON GRIDDLE CAKE.--A quart of Indian meal.--Sufficient warm water to make a soft dough.--A small tea-spoonful of salt.--Put the Indian meal into a pan, and add the salt. Make a hole in the centre of the meal, and pour in a little warm water. Then mix it with a large, strong spoon, adding, by degrees, water enough to make a soft dough. Flour your hands, and knead it into a large lump--divide it into two equal portions. Flour your paste-board, lay on it the first lump of dough, and roll it out about an inch thick. Then, (having already heated your griddle,) lay the cake upon it, spreading it evenly, and make it a good round shape. It should cover the whole surface of the griddle, which must first be greased, either with b.u.t.ter or lard tied in a rag, or with a bit of fat fresh pork. b.u.t.ter it well; and when one side is well browned, turn it on the other, taking care not to break it. Send it to table hot, cut into three-cornered pieces--split and b.u.t.ter them. As soon as the first cake is sent in, put the other to bake.
This is one of the plainest and simplest preparations of Indian cake, and is very good when warm.
PLAIN JOHNNY CAKE.--A quart of Indian meal.--A pint of warm water.--A level tea-spoonful of salt.--Sift a quart of Indian meal into a pan.
Make a hole in the middle, and pour in a pint of warm water, adding the salt. With a spoon mix the meal and water gradually into a soft dough.
Stir it very hard for a quarter of an hour or more, till it becomes light and spongy. Then spread the dough; smooth and evenly, on a stout, flat board. A piece of the head of a flour barrel will serve for this purpose. Place the board nearly (but not quite) upright, and set a smoothing-iron or a stone against the back to support it. Bake it well.
When done, cut it into squares, and send it hot to table, split and b.u.t.tered. You may eat mola.s.ses with it.
NICE JOHNNY CAKE.--A quart of sifted Indian meal.--A small teacup of mola.s.ses, (West India is best.)--Two large table-spoonfuls of fresh b.u.t.ter.--A tea-spoonful of ground ginger.--Some boiling water. Having sifted the meal into a pan, rub the b.u.t.ter into it; add the mola.s.ses and ginger, and pour on, by degrees, sufficient boiling water to make a moderately soft dough. It must be stirred very hard. Then grease with fresh b.u.t.ter a board of sufficient size, spread the dough thickly upon it, and stand it nearly upright to bake before the fire, placing a flat-iron against the back of the board. The cake must be very well baked, taking care that the surface does not burn, while the inside is soft and raw. Cut it into squares when done, and send them hot to table, split and b.u.t.tered.
The johnny-cake board had best be placed so as _slightly_ to slant backwards; otherwise the upper part of the cake, being opposite to the hottest part of the fire, may bake too fast for the lower part.
VERY PLAIN INDIAN DUMPLINGS.--Sift some Indian meal into a pan; add about a salt-spoon of salt to each quart of meal; and scald it with sufficient boiling water to make a stiff dough. Pour in the water gradually; stirring as you pour. When the dough becomes a stiff lump, divide it into equal portions; flour your hands, and make it into thick, flat dumplings about as large round as the top of a gla.s.s tumbler, or a breakfast cup. Dredge the dumplings on all sides with flour, put them into a pot of boiling water (if made sufficiently stiff they need not be tied in cloths,) and keep them boiling hard till thoroughly done. Try them with a fork, which must come out quite clean, and with no clamminess sticking to it. They are an excellent appendage to salt pork or bacon, serving them up with the meat; or they may be eaten afterwards with b.u.t.ter and mola.s.ses, or with milk sweetened well with brown sugar, and flavoured with a little ground spice.
VERY PLAIN INDIAN BATTER CAKES.--A quart of warm water, or of skim milk.--A quart of Indian meal and half a pint of wheat flour, sifted.--A level tea-spoonful of salt. Pour the water into a pan; add the salt; and having mixed together the wheat and Indian meal, stir them gradually into the water, a handful at a time. It should be about the consistence of buckwheat cake or m.u.f.fin batter. Beat it long and hard. If you find it too thick, add a little more water. Have ready a hot griddle, grease it, and bake the cakes on it. They should not be larger than the top of a tumbler, or a small saucer. Send them to table hot, in even piles, and eat them with b.u.t.ter or mola.s.ses.
These are the plainest sort of Indian batter cakes; but if well beaten and properly baked, they will be found very good, as well as economical.
It is an improvement to mix them with milk instead of water.
INDIAN m.u.f.fINS.--A pint and a half of yellow Indian meal, sifted.--A handful of wheat flour.--A quarter of a pound of fresh b.u.t.ter.--A quart of milk.--Four eggs.--A very small tea-spoonful of salt. Put the milk into a saucepan. Cut the b.u.t.ter into it. Set it over the fire and warm it till the b.u.t.ter is very soft, but not till it melts. Then take it off, stir it well, till all mixed, and set it away to cool. Beat four eggs very light; and when the milk is cold, stir them into it, alternately with the meal, a little at a time, of each. Add the salt.
Beat the whole very hard after it is all mixed. Then b.u.t.ter some m.u.f.fin-rings on the inside. Set them in a hot oven, or on a heated griddle; pour some of the batter into each; and bake the m.u.f.fins well.
Send them hot to table, continuing to bake while a fresh supply is wanted. Pull them open with your fingers, and eat them with b.u.t.ter, to which you may add mola.s.ses or honey. These m.u.f.fins will be found excellent, and can be prepared in a very short time; for instance, in three quarters or half an hour before breakfast or tea.
This mixture may be baked in waffle-irons, as waffles. b.u.t.ter them, and have on the table a gla.s.s bowl with powdered sugar and powdered cinnamon, to eat with these waffles.
VIRGINIA GRIDDLE CAKES.--A quart of Indian meal.--Two large table-spoonfuls of wheat flour.--A heaped salt-spoon of salt.--A piece of fresh b.u.t.ter, about two ounces.--Four eggs.--A pint, or more, of milk. Sift the Indian meal into a large pan; mix with it the wheat flour; and add the salt. Warm the milk in a small saucepan, but do not let it come to a boil. When it begins to simmer, take it off, and put the b.u.t.ter into it, stirring it about till well mixed. Then stir in the meal, a little at a time, and let it cool while you are beating the eggs. As soon as they are beaten very light, add them gradually to the mixture, stirring the whole very hard. It must be a light batter, and may require more milk.
Having heated the griddle well by placing it over the fire or in the oven of a hot stove, rub it over with some fresh b.u.t.ter, tied in a clean white rag, and pour on a large ladle-full of the batter. When the cake has baked brown, turn it, with a cake-turner, and bake the other side. Then take it off, and put it on a hot plate. Grease the griddle again, and put on another cake; and so on till you have three or four ready to send to table for a beginning. Continue to bake, and send in hot cakes as long as they are wanted. Eat them with b.u.t.ter; to which you may add mola.s.ses or honey.
MISSOURI CAKES.--Three large pints of yellow Indian meal.--A pint of cold water.--A tea-spoonful of salt.--A level tea-spoonful of sal-eratus or soda dissolved in a little warm water.--A large table-spoonful of beef-dripping, or lard.--A small pint and a half of warm water. Sift three large pints (a little more than three pints) of Indian meal into a pan; add a tea-spoonful of salt, a large table-spoonful of lard, or nice dripping of roast-beef; and a tea-spoonful of sal-eratus or soda melted in a little warm water. Make it into a soft dough with a pint of cold water. Then thin it to the consistence of a moderate batter, by adding, gradually, not quite a pint and a half of warm water. When it is all mixed, beat or stir it well, for half an hour. Then have a griddle ready over the fire. When hot, grease it with beef-suet, or with lard or b.u.t.ter tied in a clean white rag. Put on a large ladle-full of the batter, and bake the cakes fast. Send them hot to table, about half a dozen at a time, seeing that the edges are nicely trimmed. Eat them with b.u.t.ter, to which you may add honey or mola.s.ses.
These cakes are excellent; and very convenient, as they require neither eggs, milk, nor yeast. They may be baked as soon as mixed, or they may stand an hour or more.
INDIAN SLAP-JACKS.--A quart of yellow Indian meal.--Half a pint or more of boiling water.--Half a pint of wheat flour.--Three large table-spoonfuls of strong fresh yeast.--A heaping salt-spoon of salt.--A level tea-spoonful of pearlash, soda, or sal-eratus, dissolved in warm water.--Lard for frying. Sift the Indian meal into a pan, and add the salt. Then pour on the boiling water, and stir it well. When it has cooled a little, and become only milk-warm, stir in the wheat flour, and add the yeast. Stir it long and hard. Cover the pan, and set it near the fire. When the mixture has risen quite light, and is covered with bubbles, add the dissolved pearlash to puff it still more. Have ready a hot frying-pan over the fire; grease it with a little lard, and put in a portion of the mixture, sufficient for one large cake nearly the size of the pan, or two small ones. Spread the mixture thin, and fry it brown.
Send the cakes hot to table, and eat them with b.u.t.ter or mola.s.ses.
This is one of the plainest sorts of Indian cake, but if properly made, and baked, will be found very good.
INDIAN FLAPPERS.--A quart of sifted Indian meal.--A handful of wheat flour.--A quart of milk.--Four eggs.--A heaping salt-spoon of salt. Mix together the Indian and wheat meal, adding the salt. Beat the eggs light in another pan, and then stir them a little at a time into the milk, alternately with the meal, a handful at a time. Stir the whole very hard at the last. Have ready a hot griddle, and bake the cakes on it in the manner of buckwheat cakes, or crumpets; greasing or sc.r.a.ping the griddle always before you put on a fresh ladle-full of batter. Make all the cakes the same size, and when done trim the edges nicely with a knife.
Send them to table hot, laid one on another evenly, b.u.t.tered and cut in half. Or they may be b.u.t.tered after they go to table.
INDIAN CRUMPETS.--A quart of Indian meal.--Half a pint of wheat flour.--A quart of milk.--A heaping salt-spoonful of salt.--Three eggs.--Two large table-spoonfuls of strong fresh yeast.--Warm the milk.
Sift the Indian meal and the flour into a pan, and mix them well. Then stir them into the milk, a handful at a time; adding the salt. Beat the eggs very light in another pan, and then stir them, gradually, into the milk and meal. Lastly, add the yeast. Stir the whole well; then cover it, and set it to rise in a warm place, such as a corner of the hearth.
When it has become very light, and is covered with bubbles, have the griddle ready heated to begin to bake the cakes; first greasing the griddle. For each crumpet pour on a large ladle-full of batter. Send them to table several on a plate, and as hot as possible. Eat them with b.u.t.ter, to which you may add mola.s.ses or honey.
If the batter should chance to become sour by standing too long, you may remedy it by stirring in a level tea-spoonful of pearlash, soda, or sal-eratus, dissolved in a very little lukewarm water. Then bake it.
CORN MEAL BREAKFAST CAKES.--A quart of Indian meal.--A handful, or more, of wheat flour.--A large salt-spoon of salt.--A quart of warm water.--An additional pint of lukewarm water.--A bit of pearlash the size of a hazel-nut, or the same quant.i.ty of soda or sal-eratus. Mix over night, in a large pan, the Indian meal, the wheat flour and salt. Pour on gradually a quart of warm water, (warm but not hot,) and stir it in with a large wooden or iron spoon, so as to form a very soft dough. Cover the pan, and set it on the dresser till morning. In the morning thin the dough with another pint of warm water, so as to make it into a batter, having first dissolved in the water a salt-spoonful of powdered pearlash or sal-eratus, or a bit the size of a hazel-nut. Beat the mixture hard.