Jonnycake
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Jonnycake (also spelled "johnnycake," johnny cake, and "journey cake") or Johnny Bread is a cornmeal flatbread that was an early American staple food, and is still eaten in the West Indies and Bermuda.[1]
The dough was set on a wooden board or barrel stave and placed at an angle in front of an open fire to bake.[2] The dough, made of cornmeal, salt, and water, was seldom sweetened because sugar was expensive and in short supply in early colonial America and on the frontier.
The modern johnnycake is popularly identified with Rhode Island foods.[3] A modern jonnycake is fried cornmeal gruel, which is made from yellow or white cornmeal mixed with salt and hot water or milk, and frequently lightly sweetened.
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[edit] History
The earliest attestation of the term "johnny cake" is from 1739 (in South Carolina); the spelling "journey cake" is only attested from 1775 (on the Gulf coast), but may be the earlier form.[5]
In the U.S. in the 1800s, the johnnycake was an icon that identified inns or taverns, similar to the way that a barber's pole identified a barbershop.[6]
[edit] Preparation
A johnnycake is generally cooked thin in a pan, dropped by spoonfuls onto a hot greased griddle or fried in butter, somewhat similar to fried polenta or thin wheat bread. As there is usually more liquid than cornmeal by volume, the batter is thin and spreads rapidly. It may also be made using leavening, with or without other ingredients more commonly associated with American pancakes, such as eggs or solid fats like butter. A version made in Australia is either baked as small cakes in hot ashes or fried. Jonnycakes are often served with maple syrup, honey or other sweet toppings, although this is rejected by jonnycake purists.[3]
Hoecakes are a variant of jonnycakes, and are cooked on a griddle (or traditionally the blade of a hoe).
[edit] In popular culture
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Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (September 2008) |
- In the television series The Sopranos, while hiding in New Hampshire, mobster Vito Spatafore begins a relationship with a short-order cook who regularly serves him jonnycakes. Vito begins referring to his lover as "Johnny Cakes".
- In an episode of the television series The Simpsons, the curator of the Springfield Historical Society mentions making "microwave Jonnycakes".
- In the song "Brown Girl in the Ring" by Boney M - "I remember one Saturday night we had fried fish and jonnycakes."
- In the 1967 novel The Outsiders, the character Johnny Cade is often referred to as "Johnnycake" by the rest of the gang.
- Old rural New England saying "Pea soup and Jonnycake, makes a Frenchman's belly ache."
- Tolkien refers to Journey-Cakes, also known as Lembas, in his fiction, reflecting his association of Elvish culture and lore with that of the Native American.[citation needed]
- One of the main foods eaten by the Confederates during the Civil War.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Darwin Porter, Danforth Prince, Frommer's 2010 Bermuda excerpt at Google Books
- ^ Vogel, "Hoe Life in Early Indiana", p. 9: "This pan was also used for baking pancakes, sometimes called 'flap-jacks,' and bread, too, was frequently made on it. Johnny cake was baked on a board made for this purpose, about ten inches wide and fifteen inches long and rounding at the top. The thick corn dough was placed on the board which was set against a chunk of wood near the fire. After one side had been baked to a nice brown, the other side was treated the same way. The resulting cake was often delicious. If a johnny-cake board was not at hand, a hoe, without a handle, was cleaned and greased with bear's oil. The dough was baked on this metal surface and was called a hoe-cake."
- ^ a b New England Country Store Cookbook by Peter W. Smith (iUniverse 2003)
- ^ Meehan, Mary Beth. "Jonnycakes from the Kenyon Corn Meal Company". Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/travel/explorene/rhodeisland/galleries/johnny_cakes/. Retrieved 2008-11-06.
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, 1989
- ^ "Johnnycake Ridge Road -- 3 different versions of its origin", PD Extra, August 31, 2007
[edit] Further reading
- Beaulieu, Linda, The Providence and Rhode Island Cookbook, Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press, 2006, ISBN 0762731370.
- Vogel, William Frederick. "Home Life in Early Indiana". Indiana Magazine of History 10:2 (June 1914) 1-29. Indiana: Indiana University.
