Hoecake

Hoecake is a type of thin cornbread made of cornmeal, salt, and water, which is baked on a griddle. [Bartlett, "Dictionary of Americanisms," p. 288: "Hoe-Cake. A cake of Indian meal, baked before the fire. In the interior parts of the country, where kitchen utensils do not abound, they are baked on a "hoe;" hence the name."] [Hundley, "Social Relations in Our Southern States," p. 87-88: "Corn-dodger, corn-pone, and hoe-cake are different only in the baking. The meal is prepared for each precisely in the same way. Take as much meal as you want, some salt, and enough pure water to knead the mass. Mix it well, let it stand for fifteen or twenty minutes, not longer, as this will be long enough to saturate perfectly every particle of meal; bake on the griddle for hoe-cake, and in the skillet or oven for dodger or pone. The griddle or oven must be made hot enough to bake, but not to burn, but with a quick heat. The lid must be heated also before putting it on the skillet or oven, and that heat must be kept up with coals of fire placed on it, as there must be around and under the oven. The griddle must be well supplied with live coals under it. The hoe-cake must be put on thin, not more than or quite as thick as your forefinger; when brown, it must be turned and both side baked to a rich brown color. There must be no burning—baking is the idea. Yet the baking must be done with a quick lively heat, the quicker the better."] It became known as "hoecake" because field hands often cooked it on a shovel or hoe held to an open flame. Hoes designed for cotton fields were large and flat with a hole for the long handle to slide through. The blade would be removed and placed over a fire much like a griddle.

Hoecake is notably the namesake of the cakewalk dance form. During the 19th century, slaveholders would hold dance competitions for their slaves, offering hoecake as a reward to the winner. Then known as the chalk line dance, the form became known as the cakewalk when it rose to prominence with the advent of ragtime music.cite web |url=http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3cake1.htm |title=Cakewalk Dance |accessdate=2007-04-01 |work=Streetswing Dance History Archive ]

The hoecake is also known as the johnny-cake, the Shawnee cake, the ash cake, and the no cake.

The Hoecake in Fiction

In Jean Fritz's children's book George Washington's Breakfast the protagonist finds out that George Washington did eat hoecakes for breakfast.

In Isaac Asimov's novel Second Foundation, a peasant family on the planet Rossem is preparing hoecake for their meal.

Music

"Ho Cake" cite web |url= http://www.mofro.net/music/|title=Ho Cake|accessdate=2008-03-21 |work=Mofro CD "Blackwater" ] is a song by soul/funk/R&B band JJ Grey & Mofro. Lyricist and lead singer JJ Grey sings a tribute to his grandmother's southern cooking "My Granny makes the best cracklin' ho cake/It tastes so good I can't wait to dip my plate..." cite web |url= http://www.mofro.net/lyrics/#BW|title=Ho Cake lyrics|accessdate=2008-03-21 |work=Mofro CD "Blackwater" ]

References

Bibliography

* Bartlett, John Russell. "Dictionary of Americanisms: A Glossary of Words and Phrases Usually Regarded as Peculiar to the United States", fourth edition. Boston: Little, Brown, and Co. (1889
* Hundley, Daniel R., Esq. "Social Relations in Our Southern States". New York: Henry B. Price (1860).

ee also

* Johnnycakes