Jonnycake (also spelled "johnnycake," johnny cake, and "journey cake") is an unleavened cornmeal pancake popular in regional American cuisine and strongly identified with Rhode Island foods. A 1776 diary of Thomas Vernon mentions "Jonny cake" while dining in Glocester, Rhode Island on page 43. Many American settlers ate johnnycake on the plains. A Jonnycake is usually made of lightly sweetened cornmeal and hot water and fried in butter, somewhat similar to fried polenta or thin cornbread. Jonnycake is often served with maple syrup or other sweet toppings. Jonnycake enthusiasts disagree as to whether to use white or yellow cornmeal. Kenyon's of Usquepaugh, Rhode Island, is a popular maker of jonnycake corn meal mix. Hoecakes are a variant of jonnycakes. They are cooked on the blade of a hoe, usually by field workers.
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Recipe
Here is an example of a common jonnycake recipe that makes eight to ten cakes: Ingredients:
- 1 cup ground white or yellow corn meal
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 1/4 cups boiling water
- 1/2 cup milk (optional)
Combine corn meal, salt, and sugar and mix well. Gradually stir in water until mixture is smooth. It will be quite thick and the consistency of mashed potatoes. For thinner jonnycakes, add up to 1/2 cup milk or water. Heat griddle and thoroughly grease with butter. Drop batter by tablespoons onto griddle and fry over medium heat for about six minutes or until small bubbles pop on top of the pancake. Be careful griddle is not too hot. Turn and cook on the other side for another six minutes. Serve buttered with maple or pancake syrup.
Popular Culture
- In the U.S. in the 1800s, the johnnycake was known to symbolize an inn or tavern, such as a barber's pole symbolizes a barbershop and a three-sphere symbol symbolizes a pawnbroker.[1]
- In the popular 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 the Simpsons episode "Lisa The Iconoclast", the operator 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 Daria episode "Aunt Nauseum" Jake Morgendorffer buys a Civil War cookbook and makes Johnny Cakes for the entire family. Repeatedly through out the episode Johnny Cakes are mentioned.
References and external links
- ^ "Johnnycake Ridge Road -- 3 different versions of its origin", PD Extra, August 31, 2007
- Beaulieu, Linda, The Providence and Rhode Island Cookbook, Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press, 2006, ISBN 0762731370.
- The Diary of Thomas Vernon, a loyalist from Newport exiled in Glocester, Rhode Island in 1776, page 43.
