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A period dish

Johnnycake

A thin cornmeal cake baked on a griddle or board, the journey bread of colonial New England.

Serves 8

Johnnycake was cornmeal mixed with water or milk and baked before the fire, carried on journeys and eaten with butter and molasses. Rhode Island claimed it as its own and insisted on white flint corn.

Ingredients

Dairy & Eggs

  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 tbsp butter

Pantry / Durable

  • 2 cup cornmeal

Spices & Seasoning

  • 1 tsp salt

Other

  • 1 1/2 cup water

Method

  1. Pour the boiling water over the cornmeal and salt and stir until smooth.

  2. Loosen the batter with the milk until it will spread on a griddle.

  3. Drop spoonfuls onto a hot, buttered griddle and flatten them thin.

  4. Cook until the edges are brown and crisp, then turn and cook the other side.

  5. Serve hot with butter, molasses, or maple syrup.

Served at

The evening before independence · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The pamphleteer's table · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Publius at table · New York, New York

The orator's opposition · Richmond, Virginia