OLD-FASHIONED JOHNNY CAKE

Setting the Scene:

The simplicity of pioneer cooking often fascinatesus as we try to re-create some of the

recipes of the early settlers. These take us back to earlier times and encourage us to read

stories and do research about the lives of the pioneers. Stores weren’t readily available

without traveling long distances tothe nearest town, so settlers had to be self-sufficient

and raise most of what they needed. So they picked and dried berries for winter food,

raised pumpkins, beans and squash, ate wild game, and caught fish in the streams. We

can still enjoy these simple recipes today. Whip up some old-fashioned johnny cakes to

enjoy with an excerpt from TALES OF ADVENTURE AND DISCOVERY (ISBN: 0-

9651675-0-X).

Excerpt from TALES OF ADVENTURE AND DISCOVERY:

Sarah Jane picked up the bucket of blackberries and started toward the cabin.

Suddenly Tag barked and ran to the far side of the berry patch.

“Tag, come back,” Sarah Jane called. But Tag continued barking. Then Sarah

Jane heard someone yell. She rushed through the berry patch, her blond braids with the

red yarn tied on the ends flying out behind her. She stopped suddenly when she saw Tag.

He was standing beside a native girl who lay on the ground. The girl was about ten years

old, the same as Sarah Jane.

“What are you doing here?” Sarah Jane asked as she approached the girl

cautiously. The Indian girl looked at Sarah Jane but said nothing. She got up, only to fall

when she put her weight on her right foot.

Later Sarah Jane’s mother offered the native girl biscuits and milk. Since

cornmeal and wheat flour were the most commonly used in pioneer days, cornmeal

griddlecakes or corn bread baked in a pan over the coals may have been what Sarah

Jane’s mother referred to as biscuits.

OLD FASHIONED JOHNNY CAKE

Ingredients:

Sift together:

cup yellow cornmeal

cups sifted flour

cup sugar (less if you don’t want it so sweet)

tsp salt

Cooking By The Book