The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1882-12-28
BUCKwHEAT CAKES.
Hsw r hey arc Made When the Proper season
for Them Arrives.

With view to ascertainng definitely some
thing about the restaurant trade in buckwheat
cakes, now that the buekwheat season Ii ahuut
to begin. a reporter of the HorId visited several
of the downtown restaurants, yesterday aud
questioned the proprleturs and managers on tue
subject. His instructions were Ia find sut the
extent Of the consumption. whether there are
any new inventions in sriddle cakes and the
actual ingredients of the material Furnished in
some restaurants a. ''the pure maple syrup.
Regarding the first item-the amount of buck
wheat cakes sold and eaten-the result WAS not
satisfactory, for the that in many places
where griddle cakes of different kinds were sold
buck had not yet been added to the list,
while in places where they had been placed on
the bill of fare il was said the sales had not
been very extensive. At one place in Brad
Street, the manager said that yet the orders
for buckwh-at cake had not bsen very brisS
and wonld not he until cold weather sets IN.
When the season fairly opens, h- expects to sell
2Do or 800 plates day, varying according TO
the state of the weather. The colder il il the
more buckwhrat cakes arc called for. Speak
ing Of the qua lily of the cakes furnished this
place, the manager said II am not prepared to
say how generally the practice may prevail in
New York restaurants of pru,incing real senu-
inc old fashioned buck cakes. such our
grandmothers used to make, but am prepared
TO say that the cakes made here are maze in the
same way, and are the real, genuine, SIMON
pure article, and no mistake. In the first place,
buy my buckwheat in Sullivan County, where
also have farm, and where they raise the
best bnckwheat grown in this country; and
know the -four is pure and genuine. Then !
have the latter mixed over with the yeast aud
stood by to rise until morning. In the morn
ing all that il is necessary tu do is to stir la a
lite more flour, stir in n little soda TO swe-irn
il. and yon have a light spongy batter. which
will bake into cakes, which will almost melt m
your mouth a. the saying is. If the run of
the cakes does not exceed the previous nights
calculation, enough batter will lie left over at
night To form the yeast basis for the next DAYS
supply, and II so, mnch the better. Our
grandmOthers used TO 'put the batter-pan brew
ing, soon as the prn'luct of the first thresh-
ing of the wheat was obtained in the fall. aud
never allow it to become exhausted until the
last 'threshing' wasexhauStetl. The longer the
latter lasts without renewing entirely, the bet
ter the cakes will lie. While, however. il is !
possible to do this in a private family of Civ
Ell number Of persons, II may not always be pos-
sble to do il in place like this, because it fire.
quently happens that our customers seem to get
up corner cakes and clean us out com pl.ie-
ly before we know it. Now, the difference be-
tween the old-fashioned buck wheat cakes, such 4
rs have been telling you about, AMI those snid
at snms places in New York. cannot fail to lie
appreciated by those who have tastel both
kinds, or who r-coll-ct a. far back ~ the |
good old days of home and .'honrst hominy. I
A great many restaurant keepers Use that ne -
tangled illumination in culinary art. prepared |
-four. in the manufacture al bnckwhrat cakr> /
and the result is a hard, tongh, heavy, so:.r
substance. just about a. indigestibir mnrh !
shoe leather. and more resembling hack /.
wheat cake than chalk resembles chrr>r. Thrn !
there are Others who do even worse than that /
and produce a cake, the batter for which is mix
ed frrsi, at the order of the customer which it {
would take an expert as sharp the sharp-st I
tra-taster TO distinguish from the full-bloo,i-d /
'hoe-cake' of the palmy days of plantation life /
in Georgia and Alabama. Why is that Well, ]
You se-, pure bnck Nbrat -four il worth ~ per I
hundred pounds, while corn meal is worth only 4
81 per hundred pounds. 'PHr- adultrrIfIon' IL I
the paraaoxical way Of explaining it-noihins I
more, nothing less--N. y. Horid