The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1892-10-13
CORN CAKE IN OLD VIRGINIA.
Down There They Never Put Sugar
in Their "Pone.n

COECN ljAkG LIN O1I VIEIClNl La.
Down There They Never Put Suga
in Their "Pone.n
From the New York Times.
AS the Times is giving insertion to re
ceipts for the making of ''corn cake,
prompted by the famous poetical fornu
la of the honored Presiding Bishop o
| the American Episcopal Church, per
haps something in reference to the pos
sibilities involved in Indian corn mea
as breadstuff, from a woman of Virgin
ia, which State may be said to be pecu
liarly the home of corn breads, may b.
considered.
In the first place. the kind and quality
of meal to be employed is of an impor-
lance that can not be ignored if really
appetizing and wholesome bread be the
aim of the housewife. Begging pardon
both of Bishop Williams and of cyan.
kee Cook" a Virginian would insist
| that the meal must be of white corn
| and not of the yellow variety of the ce>
real ground into a breadstuff for the
Northern and Western markets. And
the best Of the white corn grown by the
! Southern farmer is that devoted to the
making of the meal for table use.
Some householders at the South are SO
particular in regard to their corn meal
for the making Of bread that they care
fully select the corn for the purpose,
culling from the crib. ear by ear, only
ears with the hard, pearly fiint>like
grains which, when ground, become
meal as white as the flour of wheat and
scarcely less light and powdery than
wheat flour. Moreover, to attain the
desired result the meal, after having
been passed through the grist mill, is
subjected to the boiling process, after
the method of finishing wheat flour, SO
that it is relieved in a great measure of
the husk or chaff which covers the grain,
this proving hinderance to successful
breadmaking and being insoluble in the
stomach. Furthermore, before using
the Southern housewife runs her meal
throuSh a fine sieve, so that there re-
mains only the fairnaceous and digesti-
BILE components of the grain to enter in
to the bread.
In this condition the meal, when fresh,
is slightly glutinous, and may be com
pressed into lump that will show the
lines of the hand almost as plainly as
will lump of hand-pressed wheat flour
IL.
freshly ground and pure meal. The yell
low corn meal of our markets. subjected
to heat in the preparation, is invariably
dry and sandy in consistency, the heat
also developing an acrid and unpalata>
BILE flavor.
The Virginia receipt for making the
corn cake is after this wise : For fam
lily of six persons, to four we'll beaten
fresh eggs add one pint of buttermilk, or
unskimrned clabber otherwise known
as loppered milk or the natural sour
curd), in which are dissolved one tea
spoonful of soda, as much sifted corn
meal as will make batter that will
pour easily, and a scant tablespoonful
of lard heated to the boiling point,
suficieney of salt having been thrown
into the meal before mixing, it being re-
membered that salt is an essential in all
corn breads; beat quickly, but thor
oughly, taking care that all Jumps are
mashed, pour into well>greased, shall
low PAM and bake m quick oven from
twenty to thirty minutes, or until the
crust is of rich dard brown turn out
from the pan and serve hot, cutting in
squares or wedges, as the shape of the
pan may suggest; split and butter. Or
this cake may be baked in small patty
pans. 1t is eaten at breakfast.
What is called Johnny cake or
tourney cake'-the corn cake which is
baked on board in front of an open
fire-is unknown at the South. even
with the prevalence of open fires and
old-fashioned Dutch ovens. The Vir-
GINA shoe cake" is one of the simplest
preparations for the Southern table.
With the meal sailed and well sifted in
an oblong wooden tray or bowl, the
dough is mixed with cold water, with
the hands or with an iron spoon, and
then spread over q griddle Cor hoe), hot
enough to brown, but not enough to
char the meal, with which it must be
plentifully busted, about three fourths
of an inch thick. When a tenacious
and we'll Drowned crust forms on the
under side, a spatula is slipped under,
and the cake, deftly turned, is baked
brown on the other side. This is the
characteristic corn bread of the Virginia
dinner, common among all grades of
people.
Another dinner bread of the South is
the corn pone. 1t is mixed with cold
water, as is the hoe cake, but becomes
more slightly by being nodded by the
cook in a thick oblong oval loaf It is
baked slowly in pan in stove, or in
Dutch oven, with red>hot Goals both un-
der and on the lid, and most cooks di-
vide their dough into several smaller
pones. 1t is interesting to note that the
word pone, or paune, which was derived
from the North American Indians, and
is another term for loaf, is used only in
connection with bread made of Indian
corn meal, and only at the South. We
never heard of pone as describing
kind of bread made of wheat flour, bar
ley, rye or oat meal, or of any other
grain than corn, and nowhere do we
hear it used except in Virginia, and by
descendants of Virginians in other
States.
A favorite bread for the midmorning
luncheon, taken in the summer by
Southern families, who have dinner at
the inconvenient hour of 8 o'clock in the
afternoon, is what is known as ''risen
corn bread.n This is made up the even
ing previous with hot water. The
dough uDdergoes process of gentle fer
mentation, and when baked is slightly
sweet to the taste. 1t generally appears
in small oval pones, and these, split
while hot, buttered, and eaten with
fresh buttermilk cooled on ice, make
delicate and wholesome repast.