Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-02-07
CORN MEAL DISHES.
Octave Thanet Tells of Puffs, Breads,
Griddle Cakes, Etc.
A RECIPE FROM THE SOUTH.
The Authorities Are Badly Off as to Mixing
Flour and Liquid
MUSH FOB MISSISSIPPI RIVER BOATS
WRITTEN FOR THE prsParcE.1


A thin, wafery cake, all crispness, like
the Scotch oatmeal cake, can be made by
scalding cornmeal with water until it is
thin enough to pour and lie smooth in the
pan. Of course there is a pinch of salt and
you may add butter or not, according to the
taste. The pan should be barely covered.
You bake Ill a hot oven until crisp and
dOne-which is easy enough to tell. Twenty
minutes to half an hour is ample time. Fiji
teen minutes will do in most cases The
wafer should not be thicker than paste
board. You can bake it in the covers Of
baking powder tins or in any kind of pan
1t is delightful to eat with glass of milk,
as luncheon dish, ,.or for tea dish.
For breakfast cornmeal puff is not to be
despised. 1t is made precisely like the hoe
cake-with difference. You make thin
ner mush than in hoe coke, mush that is
just thin enough to drop on the battered
pan and to assume nice round shape with
out losing the ragged look on the top.
Puffs require very hot oven and should be
served immediately.
Corn Bread OF the South.
Down South, a favorite corn bread Is
bread without special name; they call it
"corn-bread, ''as if there were no other kind
of corn bread in the universe 1t is all the
same wholesome and agreeable corn bread.
And here is Aunt Cindy's direction for its
concoction, exactly as we received it.
Well, does be plintedly surprised you all
doesn't know how to make cohn breadi
why, 1t is jest cohn bread, dat's all dar Is
bout it. 1 takes little cohn meal-'nuf fo'
de family, we all done got mighty large
family, you know. If de family ben larger
got t. take mo- cohn meal I jest takes ac-
co'din! Den scalts de meal up wild b'ilin'
water or milk-I does dat acco'din', too. An
fat of co'rse, an mabbe mite er butter an
mabbe hottest acco'din'. An il tine chick
ems does be layin' right smart, puts in two,
tree aigs. But don't put in de aigs when
don't got dem. Reckon dat bout all-yes'n,
puts in bakin' powder if 1 don't got 'nufr
you ali go for t. be keerless wild baking pow
der, dat ar's &c mos reskies' way e fool
wild cake or any, you got to go acco'din'i
From this lucid rule we have invented .
working recipe of our own. It runs as fol-
lows:
Two teaspoonfuls OF baking powder mixed
thoroughly in one quart of corn meal which
has been sifted twice; two eggs, one table
spoonful of melted butter, boiling milk
enough to make cake batter, try pint
and do not put too much in; one-haf tea
spoonful of salt, one tablespoonful of sugar
Bake in good oven, an inch or two
being the thickness of the cake in the PAN
There is peculiarly delicious griddle
cake made from corn meal.
Corn Meal GriddIe Cakes.
These are very simple but, like other
simple things, require decided "knack."
To small cup of the meal tnness and
enough to o0u make c stiY batter @ % scsld % n.
meal with the milk and add pinch Of salt
Let the batter get cold Now add one-hah
pint of sour milk and one-haf teaspoonful
OF soda, and last the yolks of two or the
white and yolk of one egg, well beaten. You
can use boiling water instead of milk and
add spoonful of cream OF of meked butter.
Cream is always more delicate than butter,
but is not always so attainable. These cakes
must be fried at once after mixing to secure
them in their best estate
Boiling water, cornmeal and q pinch OF
salt are all the ingredients for cornmesl
mush. The favorite method Of the good old
fashion Is to heat the water and when 10
boils to throw in the meal q handful st q
hands of the authorities and deliberately
poured boiling water on to the meal until 10
was thin and l put the thin mush on the
time, hours, until 1t became-owing to tha
laws of chemistry and evaporation-oft tha
desired thickness. Ana everybody deEgkta
in my mush very much!
Mixing Liquid With F1ouB.
I may say here that no doubt there afa
people that can fling dab OF solid into q
fluid and stir or beat the resulting oozns
pound into evenness; but I am not one Of
them; and make bold to believe that thers
are not many of them Such q course takes
too much time and patience for this wicked
and hurried world. Over and over again
have admired the recipes of these superior
spirits, and over and over again have ex-
actly reversed them, mixing my liquid with
nv -four, instead of flour with liquid al
vavs with . happy result. In most cases 10
Is necessary also TO pour in a little liquid az
a time and mix thoroughly before pouring
more I may add, however, that the noble
Dover egg beater will help any one who has
done the other way, and, in obedience to the
authorities, defied natural laws.
Ten years ago fried mush was one Of the
rpeciafties on the Mississippi river steam
boats Make O mush of fine white meal
Pour it into square rectangular pans to the
depth of cce or two inches. Cut 1t into
small squares. Fry these squares in deep
fat lard is best, just as you would fry,
That is all there fs to ft. Tho
crust is crisp and golden brown, the interior
Il snowy white. Eaten with maple syrup
mere are few more satisfying breakfass
cakes. OCTAVE IHAAA