Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1902-09-07
CORN BREAD ME,1ORIEs.


From an article published recently in
the Dispatch it appears that one Mack
Linchicum is a miller and mill owner,
who lives in Indiana; that he is IS years
Of age; that he has been in the milling
business for forty-four years; that ne
has the only overshot water wheel in his
State; that his business is prosperous,
and his meal is of high repute the coun-
try round.
Mr.. Linchicum INDUCES the opinion,
which is also widely prevalent in Vir-
GINA, that good meal cannot be made
at steam mill: that it is the product Of
water mills only. We quote him:
THE stones turn too fast to make good
meal for they get heated, and the meal
is doughty before it leaves the mill, The
heat generates moisture in grinding, and
the bread is sure to be soggy. Then, tco,
they grind too fine and the dough packs
in baking, no matter how many eggs
and how much soda and milk you put in
it, The burrs in this mill never over
work themselves. for nature does her
work steady.
The first reason given by our venerable
miller friend cannot be a good one, be-
cause steam power is easily regulated, and
with it one may drive millstones fast or
slowly, as he pleases. So, too, with re-
spect to the degree of heat developed
That most steam mills do grind meal
too fine we believe; but that is not be-
cause of the source Of their power, but
because they are modern
We know some remodelled water mills
which have become the subject OF like
complaint In fact, most meal sold in
ground to improper ineness makes soggy
bread.
Here in Richmond we think that the
best meal is made Of Virginia corn, but it
is the belief Of the Charleston News and
Courier that he who has not eaten corn
bread made of the South Carolina grain,
| has missed one of the joys of life. But
| out in Indiana Mr.. Linchicum abides in
serene confidence that the corn of that
country ground into meal at his famous
| mill, driven by an oversfot wheel is in
| comparably superior to any produced any.
where else.
| Our own opinion is that the source of
| power is unimportant, but the burrs
should be turned steadily and not too
fast. sitter may be used, but no bolt
ing cloths.
! AS we have said, when meal is made
| too fine the bread produced is soggy.
| With good meal and a cook following
the lessons and traditions of the old
| regime. delicious bread may be baked Of
| Indian meal But we have grave doubts
| whether it can be baked as well in stove
| as in an open fireplace. But, alas, of the
latter only few remain.
| An ash-cake OF course must have ashes
They are Indispensable. AS we'll try to
produce a mint julep without mint On
| the other hand. FLAP jacks need only a
! well-greased frying-pan; but skill is requir-
ed to turn them That is done by pitching
| them out of the pan into the air and
| making them come down flap on the other
| side. The corn pone may be cooked in a
| stove or range.
| The hoe-cake was originally cooked on
a hoe in the fields and in the negro cabin.
A skillet will do we'll enough for it, but
must be well-greased at the bottom. So,
too. with respect to egg or batter-bread
AS for corn mullins. the appliances of a
range are admirably adapted to them
| We wish some millionaire would fit up
| a Virginia country home in ante-bellum
STYLE and among other things have in
| it big, open fireplace, black cook in
a bingham dress, with red bandana on
| her head, and also have half-acre mint
| bed, an ice-house, and an oid-time gar
! den filled with raspberries and goose
| berries thyme sage. currants, and all the
ordinary table vegetables.
When one of those old-tme homes and
gardens and kitchens is restored, and the
| host and hostess have entered into pos
session, we desire to be listed as a fire.
quent guest, with reserved seat
| in the chimney-corner. Then all we
| shall want will be the zest, the appetite
| the voraciousness we possessed when we
could eat eighteen rolls and six eggs for
| breakfast, and consume whole water
| melon between meals But, alas, it
| would be easier to restore old walls and
| open fre-places than to bring back the
| digestion and storage capacity of a
youth that's gone, of time that's past
and never can return.
-
The Houston. Texas. Post is quite right