Victorian Fare: Corn Cake, Corn Bread, and Johnny Cake

by Kristin Holt

USA Today Bestselling Author

 

Sweet Corn Bread. Image: Pinterest.

I freely admit it. I'm a huge cornbread freak. Doesn't matter if it's a restaurant side dish, sweet, spiced with green chilies, dotted with corn kernels, or on the dry side... I love corn bread. Given my unabashed love affair with cornbread--with or without honey, butter, or honey-butter--I took eager notice of these Victorian American cornbread recipes published in various vintage sources.

 Corn Cake and Tea Cake Recipes, published in Nebraska Advertiser of Brownville, Nebraska on February 12, 1857.

Best Buttermilk Cornbread: Image: Pinterest.

Corn bread recipe published in The Summit County Beacon of Akron, Ohio, on June 1, 1859.

"Johnny Cake"?

Johnnycake (also called journey cake, shawnee cake or johnny bread) is a cornmeal flatbread. An early American staple food, it is prepared on the Atlantic coast from Newfoundland to Jamaica. The food originates from the native inhabitants of North America.

...The modern johnnycake is found in the cuisine of New England, and often claimed as originating in Rhode Island. A modern johnnycake is fried cornmeal gruel, which is made from yellow or white cornmeal mixed with salt and hot water or milk, and sometimes sweetened. In the Southern United States, the word used is hoecake, although this can also refer to cornbread fried in a pan. (emphasis added)

~ Wikipedia: Johnnycake

"Confederate Johnnycake" (as opposed to "Union Hardtack"). Image: Pinterest.

  

 Johnny Cake Recipe, published in The Summit County Beacon of Akron, Ohio, on February 9, 1860.

Corn Bread Rusks Recipe, published in The American Citizen of Canton, Mississippi on October 8, 1881.

I must be craving carbs, as I've been interested in, and writing, a series of blog posts about Victorian baking in the United States, especially cake. Please stop by and see my recent (and not so recent) posts:

1.   Victorian Americans had Devil's Food Cake and Angel Food Cake
2.   Victorian Baking: Devil's Food Cake: Not What You Think!
3.  Victorian Baking: Angel's Food Cake
4.  Victorian Cooking: Angel's Food isn't always Angel's Food
5.  Vintage Cake Recipes - with Frosting
6.  Victorian Fare: Cookies
7.  Victorian Cheesecake?
8. Victorian Fare: Yorkshire Pudding
9. Historic Pie Recipes

Thanks for reading! Please share this post with someone who might find it interesting.

Are you a fan of corn bread?

Do you have a recipe that's been in the family for a generation or two?

---

Kristin Holt, USA Today Bestselling Author, writes Sweet Victorian Romance set in the American West. She writes frequently about Old West history and contributes monthly to Sweet Americana Sweethearts.

Sweet Romance Appropriate for All Audiences

Website | Email | Newsletter | Twitter | Pinterest | g+| Facebook Profile | Facebook Fan Page | Goodreads | BookBub | Amazon

 

Copyright 2018 Kristin Holt LC