This stuff I love, and like to see Deb make us up a panful. We use it as a bread for supper, and the next day, I like to sop it in honey, or syrup at breakfast. Many bake it, but Deb does it on the stovetop in a skillet…um, um!
In a tough economy like we’re in today, this is very economical as well. Have you guys seen the price of store bought bread today? Is this crazy or what? This, or cornbread are both easy to make, and both would be strong food staples, IF we were to have some type of food shortage.
I looked up the reasoning for the name “hoe cake, “ and was kinda shocked from how it was derived, but in the same breath, the name made perfectly good sense.
Hoe cake, was called this, because of the people working in the fields. They used hoes, like a garden hoe, but these hoes had a hole in the metal part of it, called the hoe head.
Through this hole in the metal hoe head, was run the hoe handle, with the hoe head being dropped down over the hoe handle, and it fell to almost the bottom of the handle, but at this point the handle beveled out and was thicker than the hole in the hoe head.
Thus the hoe head was stopped. With this the fact of the matter, the farm hands would slide the hoe head off the hoe handle during lunch. They then used the metal hoe head to bake their bread on over a fire in the fields, and this became the origin of the name…hoe cake!
We still use this type of hoe here at our place today, and they’re still used extensively in the orange groves. We call them eye hoes. This because of us dropping the eye of the hoe head over the handle.
We don’t fasten these by screws or nails. I simply, before using them, soak the hoe head on the handle in a 5-gallon bucket of water. This causes the wooden handle to swell, and this prevents the hoe head from moving while in use.
Going to use it again tomorrow? Simply put it back in the bucket, and swell the handle again!
Hoe Cake
- 2 cups self rising flour
- 1 cup milk
- ½ cup vegetable shortening
Deb says she heats enough oil in a cast iron skillet to melt enough shortening to cover the bottom, and swirl it around on the sides to grease them well.
She mixes the flour, milk and shortening well, and until the consistency of pancake batter possibly just a wee bit thicker, then pours it into the skillet.
She cooks it on the stovetop with the setting on 4 or just a little under, and the skillet has been pre-heated already. She watches it every so often, testing to see how the bottom is cooking. After she feels the bottom has set up well, she flips the hoe cake once, using a spatula.
After flipping, she just dribbles shortening around the side of the pan, once again to prevent sticking. Once you can stick a toothpick in the hoe cake and it comes out clean, take off burner and dump into a plate, or cut and serve from the skillet.
Corn Puffs:
- 2 cans sweet corn
- 2 tablespoons butter, softened
- 2 eggs beaten
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 1 cup milk
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Preheat your oven to 350. Mix all ingredients together, mixing well. Bake in a greased casserole dish for 35-45 minutes.