flipCorn Dodgers — Hearth Corn Cakes
Corn Dodgers — Hearth Corn Cakes
Why this dish? Lincoln grew up in log cabins in Kentucky and Indiana where cornbread — corn dodger, hoecake, ash cake — was the daily bread, sometimes the only food of the day. He kept the taste all his life and, as president, remained attached to this simple food.
Small, dense cornmeal cakes, salted, fried in lard until golden crusted. They were the foundation of the frontier meal: broken to sop up meat juices or dipped in milk.
Back home in the Indiana cabin, cornbread was everything: breakfast, dinner, and often supper. My mother would mix cornmeal with well water and a pinch of salt, then set the dough on the hearth shovel, close to the embers. We ate it hot, the crust cracking between our teeth, and believe me, a man who has split logs all day asks for nothing more.
- •Cornmeal (ground Indian corn) — two handfuls (bread base)
- •Boiling well water — enough to bind (hydration)
- •Salt — a pinch (seasoning)
- •Lard or bacon fat — a walnut-sized piece (cooking, crust)
Corn Dodgers — Hearth Corn Cakes
Small, dense cornmeal cakes, salted, fried in lard until golden crusted. They were the foundation of the frontier meal: broken to sop up meat juices or dipped in milk.
Why this dish? Lincoln grew up in log cabins in Kentucky and Indiana where cornbread — corn dodger, hoecake, ash cake — was the daily bread, sometimes the only food of the day. He kept the taste all his life and, as president, remained attached to this simple food.
Back home in the Indiana cabin, cornbread was everything: breakfast, dinner, and often supper. My mother would mix cornmeal with well water and a pinch of salt, then set the dough on the hearth shovel, close to the embers. We ate it hot, the crust cracking between our teeth, and believe me, a man who has split logs all day asks for nothing more.
Ingredients (period version)
- Cornmeal (ground Indian corn) — two handfuls (bread base)
- Boiling well water — enough to bind (hydration)
- Salt — a pinch (seasoning)
- Lard or bacon fat — a walnut-sized piece (cooking, crust)
Ingredients
- Fine cornmeal — 200 g (bread base)
- Boiling water — about 250 ml (hydration)
- Salt — 1 tsp (seasoning)
- Lard or butter — 30 g (cooking, crust)
Method
- Mix cornmeal and salt in a bowl.
- Gradually add boiling water, stirring, until a thick, shapeable dough forms. Let cool for 10 min.
- Form small oval patties with wet hands.
- Melt lard in a cast-iron skillet and cook patties over medium heat, 5 to 6 min per side, until deep golden.
- Serve hot, plain, with milk or to sop up meat juices.
How it was made : On the frontier, this bread was cooked directly on the hearth: on a hoe (hence hoecake), on an iron shovel, or wrapped in leaves in hot ashes (ash cake). Baking powder was rare, so many daily versions were simply cornmeal, water, and salt.
The contemporary twist : Serve corn dodgers stacked with a pat of salted butter and a drizzle of molasses for a sweet-savory nod.
Sources : Rae Katherine Eighmey, Abraham Lincoln in the Kitchen, Smithsonian Books, 2014
Abraham Lincoln · Charactorium