Johnny cakes

[James C Stalker]

This is not a direct response to the question of the history of johnny cake.
I leave that to the sources Gerald Cohen mentions.  Looking at the present,
<johnny cake> lives on in Michigan, but not in the sense of "pancakes."  I
quote from the side of the Jiffy corn muffin mix box.  The Jiffy mix is made
at Chelsea Milling Company, PO Box 460, Chelsea, MI 48118-0460. (Disclaimer:
I have no investment in the company.  But I do use their products, in
preference to Bisquick.)
 Side panel recipes (receipes, receipts)
  Corn pankakes or waffles
  (10-12 pancakes or three 7" waffles)
    recipe follows.

  Corn bread (Johnny Cake)
Prepare as directed for "Jiffy" Corn Muffins escept pour batter into
graeased square pan 8" x 8".  Bake 20-25 minutes.

The ingredients list corn meal, unspecified as to color, but I've used this
mix for years and it is yellow.

Jim Stalker
stalker at msu.edu





Cohen, Gerald Leonard writes:

> Here's an item I received from  the 19c. baseball discussion group. I don't have DARE, OED, etc. handy, and so maybe this is already treated there.
>
> Gerald Cohen
>
>> ----------
>> From:         Frederick Ivor-Campbell
>> Reply To:     19cBB at yahoogroups.com
>> Sent:         Tuesday, September 14, 2004 1:46 PM
>> To:   19cBB at yahoogroups.com
>> Subject:      Re: [19cBB] 1860s Ballpark Food
>>
>> In Rhode Island, "Jonny (Johnny) cakes" are flat pancakes
>> made of ground white corn (not yellow corn, please), an
>> ancient (and current) treat whose name some think is a
>> corruption of "journey cakes," food that served well for
>> journeys. There's no way of knowing, I suppose, what they
>> were in Brooklyn, or whether there is any connection
>> between jonny cakes and "jonalized cakes."
>>
>> Fred Ivor-Campbell
>>
>>
>>
>



James C. Stalker
Department of English
Michigan State University