Hot Water Cornbread (Or Hoecakes)
Ingredients
- 2 cups white or yellow cornmeal
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 ½ cups boiling water
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
Directions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, sugar, and salt. Gradually add the boiling water to the dry ingredients, stirring constantly until the mixture forms a thick batter. Let the batter rest for a few minutes to ensure the cornmeal fully absorbs the water.
- Line a plate with paper towels and have near the stove.
- In a large cast-iron skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, spoon 3 tablespoons of batter for each patty into the skillet. Fry the patties until golden brown and crispy on both sides, 3–4 minutes per side.
- Transfer the cornbread to the paper towels to drain the excess oil. Serve hot.
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Let us know how it was!About this Recipe
This humble cornbread tells many stories. One such story is of the Native American Southern heritage—not just villages of wood palisades tucked among tidal creeks and alluvial plains, but of great civilizations with mounds and pyramids based on the cultivation of maize. This cornbread also serves as a reminder of the hardship of enslavement, a bread made quickly and cheaply when personal time and space were luxuries. Cooked on a greased broad hoe cleaned of dirt (or a griddle called a “how” in Old English), this was the primary bread made by the enslaved community for its own consumption.
About the Recipe Creator
Michael W. Twitty is a recognized culinary historian and independent scholar focusing on historic African American food and folk culture and culinary traditions of historic Africa and her Diaspora.
Extracted from RECIPES FROM THE AMERICAN SOUTH © 2025 by Michael W. Twitty. Photography © 2025 by Nico Schinco. Reproduced by permission of Phaidon. All rights reserved.
