Cornbread: 18th Century Breads, Part 3. S2E14
In our last episode, we covered mixed breads.These mixed grain breads were made with other
grains in addition to wheat to make a cheaperloaf for laborers. These breads were promoted
to ease the demand on wheat in Great Britainand Western Europe. As we discussed, this
demand for wheat created an important tradelink between the mid-Atlantic colonies where
wheat was grown and Great Britain. The majorityof wheat that was grown in these colonies
was exported. This created a void of sortsin the food supply for the colonists. It was
only natural for this void to be filled bysomething that was native to the Americas,
corn. In our recent episodes, we’ve takena closer look at breads of the 18th century.
In this episode, we’re going to be lookingat an early cornbread.
For common people in 18th century Great Britainand the American colonies, there existed three
main dietary pillars, bread, pottage, andale. People depended on these three things
for survival. While there were many similaritiesbetween English cooking and that of the colonies.
There were also some vast differences as well.Using corn was one of them.
Now before we proceed, let’s clarify theword corn. Corn used in the 18th century meant
a kernel or granule of something, like a grainof wheat, or rice, or barely, or even gunpowder.
When we say corn we usually mean yellow corn,field corn, or sweet corn, but in the 18th
century they always used the term Indian cornor maize. In Great Britain, the common perception
was that Indian corn was unfit for human consumption.They considered it animal fodder. You simply
won’t find recipes that use corn in theold English cookbooks of the 18th century.
There’s a passage in Joseph Plum MartinsRevolutionary War Memoir that expresses this
sentiment. “When they (speaking of Britishsoldiers) could find none to wreak their vengeance
upon, they cut open the knap sacks of theguard (the continental guard that is) and
strew the Indian meal about the floor, laughingat the poverty of the Yankee soldiery who
had nothing but hogs fodder, as they termedit, to eat.”
The earliest European settlers to the Americaswere introduced to this grain, this corn,
by the Indians. They’d been cultivatingit, eating this corn, for thousands of years,
so as demand grew for wheat in the growingWestern Europe, more and more of it was exported
away from the American colonies. Corn grewin importance in the diet of the colonists,
especially for the rural and the poor. Sointerestingly the three dietary pillars of
porridge, bread, and ale, they remained thesame, but with variations. A porridge that
was traditionally made with oatmeal is madewith cornmeal in the colonies. The wheat in
bread that was eaten in Europe gets made intocorn journey cakes or Johnny cakes, and of
course ale sometimes replaced by corn whiskey.
In our research, we did find a number of 18thcentury experimental recipes for yeast based
bread using Indian corn. These British recipesused a combination of cornmeal and wheat flour
very similar to the mixed grain breads thatwe made in our last episode. Now it makes
a very delicious loaf, but it appears thatit was very unpopular. Here’s one authors
appeal. He says, “This makes a very cheapand flavorful and nourishing bread. The color
of it is true, is very different from thatof common bread, but we often eat, by choice,
cakes and other kinds of confectionary asdeep colored as this and provided that what
is set before us is palatable and wholesome,we must not, in times of scarcity, object
to it because it may not be altogether pleasingto the sight.”
Now when you think of cornbread, you probablythink of something like this. These modern
day mixes depend on baking soda or bakingpowder to give it a light and airy texture
but the earliest forms of cornbread in colonialAmerica were of an unleavened type, very similar
to the oat cakes or bannock bread that you’dfind in the Scottish highlands. It wasn’t
until the early 19th century that chemicalleavening agents like pearl ash or Saleratus
were introduced and used to make a cornbreadthat we might be used to.
The earliest cornbread recipe we have so faris from Amelia Simmons in 1796. Let’s make some.
We’ll start with about a cup of milk. I’llput this in a saucepan over a low heat to
scald. To this I’m going to add three tablespoonsof butter, a tablespoon of molasses,
and a pinch of salt. Now let’s stir this around.
In a separate bowl, I’ve got three cupsof cornmeal and a half a cup of wheat flour.
After the milk is heated, I’m going to addthis to our cornmeal and mix it well.
Now we’ve gone ahead and made a second batchso that we can cook it in two different ways.
We’re going to take this second batch andpour it into an already greased pie pan and
we’ll bake this. When it’s done in thismethod, it’s called a common loaf.
And we’re just going to settle that intoour pan evenly
and put this into the oven already preheated.
For more information about how to cook withone of these earthen ovens, make sure to check
out our Building an Earthen Oven Part 2: BakingBread. That’ll teach you how to use this.
If you’re going to be using a regular ovenat home, you can bake this at 375 degrees
for about a half an hour.While our common loaf is baking, we’re going
to make up some journey cakes or Johnny cakes.I’ve got our other batch of dough here and
I’m just going to form up some patties,about a half an inch thick or so and three
or four inches around, and these we can fryin our pan. If we’re going to use these
as journey cakes, take them with us in a haversack,we want to cook them dry without any oil or
butter in the pan. If you’re going to eatthem right away, you can use butter or grease
in your pan and they are really tasty.
Laborers and slaves would bake these cakeson the hoes right over an open fire, thus
the name hoe cakes. They could also be bakedon a bannock board right before the fire.
A great simple adaptation of bread made withcorn in a North American kind of way. I’ve
got a sauce here. It’s something I ran intoin an old cookbook. It’s got molasses, butter,
and a splash of vinegar. Let’s try thisout with a little bit of our cornbread here.
Mmm. This would make a great meal in and ofitself and also very good with soup or beans.
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Jas. Townsend and Son. All the items you’veseen here today, all the cooking utensils,
all the clothing, these things are availableon our website or in our print catalog. I
want to thank you for joining us today andI want to invite you to come along to enjoy
the flavors and the aromas of the 18th century.Mmm, excellent.
As the population in western Europe exploded during the latter half of the 1700's, wheat became an important export commodity for the mid-Atlantic colonies. It was a natural progression for "Indian corn," a grain native to the Americas, to fill the dietary gap for colonists. This was especially true for the rural folk and labor classes. Next week's episode in our "Cooking with Jas. Townsend & Son: 18th-Century Breads" video series will look at the history of cornbread in the American Colonies. We'll also show how to make an authentic "Common Loaf" of unleavened cornbread as well as "johnny cakes" that you can take along on your next journey. #townsendscornbread ***************************** Check out our new website! ▶ http://www.townsends.us ▶▶ More Townsends sites. ***************************** Twitter ▶ @Jas_Townsend Facebook ▶ facebook.com/jas.townsend Instagram ▶ townsends_official