Spider Corn Cake
Why I Love This Recipe
This is from the 1887 version of the "White House Cookbook" which is now available in a downloadable version (see my blog of Jan 7 for the url. I used a cast iron frying pan and baked it at 400. You could probably go a little hotter because it took 35 mins instead of 20-25. This is incredibly moist. I'm not sure what granulated corn meal is I used yellow corn meal because that's what I have. I had it with buckwheat honey (which is not very sweet) and loved it.
My hero said that he will be very popular when he takes the leftovers to the club with him.
For those of you who do not know a spider is a cast iron frying pan with legs. These were commonly used by pioneers to cook on the coals or over a small fire.
Ingredients You'll Need
2 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
2 cup sweet milk, divided
1 cup sour milk
1 tsp soda
tsp salt
1 2/3 cup granulated corn meal
1/3 cup flour
2 tbs butter
Directions
Beat two eggs and one-fourth cup sugar together. Then add one cup sweet milk and one cup of sour milk in which you have dissolved one teaspoonful soda. Add a teaspoonful of salt. Then mix one and two-thirds cups of granulated corn meal and one-third cup flour with this. Put a spider or skillet on the range and when it is hot melt in two tablespoonfuls of butter. Turn the spider so that the butter can run up on the sides of the pan. Pour in the corn-cake mixture and add one more cup of sweet milk, but do not stir afterwards. Put this in the oven and bake from twenty to thirty-five minutes. When done, there should be a streak of custard through it.
