Hoecakes

I've been known to cook/ bake on a whim. Crave chocolate cake? Okay, I'll bake it. Crave some kimchi fried rice, that's easy! I'll whip some up real fast. Hoecakes? Hmmm, hoecakes. Well, I've never made those before...

I was watching True Blood the other day and in the episode, Sam, one of the characters cooks up some hoecakes using bacon grease and it sent my tummy rumbling right away! I've heard of hoecakes before, but never tried them nor made them - but I knew I had some bacon grease that I reserved on hand, so I set forward to making them immediately.

I found this recipe from Paula Deen, and with the simplicity of the recipe and all of the rave reviews, I knew I had to make them. They were as simple as can be, just mix all together, fry them up and then enjoy! I think the bacon grease is imperative; it adds this salty dimension and the hint of bacon flavor is simply divine with the maple syrup.

The hoecakes themselves are toothsome and hearty. They're opposite to a pancake completely! They're not fluffy but rather thick and heavy due to the cornmeal, but in a good way. I enjoyed mine with some maple syrup but these are wonderful because you can enjoy them sweet or savory.

Hoecakes

Yields: about 18

Original recipe here.

1 cup self-rising flour

1 cup self-rising cornmeal

2 eggs

1 tbsn. sugar

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup + 1 tbsn. water

1/4 cup bacon grease (or vegetable oil)

oil or butter, for frying

Mix the flour, cornmeal, eggs, sugar, buttermilk, water and bacon grease until well combined. Heat the oil or butter in a medium or large skillet over medium heat. Drop the batter, by full tablespoons into a hot skillet (use about 2 tbsn. of batter per hoecake). Fry each hoecake until brown and crisp, then use a spatula to turn the hoecake and brown the other side (about 3 minutes per side). With a slotted spoon, remove each hoecake to drain on a paper towel-lined plate.

Simple, homely hoecakes.