American cornbread
A modern cornmeal-and-wheat cornbread that King Arthur Baking describes as a compromise between Northern and Southern styles. The batter is baked in a pan or as muffins and served warm.
Modern method
South County Rhode Island johnnycakes
Johnnycakes · Rhode Island johnnycakes · South County jonnycakes
Thicker cornmeal cakes scalded with boiling water and cooked in butter. This South County formula is separate from thin Newport milk-batter cakes and Caribbean wheat breads.
South County and Newport
Rhode Island has thick South County cakes and thinner Newport cakes. The latter use a wetter milk batter. The two methods should not be mixed into one liquid ratio or cooking schedule.
The regional name also differs from Caribbean wheat-flour johnnycakes. Here the grain is stone-ground maize meal, without a yeast rise.
Sources for this section
History
A contemporary South County recipe supplied by Kenyon's Grist Mill and published by Herreshoff Marine Museum on 30 March 2020. It belongs to an older regional cornmeal tradition, but the exact formula's earliest date is not established.
Ingredients
Yield 10 johnnycakes · Scaling: source batch only
Stone-ground cornmeal
237 mL1 cup as recorded
Kenyon's identifies its johnnycake meal as stone-ground white cornmeal; no weight conversion supplied.Salt
2.5 mL½ tsp as recorded
Sugar or molasses (optional)
Amount not stated
½–1 tsp, choose one; optional.WaterBoiling.
Amount not stated
1¼–1½ cups, added gradually.ButterGrease skillet; replenish between faces if needed.
Amount unspecified.
Method
Risks and precautions · Standard risk
Boiling water and hot butter can burn; pour and turn carefully. Browning is not proof of safety; household cooking times are not a validated internal-temperature endpoint. No storage limit is established.
- Mix cornmeal and salt. Stir in enough boiling water gradually to form a thick batter, breaking lumps with a fork.
- Add the optional sugar or molasses.
- Grease a medium-hot skillet well. Spoon batter into puffy cakes about 3 inches across.
- Cook 6 minutes on the first face, then turn and cook 4–5 minutes on the second until golden. Add more butter between faces if desired.
Conditions
Yield10 johnnycakes
Places
South County, Rhode Island
Documented preparation · Region evidenceNamed regional style; no precise birthplace.
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Sources
Herreshoff Marine MuseumRecipe · Identity · Geography
Johnnycake RecipesKenyon-supplied South County quantities, ten-cake yield, three-inch sizing and six/four-to-five-minute cooking.
Cited in: South County and Newport
Kenyon's Grist MillIdentity · Ingredient · Variant comparison
Recipes: Johnny CakesStone-ground white meal and distinction between thick South County and thin Newport styles.
Cited in: South County and Newport