Lace Hoe Cake Cornbread Recipe

“When I was a little girl, my mama used to make the best lace hoecake cornbread in the world.  It was perfectly golden, thin, and crunchy with just the slightest hint of a thicker texture in the middle…and delicious; a true Southern staple that’s just perfect with lima beans, greens, soup, etc.  She can still make it just that good!

Lace Hoe CakeNow, I have tried for at least the last twenty years to master the art of Lace Hoe Cake Cornbread cookery – but until last week, I have NEVER been able to get it right.  My family has suffered through ‘burned on the outside-raw on the inside’ greasy, limp lace cornbread quite a few times, and I’ll admit I got discouraged.  I just could not get it thin and crunchy enough.  I have never had much trouble with other stuff, and my family considers me an extremely competent cook…which is a good thing since they don’t have too many alternatives!  My mama cooks her cornbread by ‘feel’, and she doesn’t really measure anything.  I do that with a lot of my cooking too, so I am not complaining…but it made my attempts at lace cornbread, um, less than desirable!

Anyway, last week (after a long hiatus) I was determined to try again (you know, the childhood memory thing), and I meant I was going to get it right.  So, I found Paula Deen’s recipe for lace hoecake cornbread and used her measurements.  The only thing I did not do was the ‘inverting the cornbread over onto the wet plate thing.’  Once my cast iron griddle was good and hot and well-greased,  I did not have any trouble with flipping the cornbread just using a spatula.  Finally, success!  I used my grandma’s cast iron griddle – I love it!”

This recipe, comments, and photo are courtesy of Amy O’Quinn and her website, Ponderings from Picket Fence Cottage.

Check out Linda’s Bread Making Hints:  Secrets to using the bread machine, About yeast in bread making, Sourdough Starter, and Quick Breads.

More great Bread Recipes for your bread making.

 

 

 

Lace Hoe Cake Cornbread Recipe:
Prep Time
15 mins
Total Time
15 mins
 
Course: Bread
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Lace Hoe Cake Cornbread Recipe
Ingredients
  • 2 cups plain enriched white cornmeal, sifted
  • 2 1/2 cups water
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl, mix together the cornmeal, water, and salt; allow mixture to sit for a few minutes.  Spray a flat cast-iron griddle with a non-stick cooking spray and then drizzle with vegetable oil.

  2. Heat cast iron skillet over medium heat.  Pour about 3 (2-ounce) ladles full of the batter on the skillet.  The batter will sizzle and have a lacy appearance.   NOTE: If the batter gets too thick add a bit of water.

  3. When the edges of the hoe cake are slightly brown, place a wet glass plate over the top. With a dishcloth, grab the handle of the pan, flip the pan and hoecake onto the plate.  Slide the hoe cake off the plate back in the pan to cook the other side, and cook until golden brown.

  4. Stir the batter and add additional vegetable oil to the pan before making your next hoe cake.

Categories:

Corn Bread    Heirloom Recipes    Pancakes   

Comments and Reviews

6 Responses to “Lace Hoe Cake Cornbread Recipe”

  1. KB

    I have been looking for the perfect thin crunchy hoe cake recipe for my cornbread tacos and this is absolutely perfect. perfect measurements! Thanks

    Reply
  2. John Wolverton

    Your story about searching for your mom’s famous, crispy, white, fried cornbread is very similar to my own. Like your mother, mine never wrote a thing down or measured. Yet, anything she made was always consistently delicious.

    Both my parents are deceased and anyone who might have seen her cooking and been able to answer my questions are also gone.

    I am 70 years old and I fell three years ago and broke my neck, resulting in traumatic brain disorder, which has caused me to forget a lot of things. One of those many things just beyond my grasp is my mom’s delicious cornbread that we would have with a soup of Northern beans and ham hocks.

    Although I have searched for several years for a recipe similar to her cornbread, I grew frustrated and have been ready to give up several times, especially when I would try to piece together any bits of images I might recall from watching her make her cornbread when I was a child.

    Then, I found your site. Eureka! Your Lace Hoe Cornbread Recipe is the most remarkable match for her own.

    But, I wanted to try to write to you and ask some questions, if you don’t mind.

    My mom would use buttermilk instead of water. I think she also used baking soda and maybe even baking powder. I remember when she would add it to the mixture of white cornmeal, it would always fizz and bubble up.

    I don’t know if self rising cornmeal would take the place of baking powder and soda and no one has been able to aswer that question for me. I just have a vague image of that happening.

    Then, when pouring the batter into her cast iron skillet, the edges were always crisp and the cornbread would be quite thin after frying. She would use a spatula to flip it and fry the other side.

    After slathering them with butter, they were so good!

    I have attempted to make these from what little pieces of memory I can gather and my efforts have been disastrous. They always taste too much like baking powder or baking soda – even when I did not use self rising cornmeal.

    Any help or push in the right direction, would be greatly appreciated..

    Your site has restored my hope in my continued quest to hold onto a special memory of my mom. FYI: She always cooked on a cast iron cook stove in her new house. If it hadn’t been so heavy, I would have considered burying her in it.

    Thank you.

    – John

    Reply
  3. Crystal Craig

    Thank you for posting this recipe! It sounds just like the ones my mom used to make just cornmeal, salt and water, plus a greased cast iron skillet, used just for that purpose. No one ever bothered that skillet! Lol! Mom has dementia now so when searching for a recipe, i said, “This is it!!!” God Bless and happy cooking! Again, thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  4. Maryjane

    1 c cornmeal
    2tablesoons flour
    1 tsp baking powder
    1/2 tsp salt
    2 tablespoons oil or bacon grease
    Enough hot water to make the batter like pancake batter. Pour batter into med to high heat (not too hot) fry it in a bit of oil until golden flip and cook the other side until golden. Drain on paper towels
    You can add 1 or 2 tsp of sugar if you want it sweeter. You can add dry powdered chicken bullion or garlic powder, finey diced onion or chile powder etc it’s very forgiving and tasty. This makes 4 fried corn breads about the size of pancakes.

    Reply
  5. Tammy Harrison

    Must be fine ground white corn meal

    Reply
  6. Charlton A Butler

    Thank you I didn’t know how to describe the griddle cake, as gramommy called it, that I grew up with. But the picture and “lace” honed me in. As visually that’s the one I grew up with.

    Reply

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