Rhode Island is considered to be the authority on jonnycakes, little fried pancakes made from cornmeal mush. According to Yankee magazine, the Algonquin Indians taught the early English settlers how to make these. True jonnycakes, Rhode Islanders maintain, are made not from just any cornmeal but from locally ground whitecap flint cornmeal. Because the Rhode Island cornmeal isn’t readily available outside of the state, you can substitute southern-style grits. This recipe, provided by Plimoth Plantation museum, is based on a Native American recipe for Indian corn bread:
Jonnycakes
1 cup of hominy grits, uncooked
2 cups of water
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons of butter (my addition)
½ teaspoon sugar (my addition)
½ cup cold water or milk (my preference)
Bring water, salt and butter to a rolling boil. Slowly add hominy grits and sugar. Cook until water is mostly absorbed. Stir in milk or water to make batter; add more if necessary. (The consistency should be like corn-bread dough.) Drop by the spoonful onto a hot greased cast iron griddle. Cook for a full five minutes on each side. The outside should be brown and crispy while the inside hot and fluffy. Makes about a dozen three-inch pancakes.
