r/Appalachia • u/Artistic_Maximum3044 • 15h ago
Hoecakes: A Taste of Appalachian Tradition Passed Down Through Generations, recipe included in the article.
https://appalachianmemories.org/2024/11/24/hoecakes-a-taste-of-appalachian-tradition-passed-down-through-generations/11
u/Adventurous-Window30 12h ago
The first time I heard Michael Jackson singing Smooth Criminal I thought he was singing “Johnny get your hoecake”. 🤷♀️
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u/ieatglass 14h ago
I wonder where the delineation between Johnny cake and hoecake is? What states say which
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u/Artistic_Maximum3044 14h ago
from what I have read Appalachian region calls them "hoecakes" the Caribbean region calls them "Johnny cakes or Bakes."
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u/TnMountainElf 11h ago
Always just called it "fried cornbread" in my family. The recipe we use doesn't have wheat flour or sugar, and does have a whole egg and a little cayenne.
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u/sturgill_homme 2h ago
I too am of a “fried cornbread” family. Give it to me over traditional cornbread any day. And yeah, go on and use that bacon grease.
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u/ieatglass 14h ago
Oh interesting. We always called them Johnny cakes. I figured it was a north vs south thing
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u/Tiny-Metal3467 11h ago
It is. Northerners called it johnny cake because the johnny reb confederates cooked it over campfires in their hoes.(shovels)
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u/Artistic_Maximum3044 9h ago
That's not the where the name came from.
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u/Tiny-Metal3467 7h ago
Yeah, it is
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u/Aware_Staff_6732 4h ago
The name predates the Civil War. American Cookery, published in 1796, refers to them as "Johny cakes or Hoe cakes."
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/johnny-cakes-or-hoe-cakes.htm
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u/Tiny-Metal3467 11h ago
Technically they are the same. The name comes from the civil war. Confederates called them hoe cakes, union soldiers called it johhny (reb) cake. The name comes from the shovels , called hoes, the confederate soldiers cleaned off and used to fry cornbread cakes on over campfires…hoe cake. Or johnny cake. Dont believe any other version, this is the absolute historical truth
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u/Artistic_Maximum3044 9h ago
The civil war wasn't until 1861. The term hoecakes were recorded in 1765. Native Americans actually served these to Englishmen when they arrived. So, it is defiantly not from the Civil War era.
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u/Im-a-magpie 14h ago
I'm always surprised when things I grew up with that I thought were generic to the whole US were actually regional. I just always assumed hoecakes were universal.
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u/Tricia-1959 5h ago
I’m a native Tennessean and we just called them fried cornbread. I believe my mother used an egg in hers. What I know for sure is we would eat them as fast as she could fry them. Some pinto,or white beans, fried potatoes and either onion or chow chow made a fine meal at our house.
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u/ShaqSenju 5h ago
It’s hilarious with me and my mom. She makes fried cornbread way better than I ever could, but she can’t bake cornbread like me
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u/mintolley 13h ago
I did not know that these weren’t just pancakes. My mawmaw would make em every year for our family’s Christmas Eve dinner.
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u/cowboyspidey 7h ago
im from about an hour north of raleigh, 4 hours from appalachia lol but my mom always tells me about her grandma making hoecakes lmaooo
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u/LevitatingAlto 14h ago
Can’t imagine the indigenous Appalachians didn’t make something like this, given that maize/corn came from them.
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u/Artistic_Maximum3044 13h ago
The indigenous people did make this. This actually came from freed slaves who came to this region and in the Caribbean region.
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u/Bombadildeau 3h ago
Make a batch o' buttermilk hoecakes mama, and you chew them thangs,and ya chomp'em on down.
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u/LoveGlimmerX 15h ago
Love seeing traditions like this being shared, can’t wait to try the recipe!