Hoecakes & Hospitality

   

      "Hoecakes and Hospitality:  Cooking with Martha Washington" is currently on exhibit until August 11, 2013 at the F. M. Kirby Foundation Gallery of the Donald W. Reynolds Museum at Mount Vernon.  It details the culinary challenges that Martha and her staff of nearly 300 servants, slaves, assistants and scullions faced to prepare 3 meals each day for the vast volume of official guests who visited there.  In one year alone they served more than 700 people who came by Mount Vernon for business and/or pleasure.  George and Martha were married in 1759 and lived on the estate for the next 40 years.
     It has been documented that George's favorite breakfast food was something called Indian Hoe Cakes, a sort of cornmeal based cooked cake that our first President enjoyed slathered in butter and honey.  They received that name when they were originally cooked over an open fire on the back side of a hoe by workers in the field.
     It was in 1771 that wheat became the principle crop on Washington's vast farm, replacing tobacco for the first time.  Not far from his home, George had a new mill constructed along Dogue Run to provide the water power to turn the millstone.  At that location both wheat and corn were ground to make flour and meal.  Soon a wharf was added so that the farmer/statesman could transport his finished milled products by ship to Europe as well as the West Indies.  Some twenty years later inventor Oliver Evans patented a new milling machine and was promptly invited by the Washington's to install his revolutionary technology at their mill.
     On a recent visit there I purchased a 2 pound bag of corn meal and have been using it since that time to bake cornbread, a more contemporary form of Hoe Cake,  according to Martha's own recipe.  It is as follows:

CORNBREAD

3/4 cup cornmeal                                                    3/4 tsp salt

1 cup flour                                                                 1 cup milk

1/3 cup sugar                                                            1 egg, well beaten

3 tsp baking powder                                               2 Tbsp melted shortening

                                                                                           (or butter, margarine, or oil)



Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl: cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Add milk, egg, and shortening.  Mix together.  Pour into a greased shallow baking dish.  Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.  Cut into wedges and serve warm with butter, honey, or jam.

Serves eight