Poverty Cakes

Ingredients

• one pint and a half of rye meal
• half a pint of corn meal
• a scant half-cupful of molasses
• one teaspoonful of salt
• one fourth of a teaspoonful of soda
• one egg
• one pint of cold water

Method

1. 1

   Combine all ingredients and mix well.

2. 2

   Bake until done.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Miss Parloa's kitchen companion (1887) by Maria Parloa, page 430. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

one teaspoonful of salt. Put the meal and salt in a bowl. Put the butter in a cup, and let it stand on the back part of the range where it will melt. Now fill the cup with boiling water, and pour the liquid on the meal and salt. Beat well with a spoon ; then work the dough with the hands for ten or fifteen minutes. This will make it firm and rather tough. As the dough is hot it is rather hard to handle, but unless it be worked well with the hands while hot it will not make good cakes. Now divide the dough into two pieces, and make two thin cakes of it. This may be done in either of two ways. The first and better way is to press out the dough with the hands ; the other is to use the rolling-pin. Sprinkle the moulding-board with dry meal, and put the ball of dough on it. Now pat the dough until it becomes very thin ; pressing down with the palm of the right hand, and using the left hand for pressing in the edges, to keep the cake round and smooth. The dough must be lifted frequently. When it is almost as thin as the blade of a knife, lift it carefully, and place on the outside of a broiler. Put something on the back part of the stove to raise the broiler about two or three inches from the iron. A meat-rack is a good thing; or two bricks will do. Cook the cake slowly for about an hour, turning it when it has become slightly browned on one side. It must never be allowed to get very brown. Oat cakes may be baked on a griddle. It will take about as long to cook them as if a broiler were used. They will keep a long time, and are especially nice with cheese for luncheon. * Muffins Cooked on the Griddle. For six persons use one quart of flour, two cupf uls and one-half of warm milk, three table-spoonfuls of melted 814 MISS PARLOA'S KITCHEN COMPANION. butter, one-fourth of a cake of compressed yeast, one tea- spoonful of salt, one of sugar, and two eggs. Put the flour, sugar, and salt into a bowl. Dissolve the yeast in half a cupful of the milk ; then add it, with the rest of the milk, to the flour, and beat the mixture well. Now beat the eggs till light, and add them and the butter to the batter just made. Beat vigorously for ten minutes. Cover the bowl, and set it in a warm place. In the morning butter some muffin-rings, and grease the griddle with either pork or butter. Spread the rings on the griddle, which must be nearly as hot as for ordi- nary griddle-cakes. Put a large spoonful of the risen batter into each ring, and cook until brown on one side ; then turn the muffins, and cook them on the other side. It will take from ten to twelve minutes to brown them completely. With the materials mentioned, two dozen muffins can be made. If wanted for supper, put them to rise at about eight o'clock in the morning; or if wanted for luncheon, make them at the same hour, but use half a cake of yeast instead of one-quarter of a cake. * Crumpets. To make two dozen crumpets there will be required five cupfuls of sifted flour, one-quarter of a cake of com- pressed yeast, two cupfuls and a fourth of warm water, one teaspoonful of salt, one table-spoonful of sugar, and three generous table-spoonfuls of butter. Put the flour, sugar, and salt into a deep bowl. Dis- solve the yeast in a small part of the warm water, and then add the remainder of the water. Pour the liquid upon the flour, and beat until a smooth, light batter is formed. Cover it closely, and let it stand in a warm place over night. In the morning melt the three table- spoonfuls of butter, and beat into the risen batter. Fill BREAD, ROLLS, AND MUFFINS. 815 buttered muffin-pans with the mixture, and after keeping in a warm place for half an hour, bake for an equal period in a moderate oven. Or, instead of baking in the oven, bake in rings on the griddle, like muffins cooked on the griddle. * Luncheon Muffins. For a dozen muffins use one pint of flour, half a pint of cream or milk, an egg, a table-spoonful of butter, one of sugar, two level teaspoonfuls of baking-powder, and half a teaspoonful of salt. Mix the flour and baking-powder. Beat the egg and sugar together. Melt the butter, and after adding it to the beaten egg and sugar, beat the mixture for a minute. Now add the salt and milk, and finally the flour and baking-powder. Mix quickly, and after putting into buttered muffin-pans, bake in a rather hot oven for twenty-five minutes. * Wheat Gems. These are easily and quickly made. The materials are : a quart of milk, a quart of sifted flour, half a dozen eggs, one table-spoonful of sugar, one table-spoonful of butter, and one teaspoonful of salt. Put two sets of iron gem-pans where they will get very hot. Beat the eggs until light (it is well to use a Dover egg-beater) ; then add the sugar, salt, and milk. Grad- ually pour this mixture upon the sifted flour, beating thoroughly ; and add the table-spoonful of butter, melted. Dip a piece of clean cloth into some soft butter, and rub it over the hot gem-pans ; then pour the batter into the pans, and bake for twenty minutes. The cakes will be light and delicate, and about double their original size. The same mixture, baked in earthen cups for an hour, would increase to four times its first size, and the cakes would then be called pop-overs, 816 MISS PARLOA'S KITCHEN COMPANION. * Wheat Drop Cakes. The materials needed are : one pint of flour, two tea- spooufuls of baking-powder, half a teaspoonful of salt, one generous table-spoonful of sugar, one table-spoonful of melted butter, half a pint of milk, and one egg. Mix the dry ingredients together, and rub through a sieve. Now add the milk, and also the egg, well beaten. Finally add the melted butter. Drop this batter into boiling fat by dessert-spoonfuls, and cook for six minutes. Serve hot for breakfast, luncheon, or tea. With the quantity of materials given above, two small plates of cakes can be made. * Poverty Cakes. Use one pint and a half of rye meal, half a pint of corn meal, a scant half-cupful of molasses, one teaspoon- ful of salt, one fourth of a teaspoonful of soda, one egg, and one pint of cold water

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.