How to Make Hoe Cake Southern Style
Hoe cake seems to be a rather elusive recipe, even among southerners. Apart from my own, I have only one friend whose family still makes it.
The Many Variations of Hoe Cake
Even among us though, the variations are vast. His family makes their hoe cake recipe using corn meal as seems to be the custom among recipes found on the web. My family’s version uses flour and produces a bread much like buttermilk biscuits in flavor only with a lighter and fluffier texture with crispy outsides.
Either way you look at it, hoe cake is revered by those who know of it. I am sure its origins sprang forth much like the rest of our southern dishes – too little time and too few ingredients. It is a simple food to make but will easily take over the starring role at your dinner table. Once you see how simple it is to make, it will take a starring role in your dinner preparations as well!
Where does the name ‘Hoe Cake’ come from?
Just like there are a few variations of Hoe Cake recipes there are some variations in the explanation of how it got it’s name. It appears to have first been recognized in print in 1745 according to the Oxford Dictionary. But others have pointed out that the term hoe was used for cooking and it was similar to a griddle. And that my friends seems to be where the term Hoe Cake got its name.
If You Like The Taste of Biscuits…
I can honestly say that this is a rare recipe, having searched and not found it anywhere online. I do hope you will try it and guarantee that if you like biscuits, you’ll LOVE hoe cake.
Ingredients for hoe cake are a cinch.
- Self rising flour: If you don’t have self rising flour where you are, go here for the formula of how to make your own.
- Vegetable shortening
- Whole milk
Combine two cups of self rising flour and 1/2 cup of shortening.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Pour a thin layer of vegetable oil in the bottom of a cake pan. This is where the old folks use a cast iron skillet but at the time of this tutorial Mama had yet to hand down a cast iron skillet to me so I figured a cake pan with a wee bit of wear on it is just as good. Either way, you’re going to add enough oil to cover the bottom of your cake pan and then stick it in the oven while it preheats.
It should look like this.
You can add about a fourth of a cup more of milk if need be.
What we are making here is soupy biscuit batter.
Remove from oven when it looks like this and turn out onto a plate so it is upside down.
All that brown is the crispy bread. This is SO GOOD!
Cut it any way you choose, add some apple butter and dig in!
Ingredients
- 2 cups self rising flour
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425. Pour a thin layer of oil to cover the bottom of an eight inch round cake pan and place in oven to heat.
- Cut shortening into flour well. Pour milk in and stir until wet.
- Pour into well heated pan and bake for fifteen to twenty minutes or until browned.
- Invert onto plate.
Nutrition
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Also I donโt have anyone that i could ask. I do have another question or two. I love white rice. I use long-grain rice (not the instant kind either as this is more expensive and never liked it anyway). I used to be able to cook it with no problems. Now its more and more i cant make it successfully. Its either hard or mushy. So i have a 20 lb bag of it just sitting there. Do you have any advice on how to cook it at a higher elevation of 4400 ft? One other question, my grandma was originally from the south. She was born in Oklahoma. She moved to Utah(where i reside also, does the desert environment change how you make things or just elevation or both?) Anywho, she made ham hock and beans(with black eyed peas) which i love. I made it many times just using what i remember which is ham hocks and black eyed peas. Now whenever i make it its jusr gross or tasteless or the beans wont cook. Do you have any recipes that might be this? Or advice? Thank you!
First, soak your beans if they are dry. Just cover with water right above the beans and allow to soak. The beans will absorb the water. While beans are soaking for about one hour, boil ham hocks. Add chopped onions, garlic, celery and whatever you would like to add, season the water so that the beans will absorb the water. Once ham hocks are almost tender, remove and set aside.
Add black eyed peas in pot with ham hock stock. Adjust seasonings like salt, pepper, seasoning salt, onion powder, garlic powder. Keep seasonings simple for that simple home cooked taste. Cook peas until almost tender then add ham hocks. You may first cut ham hock into bite size pieces or to your like prior to adding.
I grew up on and cooking this recipe! Only difference is I cooked it on top of a wood stove in a cast iron skillet. Gonna have to make me some now. You are so right about not finding this receipe online. Yours is the only one I’ve seen that is exactly how my mama taught me to make it, minus the oven. Thank you.
I hope you get the chance to make it soon Amanda and it brings back some wonderful memories!!
Easy and Great recipe, just like my grandmother used to make!!
Thank you so much for your comments and your rating!!
We call it biscuit bread. So good!
Isn’t it?! I love it ๐ Thanks for commenting!
Finally someone that knows what a real hoe cake is.
thank you so much for your comment ๐
The reason they are called hoe cakes is because they were made in the fields. At mealtime the people working in the fields would clean their hoes off and make a fire and cook these cakes on the hoe over a fire. Originally they had cornmeal in them, but I’m sure the recipes were made with what people had.
can you use buttermilk?
My grandmother made both cornbread hoecake & the biscuit type used above. She cooked hers on top of the stove & somehow managed to turn it over so that both top & bottom had a crust.