THE WHOLLY GRAIN

Farmer’s Market flowers and fresh local fruits embellish the breakfast plate of War Eagle’s special pancakes.

Having modified our War Eagle Pancake & Muffin Mix so that it makes delicious light multi-grain pancakes,
I began to think of the origination and versatility of the wonderfully simple recipe for PANCAKES. Recipe books written in the 1700’s and early 1800’s refer to what we currently call pancakes as griddle cakes and, later, a reference to pan-cakes (hence the name). The griddle was used over the open fire hearth for cooking cakes. The pan or skillet was later used over a cooking stove. The native American made cakes from “Indian meal” (cornmeal), and referred to them as johnnycakes, hoe cakes, yokegs, nocakes, or ash cakes. “First known as ash cakes, they were wrapped in cornhusks or grape leaves and baked in ashes at the edges of campfires.”1)

“The Country Kitchen 1850” gives a recipe for “flat-jacks” that is leaven with saleratus. “Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping” recommends cooking the cakes on a soapstone griddle sprinkled with salt if cakes are sticking. The same book gives a recipe for “Flannel-Cakes” that is made with milk, butter, flour, egg yolks, and yeast and let risen overnight. The next morning the cook folds in the beaten egg whites. The cornmeal pancakes are called “Indian Pancakes”. Another very early technique from this 1877 cooking book is to use new fallen snow. “Griddle-cakes may be made with new-fallen snow, in the proportion of a tea-cup of snow to a pint of milk. Fresh snow contains a large proportion of ammonia which renders the cakes light, but which soon evaporates, rendering old snow useless for this purpose.” Another recipe is for Tomato Cakes. Take a slice of a large, solid ripe tomato, place on a griddle and cover with pancake batter and fry.
 
Sourdough pancakes, usually referred to as “flapjacks” were made famous by Alaskans and the subsequent gold miners. Sourdough pancakes are best made thin and silver dollar size. Sourdough Jack describes them as “pure ambroisia”.2) He adds a variety of ingredients including fruit, but not excluding hominy. But for thin pancakes, the French took pancakes a step further with crepes, by adding more egg and more liquid. The crepe sauces can be sweet or meat filled savory sauces.

Waffles began life as “wafers”, which was a small stamped holy bread used as communion in the twelfth-century England churches. Ordinary wafers, or waffles, were larger, thicker, and more substantial. Thomas Jefferson fell in love with waffles when he first tasted them in Holland in 1789. He bought a pair of waffles irons with tongs for cooking waffles over the hearth fire.

Click Here!

Try experimenting with your favorite additions to War Eagle Pancakes—I like pecans, cinnamon, and fresh seasonal fruit bits. Pancake molds are fun for the whole family. Our new ones are in the shape of a duck and lamb or a flower and star. Try our thick and sweet syrups, Butter Pecan and Blackberry. Breakfast on Saturday mornings at Mom’s house when I was growing up was always special. We invite you to make those special memories for your family with our natural grain mixes made from grain grown on small American family farms and hand packed and hand sacked in the scenic village of War Eagle, Arkansas.



Footnotes Reference
1)”Enduring Harvests” by E. Barrie Kavasch
2)”Sourdough Jack’s Cookery and other things” by Sourdough Jack

We Mill The Whole Grain