Corn Pone to go with Hoppin’ John

I guess I never did ask my grandmother for her corn pone recipe that she made for New Year’s Day when I was young, so imagine my confusion as I searched the Google Recipe Book (billions of entries) for one, and could hardly recognize what people were calling Corn Pone. I think the one that came closest – and it’s been decades since I even thought about it – was Hot Water Cornbread, which has no dairy, just corn meal, boiling water and bacon drippings. To it, I added a little of the chopped veggies I was using in the Hoppin’ John – onions, garlic, bell pepper – and a chopped slice of cooked bacon. Somehow I thought corn pone batter would be more like pancakes (and some are) but this one came out close to what I remember, and it’s made by forming the pones by hand.

Some of the recipes I found online were more liquid, like pancakes – honestly, I don’t remember watching her cook so I don’t know how she made them. This recipe is a dough that you shape by hand. Apparently the unleavened corn meal fried bread is Native American in origin (and here I thought it was just Southern?), but there are also Johnny Cakes and Hoe Cakes and some are served with syrup like regular pancakes, although my memory is that they were savory and served with butter.

The other  fried corn meal dish I know is Hush Puppies, which are similar (in that they are shaped) but a little different, maybe because they are more deep fried, and have dairy ingredients (egg, milk, butter). I dunno – mix corn meal up with some stuff and fry it, and it’s gonna be good!

My inspiration for this recipe was The Spruce.

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Corn Pone or Hot Water Cornbread

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Ingredients

• 1 cup corn meal
• salt
• Tony Chachere's (goes without saying)
• I probably threw some turmeric and black pepper in too
• 1 tablespoon or so, each, of chopped onion, bell pepper and garlic
• 1 chopped bacon slice
• 3/4 cup boiling water
• 1 tablespoon bacon grease, melted, added to the corn meal
• bacon grease or cooking oil

Instructions

1

In a heat proof bowl - I used a 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup - add the corn meal, spices, veggies, bacon

2

Pour the boiling water over the mix

3

Add the melted bacon grease and mix it together

4

Once it's cool enough to handle, heat up a skillet with oil/grease - the website said 1/4 inch in the pan, but I didn't use a lipped pan, so I'm not sure how much it was

5

Form flat pancakes from the dough - the website said it would make 4, I made 5

6

Fry them in the oil until golden brown

7

Serve with butter!