MF DOOM : Hoe Cakes

“Average emcees is like a TV blooper. MF Doom, he’s like D.B. Cooper.”

Inspired by MF DOOM “Hoe Cakes” from MM..FOOD
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This is part of the Cooking The Album project for MF DOOM’s MM..FOOD.

I’m going to skip really connecting this recipe to the inspiration track. Suffice it to say this is one of the low points on the album and completely unnecessary. DOOM is smarter than to run a ho rap even if some of the rhymes are well played. It’s just needless pandering and beneath DOOM’s usual steller work. 

Interesting thing is, many a Southern traditionalist would likely say the same thing about my hoecake recipe. I know I am pandering to Yankee tastes making a “pancake” version. Hoecakes are traditionally nothing more than cornmeal, salt, and water fried in bacon fat. They get their name from the fact they were originally fried on hoe blades over open fires. I’ve made those (not with a hoe blade) and honestly prefer getting a little Yankee up in here.

While these are not true hoecakes, they are also not just pancakes made with cornmeal. They’re more like small thin cornbread disks. Some recipes add in usual pancake suspects like vanilla, but I stick with what essentially is a riff on the cornbread I served at Cha Cha Hut BBQ. They will fry up quickly and you can keep them warm in a 200°F oven. While you can certainly serve these as a kind of savory breakfast item, I think they work best as a kind of hillbilly tortilla for BBQ meats or chili.

Oh and if you want to avoid the whole “hoe/ho” thang (and really you should), these are also known by the less pandering name Johnnycakes.

HOE CAKES
Cornmeal pancakes fried in butter or oil and served whatever way you want
Makes about 16-18 hoecakes

1 cup (128 grams) flour
1 cup (120 grams) cornmeal
2 1/2 Teaspoons (10 grams) baking powder
2 tablespoons (28.12 grams) sugar
1 teaspoon (5.69 grams) salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup (128 grams) milk
1/2 cup (236.59 gram) water
1/3 cup (75 grams) melted butter
Butter or oil for frying

In a large bowl, mix cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, combine the eggs milk, water, and butter. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and pour in the milk-egg mixture. Thoroughly mix until the batter is smooth

Heat a lightly oiled cast iron or frying pan over medium-high heat. Scoop about 2 tablespoons each of the batter onto the pan. Fry each hoecake until brown and crisp; turn with a spatula, and then brown the other side.

Remove and serve immediately with syrup and/or butter or sour cream or jam or bbq sauce and smoked meat or really whatever you can think up.