PIONEER ASH CAKE (1913)
Dishes & Beverages Of The Old South
Martha McCulloch-Williams (1913)
Ash Cake: (Pioneer.)
This is possible only with wood fires--to campers or millionaires.
Make dough as for plain [corn] bread, but add the least trifle of salt, sweep the hot hearth very clean, pile the dough on it in a flattish mound, cover with big leaves--cabbage leaves will do at a pinch, or even thick clean paper, then pile on embers with coals over them and leave for an hour or more, according to size.
Take up, brush off ashes, and break away any cindery bits.
Serve with new butter and fresh buttermilk.
This was sometimes the sole summer supper of very great families in the old time.
Beyond a doubt, ash cake properly cooked has a savory sweetness possible to no other sort of corn bread.
The complete 'Dishes & Beverages Of The Old South' may be found on the Michigan State University website:
'Feeding America: The Historic American Cookbook Project'
http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/cookbooks/
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