also jon·ny·cake (jŏnˈē-kākˌ)
noun New England & Upper Midwest Cornmeal bread usually shaped into a flat cake and baked or fried on a griddle. Also called regionally ashcake, batter bread, battercake, corn cake, cornpone, hoecake, journey cake, pone, Shawnee cake.
Regional Note: When the Native Americans showed the Pilgrims how to cook with maize, they must have taught them to make
johnnycake, a dense cornmeal bread whose thick batter is shaped into a flat cake and baked or fried on a griddle.
Johnnycake, also spelled
jonnycake and also called
journey cake and
Shawnee cake, is a New England specialty, especially in Rhode Island, where it is celebrated by the Society for the Propagation of Johnny Cakes. The Usquepaugh, Rhode Island, Johnnycake Festival features johnnycakes made of white Indian corn called
flint corn. Outside New England the name
johnnycake is best known in the Upper Midwest, but the food itself is most popular in the South and South Midland states, where it is known as
ashcake, batter bread, battercake, corn cake, cornpone, or
hoecake. The color of the cornmeal, the consistency of the batter, the size of the cake, and the cooking method can vary from region to region. For example, an ashcake, according to a Georgia informant, is “made by wrapping cornbread batter in cabbage leaves and burying it gently at the back of the fireplace” (Dudley Clendinen).
