Prairie Chic

Episode Transcript for Johnny Cakes

You know, Carrie, sometimes it's important to step out of your comfort zone. Oh, are you going to make me do that today? Absolutely. In fact, I'm going to let you do all the slicing and dicing for today's recipe. And I promise I won't complain about how you do it at all. Really? Are you sure I can handle that? Yep. I think you've got it.

Welcome to Mom's Wooden Spoon, where the recipes are retro and so are your hosts. You can say that again.

Well, Carrie, we are back to making wonderful regional specialties, and this time we decided to branch out a bit further than good old Ohio, Michigan, or Indiana. Oh, I Yes. Yes, we did. Yes, we did. In fact, do tell I had to take a 2 hour flight just to get the main ingredient. I mean, and I like the way you make it sound like it was a hard ship. I know, right? Poor poor thing. Oh, so sad. Because today we will be making Rhode Island Johnny cakes.

No slicing or dicing needed, Carrie. Ooh, I could make these. Exactly. Interesting. So, I flew all the way to Rhode Island, not to visit my friend Cheryl, not to have a wonderful time in one of the most beautiful states in the United States. No, no, no. I went to get Johnny Cake cornmeal. Yeah. And here is why. Okay. Because true Rhode Island Johnny cakes are made with stone ground white flint cornmeal. And purists insist that only this specific type of cornmeal, traditionally from the Naraganset people and often sourced from historical local grist mills like Kenyons or Grays, can be used for true Rhode Island Johnny cakes. So, did you buy Kenyons or Grays? I bought Kenyons. Hey. Yes. From Kenyons Gristmill in  Usquepaugh, Rhode Island. Now, that was tricky because that is a Native American word and it's not spelled like  Usquepaugh. I'll tell you that much. I had to write it down phonetically. I'll tell you what, after reading the box, I knew that this would be the recipe that we should use. There's a recipe on the box. Okay. Cheryl sent us a couple of other recipes to use and they were great. But as I was reading the box, there's a little part on it. It says recipe suggestions. And here's what it says. Okay. Are you ready? I am so ready. Okay, Johnny cakes are a perfect accompaniment to breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Serve them under your favorite Newberg, which is a typical New England kind of seafood creamy type sauce. Or, wait for it, served under creamed chipped beef. Chipped beef on Johnny cake. That's what I'm saying. The 1970s are calling and instead of [ ] on a shingle, it's [ ] on a Johnny cake. I so sorry, Johnny. I do love chipped beef on toast, but now it's going to be on a Johnny cake. And I'm sorry I said the sword, but that's what that food is called. I like that you went with the s-word. You could have just spelled it. S h i t on a shingle. Yes. On an s h i n g l e. That's what I should have done. I'm sorry, loyal listeners, for cussing. Who's the naughty one in this episode? It's me, Potty Mouth Kristen. Potty mouth Kristen strikes again. Yes. Okay. Everybody has a Johnny cake, it appears. Oh, no kidding. My favorite though is a funny story at the top of one of the recipes that Cheryl sent. Okay. Okay. So, here it goes. I must read it to you. And this makes me a wee bit nervous about cooking this recipe. Oh gosh. Okay. Okay. This is a recipe called Aunt Jenny's Rhode Island Johnny Cakes. Okay. Yeah. And it says, "Aunt Jenny was a Rhode Islander, a one-time neighbor of my grandparents. She was an excellent cook and in my view only had one fault. That was her love of Rhode Island Johnny Cakes." She could not persuade the rest of us to share her enthusiasm. Although she always brought a sack of authentic Johnny Cake meal from Rhode Island. Oh no, I must be Aunt Jenny.

We'll find out. We will find out. And I must give Cheryl a shout out. She drove me hither, thither, and yon to actually find Kenyon's stone ground Johnny Cake white cornmeal. It was not just at any old store. We had to drive basically all over Rhode Island to find it. Thankfully, it's a very small state. That's right. So, thank you, Cheryl. We've got it. And we're going to use the recipe on the box because it seemed pretty darn easy. It's called the six minute secret for quick as mix Johnny cakes. All right. Okay. So, there's a story about the name behind a Johnny cake. That is true. Okay. And I'm assuming that you know that story and we're planning on sharing it with us today. And there's a reason I'm asking because I have a little factoid about the Johnny cake that I thought was interesting, but I need you to share the history first. Okay. Well, it's interesting because Rhode Islanders have come to blows over Johnny Cakes for all kinds of reasons, included how they originated. Fisticuffs. Fisticuffs. Did they originate from Native Americans or the settlers over how to spell the name J O H N N Y Cake or J O N Y? And of course, the correct way to make them. Oh, yeah. Some people like them thick, some people like them thin. Yeah. Yeah. And the beauty of it is we have this recipe from the Kenyon grist mill that's both. We can make them thick and thin and try them both. Oh, that'll be cool. Yes. But as you said, the most heated debate where the name came from. Yes. Yes. And so I found one article said that historians think they might have been originally called Shawnee cakes from the Shawnee Native Americans. Right. And then the other one is that perhaps they were originally named journey cakes because they could take them on a journey with them and then when you say journey in a New England accent it sounds like Johnny. We're going on a journey. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. So the reason I said this is because as we have mentioned, everybody's got a Johnny cake recipe. That's true. There is a Caribbean Johnny cake. Whoa. The Caribbean Johnny cakes are very fluffy. They tear them open and use them as like sandwich breads on occasion. Oh, yummy. Yes, they sounded delicious. And they also have cornmeal in them. No. What? They did not. In the one or two recipes I saw, there was not cornmeal. However, the history of the name of the Johnny cake is exactly the same. No way. Yes. Their tale goes that it could be from the Shawnee. No. Also known as a Johnny cake. What? Yes. Or it could be for those journeying from Caribbean island to Caribbean island who would take them on the boats with us. Now your journey from Rhode Island would be west. Yes. These journeys in the Caribbean would be on a boat, right? I thought that that was the most amazing thing that I had seen. Really cool. They say that they typically serve these sandwich type rolls with a mature cheese. Nobody wants immature cheese. or it's a traditional in the Caribbean to eat with saltfish or dip in soup, but the history is the same. I was like, it's not even the same recipe. Oh my gosh wow. And then I took it in another way because as I was thinking about Johnny Cakes, I actually remembered that in the Little House in the Prairie books, I think it was Little House in the Big Woods, that Ma Ingalls was making Johnny Cakes and Laura Ingalls wanted to know why they were called Johnny Cakes. Hilarious. Yeah. Yeah. Back then they didn't know. That's right. And actually, Ma Ingalls originally thought maybe it was from the Johnny Rebs. Okay. Right. And she thought that might be it. She said because there's no way it could have been a journey cake because who would want to carry these around? They crumble all up, right? This particular type of journey cake wouldn't have been very easy. So, here's what I thought. I thought maybe let's make these and then Carrie can put one in her pocket and take it home and we'll see how well it travels. Okay. So, hold on a moment. Yeah, I have facts to add to your facts. Oh, this I mean, look at us go. I know, right? Interweaving the facts. Welcome to the historical podcast, Mom's Wooden Spoon. I'm going to have to change how we are oriented on all the little podcast places. We're known as entertainment, but now we're historical facts. We are. I mean, so I read an article by an Oregon Trail historian. Wow. They made these on the Oregon Trail. They didn't put them in their pocket and take them with them. Oh, I see this is what they made on part of the journey because food options were very slim. It depended on did the hunters catch something that night, did they not? What you always had was cornmeal as you traveled your journey. So, one of the things you could easily cook over a fire, a journey cake. I still think you should put one in your pocket and take it home and see how it travels. so not putting it in my pocket. Oh Come on. I just got so excited thinking about Little House in the Prairie. And it made me also think about another kind of pioneer looking little doll that came out at the same time as as the TV show Little House in the Prairie. Oh, really? Okay. Holly Hobbie. Oh, Holly. I loved Holly Hobbie. And believe it or not, the TV show Little House in the Prairie and the Holly Hobbie Dolls and all the other little things like lunchboxes and stuff came out in the same year, 1974. Oh, okay. Yeah. Which made me start to wonder, did Little House in the Prairie kind of help bolster the popularity of Holly Hobby or vice versa? But I found out that Hobby Hobbie actually was an American greetings card in the 60s. I assumed she was popular in the 70s because of the gingham. I mean, I think they are what created the gingham fad. Maybe. And here's the cool thing. Okay. Do tell. Holly Hobbie was actually a New England character. Oh, did she eat Johnny cakes? I'm sure she did. I think I have mentioned in the past that Alex and I love to play online these Nancy Drew mysteries. Yes. Okay. So, one of them we played was set in Salem. And Nancy was working with the Hardy Boys. I tell you this because it's part of the reason. So, she's staying with a friend in Salem. Yes. And one of the tasks that we had to do, the Hardy Boys needed breakfast. Could the Hardy Boys cook their own breakfast? No. No. They're boys. Nancy had to cook it because she's the girl. So, we had to make the Hardy boys journey cakes. No way, Johnny cakes. We made Johnny cakes. Johnny cakes. Yeah. So, there was like a little recipe and we had to put the cornmeal in there. That's really neato. Make little Yeah. Johnny cakes on Nancy Drew. That's Thank you, Nancy Drew. Maybe not as cool as Holly Hobbie. I mean, I don't think so because I actually found a Reddit post about Holly Hobby and people our age are still obsessed. Really? Yes. Well, first of all, I made a post on Facebook quite a while ago talking about what was your childhood lunchbox. Uhhuh. And I clearly remember my friend Jeanette from elementary school posting that she had a Holly Hobbie one. Okay. Oh, I remember the Holly Hobbie lunch box. Oh, it was so cute. Right. Very gingham. So, oh, so gingham, right? And she holds those what looks like weeds, you know, in her hand. Like meadow. Exactly what you would pick for mom. Yeah. I remember picking those for my mom. The most beautiful of bouquets. Oh, absolutely. Gorgeous. Right. So, this was uh the best story ever about a Holly Hobbie lunchbox. Oh, all right. It was on this Reddit post. It says, "When I was in kindergarten, I got picked on by a second grade boy in the bus line every day." Oh, no. Tacky. One day, he pushed me down in the mud, and I'd had enough of his bull crap. I swung my metal Holly Hobbie lunchbox right in his face, and his nose freaking exploded blood. He was carried away by a teacher, wailing and covered in blood. My lunchbox had a massive dent in it and was therefore replaced by an awesome Scooby-Doo lunchbox. But my mom found out at the end of the school year that that little creep had gotten into a lot of trouble because the school didn't believe his story about a shy, quiet little kindergarten girl smashing the heck out of his face. And he deserved it. I mean, maybe not his nose being broken, but what a jerk. Those metal lunch boxes were no joke. You could get tetanus from one of those. They could get rusty. I'll tell you that. Yeah. I mean, I was not joking about people being obsessed. That was a great story. But listen to these. This was from a 50 something year old woman. I was obsessed with Holly Hobbie. I still talk about it to this day and I'm over 50.

Okay, here's another one. My mom loves Holly Hobbie. She has a display cabinet full of Holly Hobby glass/ceramic figurines. She has actually been in a Holly Hobbie Club since the 1970s. I didn't even There was a Holly Hobbie. How did you find the Holly Hobbie club in the 70s? Was there an ad in the newspaper? I That's crazy. And it's still going on to this day. That's the best. That's the best. I don't know how old she is or her mom, right? But I mean, was it second grade and it was just her and her bestie who started the Holly Hobbie? Started the club and that they still have it today. Let's get together and have cocktails and talk about Holly Hobbie. I don't want to do that. Oh, okay. I feel like I've covered all the things I know about Holly Hobbie and this one little conversation. I mean, you don't have to share if you have more listeners, but feel free if you want to. You know what? What? Share more. We would once again be so excited to hear from you. I mean, we never hear from you. So, please email us at momswoodspoon1gmail.com. Any Holly Hobbie story, good, bad, or indifferent. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I used to have a big Holly Hobbie doll and a small Holly Hobbie doll. Yes, you did. I loved them very much. I did not have any Holly. You didn't. And then there was this final person on this Reddit post who also had a lot of Holly Hobbie stuff. She said, "When I was 8 years old, I had Holly Hobbie bed sheets. I still have them." No. And then she said, "I also have a bar of soap that has Holly Hobbie on it that's still packaged in its original packaging that I have never used and still keep in my dresser drawer." I think we had a bar of soap with Holly Hobbie on it. I think I remember it. It was like a plastic Holly Hobbie figure on the bar of soap. The soap didn't work for crap. No, cuz it had that plastic type stuff over it. Yes. You never got through the layer of protection to get to the soap. It was really It hurt when you rubbed it on your armpits. It didn't bubble it on your armpits. Please. What child cleans their armpits? Nobody. No kid. Oh my gosh. Well, I don't think that this recipe is going to take very long to make. No, but I have something else to say. Well, good, cuz then that'll take longer and then we're going to make us up some Johnny cakes. Yes. Yeah. Okay. So, I don't think I had anything Holly Hobbie at all. No, I don't think you did either. What we did have, and I want to know if you remember this, and my explanation is going to be bad cuz it's a kid memory. Yeah. We had this brown blanket, but it was kind of like a comforter. Yes. So, whenever you mentioned Holly Hobbie, that is the first thing that comes into my mind. It was this brown. Oh. Oh, I remember it. I It was kind of comforter, right? We had a green one and a brown one. Yes. I don't remember the green one. I just remember the brown one and it had like a circle pattern. Yeah, I think so. On it in orange and harvest gold. Oh, it was so ugly but I loved it So 70s. Oh, yeah. And brown and soft. And is that the one that you lovingly named when you were in high school? Bune Blinky.

I didn't name it when I was in high school. Oh, you were far too old. Oh, but I still called it Bune Blinky. That's a hilarious story because my friend Cheryl has a little travel blanket that she carries around with her and she calls it her travel tootie. That's hilarious. Isn't that funny? Yes, that's that is just all flooding into my brain. Bune Blinky. As we're talking about Holly Hobbie, I have zero visualizations of Holly Hobbie. Yeah, I know that we had some window clings of Holly Hobbie. Did we? Yeah, I know that. And I know that there was that brown quilt that Kristen at some point fell in love with and called Bune Blinky. Well, we also wore bonnets when we were little girls. Mom sewed like Little House on the Prairie or Holly Hobbie type bonnets for us. Oh. To match the little apron. Yeah, the apron that went over our little handmade dress. Yeah, lovely shade of blue if I do recall. Absolutely. And I think we had Calico stuff, too. Calico was so popular. Obvy Laura Ingalls had nothing on us. Calico gingham was really popular. Yeah. Wow. We were living our best prairie life. We were in the suburbs. Yeah. And then do you remember like when we were in high school when the prairie skirt Oh, yes I do. I love me a prairie skirt. I have a church picture and one of us is rocking it in a prairie skirt. Oh, heck yeah. Yeah. Heck yeah. I think that might be on my Facebook page. I think I might be in a prairie dress on my personal I know Facebook page. I just had the skirt. I never went as far as the dress. So fancy prairie chic. I mean what were people thinking? What were we thinking? I mean where was Michael Kors back in the day? Tommy Hilfiger. What the heck? How did we allow this to happen? I do not know. He was old. He was alive then. And what's up with the prairie stuff, Versace? Come on. I blame you, Versace. Yeah, me too. Okay, let's make these bad boys. I can't wait to taste them. I don't know. I feel like we need to share more educational thoughts. I think people are going to be like, "This is the most boring episode I have ever heard." Thank you, teacher Kristen and Carrie, but I'm not here to be schooled. Make some food. Make some daggone food. All right, so this is pretty interesting. It's super easy you keep saying this is interesting, Kristen, but I'm waiting. How about you measure out the dry ingredients and I'm going to microwave the heck out of this water because you have to have boiling water for this. That was like key across all recipes. Yeah, I saw that somebody did not add boiling water and it was like they were eating coffee grounds they said when they ate their Johnny cakes. So, I had read a bunch of stuff on Reddit. None of it was funny. I didn't write it down, but people struggle with the Johnny cake. Uh-oh. So, I don't know why I again, it wasn't funny. I didn't read it. So, yeah. I think we definitely want to pay attention to what we're doing. Yeah. The ingredients are easy. They are exactly the ones that Nancy used. Isn't that funny? It is. I mean, literally cornmeal, salt, and sugar. Wow. That's it. So, these are going to make thick ones. The directions on the Kenyon cornmeal box also say how to make them thin, and I think we talked about that. I think you should try them both ways, don't you? Yeah. We're fancy like that. All right, I'm oiling the griddle. We have it turned on. Since we're using an electric griddle instead of a frying pan, we had to look up what temperature to do it. And the internet actually pulled up Kenyon Grist Mills website and said 380 degrees on the electric griddle. So, I think that's what we're going to try. We certainly had good luck with our 1902 English muffins on this griddle. We did. So far, it's been good. And Kristen, I have to say, never in my entire life have I neatly spread an incredibly even layer of oil with a basting brush across a griddle. Well, that's cuz you're a bootleg cook Carrie. I pour some on there and off I go. Oh, okay. Well, I am going to get the butter ready because I think we're gonna want to eat these suckers immediately. Don't you? Sure. While they're hot. And here's a fun thing. I want to thank Cheryl's beautiful mother, Joy, for all of her little stories about her grandma making these. I believe her great aunt would make Johnny cakes and she enjoyed hers with not maple syrup, with molasses. Interesting. I I did a lot of looking because they talk about these being good for breakfast or lunch or dinner. And I obviously maple syrup and butter. That's what you think of like a pancake and breakfast. So what are the other options? And there was somebody the other options are chipped beef and Johnny cake. Oh, okay. And full stop. All right. Great. That was a fun conversation. No, there was like a whole list of things you could add to your Johnny cakes to make them savory. No way. Yeah. So, people were suggesting like you could fry them in bacon grease and Yeah. Which so that was a Reddit board. Somebody said, "I recommend you fry these in bacon grease." And somebody else wrote, "This should be the only comment." That's funny. Okay. It said that this would be very thick. Okay. And you were supposed to take a Let's see what it says. Drop a tablespoon on any well greased fry pan or griddle. Medium high. Oh, it says right here. 380 for electric fry pans. Oh, that's hilarious. Oh my gosh. And then do not touch or turn over for six minutes. Okay, do you have a timer ready to go. No, but I will. Alexa, is that a six minute timer? Six minutes starting now. We only put two on. Yes. Yeah. Which brings me to the piece of information I was wanting to share. Okay. So the cornmeal will as it's sitting here this batter formed the cornmeal will continue to absorb the water that we added into it changing the consistency of the batter and therefore future Johnny cakes. Whoa. So maybe we should have weighed it. So before what it suggests is as it sits there they tend to just add a little more boiling water to update the consistency so that it's appropriately thick or not too thick. I see. I see. And if these thick ones turn out yummy and don't get burned and we're able to eat them, then we could add a little milk to thin down the consistency of it, too. You know, it's very thick. Almost like cookie dough. Yeah, that's it. I was going to say Play-Doh, but Carrie's right. Cookie dough. The shapes of these suckers are all over the place because I mean it's thick. It is really You're putting it on a piping hot griddle. And it's not It's not spreading out like a cookie normally would because there's no fat in it. Yeah. No flour, no I really think these are going to be burned. Okay. What do you think? I think I'm going to wait and see. I'm going to put my faith in the Kenyon corn mill. Grist Mill. Yeah. Okay, Carrie. And I have you try the molasses all by yourself because I love molasses crinkle cookies. But molasses crinkle cookies are delightful because of all the sugar and cinnamon and ginger in them. Oh, I'm not sure I'm going to like just I've never eaten just plain molasses. I don't think I have either, but guess what? You're going to now. I am. And there's a recipe for molasses crinkle cookies on the back. Our stepmom makes the best molasses crinkle and she makes them because they're her son's favorite cookie. Yeah, they're also my favorite cookie. But I try really hard not to eat them all because I'm trying not to be greedy greedy. Well, I don't want to cause uproar in the family dynamics because I ate all of her son's molasses cookies, but I'm telling you I could. I just shove them into my face at a rapid pace. Now, here's the problem, though. I could not find the type of molasses that Cheryl's mom, Joy, uses. I've only ever heard of Grandma's. They had several different varieties, but apparently Joy likes Mother Hubbard molasses. So, if we don't like the molasses, and I got Grandma's, maybe it's because all grandmas can't cook. like our grandma. It's just the wrong molasses. It's just the wrong molasses. 23 seconds left. So, let me open this molasses here. Well, we still have to flip them over and finish the cook. Oh, that's true. But I'm getting I'm getting excited on the other side. Dang it. Another five minutes. Unless they're burned and then we're going to have to start fresh, right? Yeah. Okay. So, we have the butter ready. We do. We have the knife ready. She's like, "Forget the cooking." I mean, come on. Let me get a smaller plate because this seems ridiculously large for two Johnny Cakes. It does. Alexa, stop. I'll flip since you're doing all these other things. Thank you. Not burnt. What? No way. I'm glad I turned it down though. I turned it down to 350 cuz they're getting kind of dark. They look great. Stop with your nitpicking. They are fine. All right, here's our beautiful little plate. Here's a couple forks. And in only five minutes time, we will get to try these super thick ones. Alexa, set a timer for five minutes. Five minutes starting now. While Carrie tells us about Rhode Island. Oh gosh. Okay, then you have to move. Okay. Because I do not have all my Rhode Island facts committed to memory. Okay. True story. Okay. So, here you go. We're starting off big for a small state. Uh, Newport, Rhode Island. I love me some Newport. They hosted the first circus in the United States. Really? 1774. Wow. Okay, hold on. What year did the Constitution It was 1776. So, it is in fact not the first circus in the United States, right? In the colonies. It would have been Yeah. In the colonies. Wow. All right. Okay. So, yes, gems. Gems are rocks. I'm really working to move all this together. Wondering what you were doing there. There is a rare gem. Yes. The state of Rhode Island's official rock. Really? Known as Cumberlandite. Oh, it is only found in Rhode Island. A Cumberlandite. Cumberlandite is the name of the rock. Oh, tell me about it. I knew you were going to ask that. Did you actually do the research? Are you actually able to tell me? Yes. What? Yeah. Oh my god. Yeah. There's a miracle happening. Save the snark. Oh, save the snark. Okay. I looked it up. Cumberlandite is a rare black and heavy ignous rock. Ooh, pretty. Yes. Apparently, it has a very high iron and titanium content and it is weekly magnetic. Kind of a little like hematite, huh? No, it's Cumberlandite. You're funny. Um, let's see. It was due to its high iron content, it was mined for iron before the Revolutionary War. Whoa. What I found said potentially for use in cannons. And I'm like, how did you not know? So, I don't know. I got it from a bootleg source apparently. But they did mine it for its iron content. And it comes often mixed in with a white rock. So it'll be kind of like black and white kind of spotty. I'll be honest in the pictures that I saw. Yeah. It looked like a big black rock. Oh. It was not shiny. Oh. Not like obsidian. Not like obsidian or metallic like hematite. It was kind of shiny. Yeah. Kind of not. It's time, Kristen. Oh my gosh. You are in charge. Alexis, stop. Alexa stop Apparently, you have to say it with authority. Yes, you flip it over. Let's see what the other side looks like. I'm going to Okay, it's perfectly brown. You know what? I think I kind of like it at the hotter temp a little browner. This looks a little bland. Yeah, it does. Okay, I'm going to butter these bad boys up. Shall we do one Johnny cake with syrup and one with molasses? Okay. I'm so excited. I we know she's been getting this stuff out here. She's I'll tell you what though. I love Rhode Island. I love visiting. I love the state. I love how oceany it is. I love everything about it. I love my friend Cheryl. I love her mom Joy. I just love everything Rhode Island. You are such a suck up. No It's true. Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna put maple syrup on the biggest one. Okay, that's the one I want to try. Let's taste that first, shall we? Okay. Okay. Do I get to go first since I just said I love everything Rhode Island? No, you so sucky uppy though. I was not sucking up. It's the truth. I love it. I want to move there. But she has mentioned that. But my husband says no, it's too snowy. Yeah, the snow is a problem. All right, she's chewing. Oh, she's doing the little circle. This is A-OK. Did you burn the ever loving crap out of your mouth? Would you go in for a second bite? Oh, yeah. Okay. Okay. So, you go ahead and make the next one while I take a bite of this one. It's crispy on the outside. It's tender on the inside. And I could see why Joy probably likes the molasses because it has a stronger flavor to balance that corn because the the maple syrup is delicious, but you don't really taste the maple. I would maybe get a darker variety of maple syrup. Nope. You love it the way it is. I would eat it just like that all day long. You can taste the butter and the corn. Oh, let me try the molasses. I am a true Midwestern girl and I love my flavors bland. That is true. Like I like mashed potatoes with nothing but butter on them. I really like those bland flavors to be able to taste them. Yeah. All right. I'm going in for molasses. Okay. Yeah, she's really getting the molasses. She went for like she pushed the molasses over to get more molasses and she's nodding like a fiend. I think she likes the molasses better. I think I love the molasses. Like I said, I like the stronger flavor. I don't think Carrie's going to like it. Carrie doesn't like strong flavors. Oh, no. Not your fave, huh? Tastes like soap. Tastes like soap. She also doesn't like cilantro, so there's that. It tastes nothing like cilantro. I'm going back in for another one. Oh my gosh. Okay, I'm going back. Yeah, this stuff is good. These are delicious. I love corn based foods. Like I crave polenta. I'm trying to think of what other what other corn I mean cornbread is one of my favorites grits. Do you like grits? Grits. Yum. Yum. Yum. Yum. Yes. The only problem with cheese grits is they so often put shrimp in them. And I'm not a big fan of the shrimp part. But Oh, I love it. Yeah. Really, really like corn based Yeah. foods. This is right up my alley. So good. So Kristen, yeah. The main question here is, are we going to make these listeners listen to Oh, no. You're you Oh, I see what she doing here, people. She brought out the milk. She is going for liquidier. Yeah, let's give it a try. Liquidier. I'm not going to add the full half of a cup. Well, that's because this is a quarter cup that I grabbed. So, I will use that much. Let's mix it up and let's try it thin. Mmmhmm. You should keep talking about that. And I'm going to keep eating this Johnny cake. Eating the heck out of the rest of the Johnny cake. Just the one with maple syrup. She's saving the molasses bite for me cuz she loves me very, very much. It was all about the love, y'all. Yeah. Now, I wonder if you do the same six minutes on one side. Let's see if it happens to say for crisp Johnny cakes, add an additional half cup of milk or water uh to the batter and then cook as above. Okay, cook as above. Hello. That was that took me a while to get there. That reading stuff can be Oh, now she's going off script. Now, I'm just going to put the whole half a cup because it doesn't seem to be as liquidy as I thought it was going to be. It's because Oh, it's been sitting around. And that cornmeal just like I said. It's like I knew things. I don't know about that, Carrie. Oh my gosh. Here's something else I know. In 2000, No, in 2020. What? Yeah. Rhode Island voters approved an amendment and changed the state name. Oh, I do know that. Cheryl told me that. I had no idea because I believe it was the longest state name for the smallest state, wasn't it? Yes. The official state name, yes, was the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation. So they voted to drop the Providence implantations. Ah, and now they are the state of Rhode Island. They are the state of Rhode Island. Hey, that's great. Yeah. Isn't that funny? The smallest state with the longest longest name and one of the biggest coastlines. Absolutely. It winds in and around and there's bays and inlets. 400 miles. Wow. Along. Uh-huh. Naragansett Bay. Very good, Carrie. Thank you very much. Okay, something else about uh the state of Rhode Island. You should know the first diner in the United States opened in Providence. No way. I bet you they sold Johnny Cakes. Yeah. Right. And we know the uh state drink of Indiana is water. Yes. And I'm pretty sure you know the state beverage of Rhode Island. I do coffee milk. Yes, I drink coffee milk with my hot wieners when I go to Rhode Island. They are delicious. They're short little hot dogs, except for they're not hot dogs. You will get in trouble if you say they're hot dogs. They're hot wieners. Hot wieners. Yeah. Yeah. They're delicious. Absolutely delicious. And they put like a meat sauce on it that doesn't taste like a chili dog sauce. It really You can taste the beef in it. And then they sprinkle celery salt on the top. Interesting. Boy, is it good. And chopped onions. Okay. Oh yeah. With some coffee milk. Yum, yum, yum, yum. Delicioso. Okay. Yeah. They even serve coffee milk to kids in school. You had your choice of, you know, the white milk and then I think maybe chocolate milk and coffee milk. Whereas we had a choice of strawberry milk. Remember that? Yes. Okay. Yeah. Do you know the state bird of Rhode Island? Let me think. It's got to be maybe a seabird. Nope. Oh, what is it? It is the Rhode Island Red Chicken. Oh, of course, a Rhode Island Red. If you're interested in starting to raise chickens, Yes. apparently the Rhode Island Red Chicken is a good choice. Oh, they're friendly, but they are nosy and so they escape. Trying to figure out what's going on. They're very curious. Isn't that funny? Yeah. I wonder if that's like all Rhode Islanders. They're good layers.

What we just said? That was just a bad coincidence, y'all.

Oh my gosh. If Cheryl's mom, Joy, is listening to this, I'm very, very sorry. I am very, very sorry. Okay, a few other things about Rhode Island that are very important for you to know. Uh, cap guns are illegal in Rhode Island. From what I read, they arrest more seven-year-old children than any No, I'm kidding. Hilarious. Um, so apparently it's not enforced. Oh, also in Rhode Island, it is illegal to race a horse down a highway. Well, that's probably a good thing. Now, I did read somewhere else. Yeah, it is illegal to race a horse down a highway for purposes of testing its speed. Oh, that's funny. But you could race it for other reasons. I'm not positive. If you're very familiar with Rhode Island law, you might want to look into that. Oh my gosh. Well, I will tell you what, Carrie, these thin and crispy ones are gorgeous. But I'm glad I turned down the heat because that first side that had to cook for six minutes got very very dark, didn't it? It did. Yes. And Kristen has mentioned how proud she is of the fact that she turned down the heat no fewer than 74 times. I hopefully she has removed some of the self praise she has heaped upon herself. Nope. Nope. I'm still feeling really good about this. Oh, these look gorgeous. You're very excited about these. I know. And it makes me chuckle cuz it's cute. Oh, thank you. Okay, we also discovered while we had taken a brief pause from y'all is that Kristen in her enthusiasm to eat the Johnny cake left the spoon in the molasses. I did and it disappeared. It was about the height of the molasses bottle. So, no worries. She got out a longhandled spoon. I did this time. Okay. Okay. So, I'm putting syrup on one and I'm going to put got the molasses on the other. I have my fork and I'm ready to go. Okay, I'll try the molasses again, but I didn't care for it. It is very I liked it. Molassy. Yeah, it is pungent. It's delicious to me. Kind of bittery. So, these look a lot more like a pancake as you would get at IHOP. Um, equally good. Okay. Hey, try it. They didn't look like crispy crispy. This looks more like the Johnny cakes that Nancy Drew made in case you were wondering. You know, Nancy Drew video game. They're so realistic. I like the thick ones better. Do you? I think I like the thin ones better. Hands down. Really? Maybe it reminds you of those pancakes that we would make with Bisquick when we were little kids. Remember how thick they were? So, I still make pancakes with Bisquick. That's some of the best pancakes in my opinion. In these, you get the very crisp outer and then kind of a mushier center. That could be because the batter's been sitting. I don't know. But I am a texture eater. And that crispy and mushy together is not a texture combo that I'm a huge fan of. Oh, okay. I really like them both. I'd eat any of these. You wouldn't have to even pay me to eat these. Yum, yum, yum, yum. I still don't like the molasses. Um, to each their own, Carrie. Let me tell you one more thing about Rhode Island that you need to know. Okay, it's very important and it'll just impress the crap out of you. Wow. Providence, Rhode Island is home to the big blue bug. I've seen the big blue bug. It is a 58 foot long two ton termite sculpture known as Nibbles Woodaway. That's funny. I did not know the name. Apparently, it is on the top of some pest control building. I've driven past it on the highway. Um, yep. And they are famous for said bug Nibbles Woodaway. That's hilarious. I'm very, very sad that we didn't do this. Carrie, I wanted to take a picture of the Johnny cakes with my Holly Hobbie color forms out behind it. I used to have a Holly Hobbie Colorforms in the 70s. In fact, it says Colorforms classics from 1975 on the outside. This is not my original Holly Hobbie. This is one my beautiful, wonderful sister got me to enjoy on my desk at work. I mean, because who doesn't want a nice Holly Hobbie Colorform? I mean, who doesn't? Colorforms were the bomb. Colorforms were the bomb. Except for if the color forms got kind of dried out and dusty, they wouldn't stick and they fall off. That's a bummer. That is a bummer. Yeah. Color forms are kind of like high falutin Uhhuh. felt boards. That's true. Remember our mom had a felt board when we were growing up from when she taught kindergarten. I had thought of a felt board in years they were amazing. They were so cool. You'd take a piece of felt, you take a little felt girl and you'd slap it on the felt board. She'd stick. I mean, it was like magic. Talk about great storytelling backdrop. Now that I've thought of it, I'm kind of disappointed that I never had a felt board for my child. I know, right? How could I? Oh, I'm the worst mom. You are the worst mom Carrie. Oh man, felt boards rock. Felt boards rock and so do Johnny Cakes. Yeah, hands down. Thank you, Rhode Island. Thank you so much. Thick or thin molasses or maple syrup or just butter, however you like them. They are a tasty treat. If they came from the Shawnees or journeying or nobody cares. Nobody cares. They are delicious. They're good. Well, that's it for this episode. Thanks so much for joining us. Be sure to mark your calendars for our next episode on February 23rd. We will be making another recipe from the Box of Columbia House style subscription recipe cards from 1973. And if you thought carrot souffle made us gag, just wait till you hear about this special vegetarian dish we will be making, you won't want to miss it. Yay!

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Whistle Okie dokie. Nope. Oh, sorry. Tooth whistling. Carrie loves it. I like that. Nope. And NO!