United States or Bouvet Island ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
It was Sevier's delight at weddings or special merrymakings to feast all the backwoods people of the neighborhood at a barbecue, where an ox was roasted whole over the fire, and where, in fair weather, board tables were set under the trees. These were loaded with wild fowl, bear's meat, venison, beef, johnny-cakes, ash-cakes, hominy, and applejack.
On this warm bed the Johnny-cakes were dropped, leaving a space between each so that they wouldn't run together. When all the white balls of dough were in place, Mick flicked some of the ashes from the edge of the hollow on to them, gradually increasing the amount till the cakes were covered right over and the whole affair was a mound of grey with no sign of the cooking cakes.
There were eleven ducklings, five for Dotty, five for Prudy, and one for Katie, the little girl with flying hair. After they had been alive two days, Prudy thought they ought to have a bath; so she took the large iron pan which Ruth used for baking johnny-cakes, filled it with water, put the tiny creatures in, and bade them "swim," to Madam Biddy's great alarm.
They carried with them seed-corn and "Irish tators" to plant, and for use on the journey had bacon, and corn-meal which was made either into baked corn-dodgers or else into johnny-cakes, which were simply cooked on a board beside the fire, or else perhaps on a hot stone or in the ashes.
Our supply of food now consisted of just sufficient flour to make two small Johnny-cakes, and as we still had over eighty miles to go, we simply had to do without any food all day, and shall have precisely the same quantity to-morrow that is to say, none. In eleven or twelve miles next morning we reached the caves near the Ruined Rampart, where we rested and allowed the horses to feed.
"You'd better start on Johnny-cakes," said the drover. "The mixture's just the same, but if you make a mess you won't spoil a whole damper. You watch me to-day. You can try your hand to-morrow, if you like." It was still an hour or so before sunrise when the white boys had their first lesson in bush cookery.
There was a noggin, a piggin, a churn, a homemade chair; there was a quilt from a grandmother and a pioneer cradle a mere trough scooped out of a walnut log. An old pioneer sent the antlers of a stag for a hat-rack, and a buffalo rug for the young pair to lie warm under of bitter, winter nights; his wife sent a spinning-wheel and a bundle of shingles for johnny-cakes.
"How long before they're done?" asked Vaughan. "Depends," answered Mick. "Depends on the size of them and the heat of the fire. I don't like the fire too hot. We'll have a look at these in about a quarter of an hour." At the end of that time the top of the pile of ashes had begun to crack here and there with the upward pressure of the rising Johnny-cakes.
"If you wanted it for a damper," explained Mick, giving the dough a final roll, "you'd put the whole lot in together. But I'll show you Johnny-cakes first; they're easier and don't take so long." He divided the dough into little pieces and rolled each out in his hands till it was the size and shape of an ordinary bun. He arranged these on the bag and pulled it near the fire.
Salt, sugar and mustard came out of small ration bags. McKeith produced black-handled knives and forks the last a concession. And good to taste were the fizzling johnny-cakes and the strong, sweet, milkless tea. Such was Lady Bridget's real marriage feast. They were hungry, yet they dallied over the repast. It was the most delicious food she had ever tasted, Bridget said. They made little jokes.
Word Of The Day