Try THIS on your hot griddle iron, fellas

We kick off with a griddle cake recipe found in the Forest Park Review from October 1, 1917.  It was prefaced by the statement that readers were living in an era in which "every housewife is entreated and implored to conserve food" and that "meatless and wheatless days have become a fixed habit". Hmmmm.

I'd follow this guy into battle

This stems, I imagine, from the Food and Fuel Control Act of 1917. The goal of this law as it pertains to the whole wheatless situation was to conserve bread and meat for soldiers fighting in World War I. Like veggie-paleo for the flapper era. Off-shoots of this law included all sorts of awesome things like something United States School Garden Army - armed, I presume, with pitchforks and carrots.

We made griddlecakes according to the recipe this past Sunday, topping them with (alternately) sorghum syrup, buckwheat honey and brown sugar. In other words, we were out of maple syrup. The sorghum syrup to add a nice hyper sweetness and depth of flavor that is reminiscent of molasses.

These griddlecakes were quite grainy, which would be off-putting for someone expecting a silken-textured pancake. But they were hearty and delicious in their own way. We were inspired to pour a little milk over the top, in a nod to both tres leches cake and Laura Ingalls Wilder who I swear did something similar. This made a lot of batter. More than we needed for 2 adults and one toddler.

Griddle cakes with sorghum syrup and brown sugar

Griddle Cakes

The link to the recipe can be found here, or via the digital archives of the Forest Park Public Library. Thanks to the Historical Society of Forest Park for the inspiration.

Notes of caution: for me, there was more of the milk-egg-oil mix than the corn flour could absorb. So act accordingly, adding half the wet mix to start. I didn't have buttermilk, so I just added a few tablespoons of vinegar to the measuring cup before I added the milk, thereby souring it a bit.

Two cups corn meal
Two cups sour milk or buttermilk
Two tablespoons fat
Two tablespoons sugar
Two teaspoons baking powder
Two teaspoons soda
One teaspoon salt
One egg

I typed out the numbers. Why did I do that?

Method:

Mix dry ingredients (corn meal, powder, sugar, soda, salt) in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, beat together the egg with the sour milk or buttermilk. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes. Add more liquid as needed. Make the pancakes. :)