Kephart Corn Dodgers

 Another popular camping writer (one self admittedly influenced by Nessmuk) was Horace Kephart. He published a couple camping books, one of which included a recipe for something called "corn dodgers" which I'd never had before.

Plain Corn Bread.—Pone or johnny-cake is easily and quickly made, more wholesome than baking-powder bread, more appetizing than unleavened wheat bread and it “sticks to the ribs.” To be eaten hot, and, like all hot breads, should be broken with the hands, never cut. Bread left over should be freshened by moistening and reheating.

The amount of water to be used depends upon whether the meal is freshly ground (moist) or old (dry), and yellow meal requires one-half more water than white.

1 quart meal,

1 teaspoonful salt,

1 pint warm (but not scalding) water (1| pints for yellow meal).

Stir together until light. Bake to a nice brown all around, preferably in Dutch oven. Test with sliver. Done in about forty-five minutes, but improved by letting stand fifteen minutes longer, away from fire, to sweat in oven. Eat with bacon gravy.

If you have no oven, plank the bread on hot slab before a high fire, having previously formed slight under crust by laying on hot ashes; or, make ash cake by forming into balls as big as hen’s eggs, roll in dry flour, lay in hot ashes and cover completely with them. Time for ash cake, fifteen to twenty minutes.

Corn Dodgers.—Salt some white corn meal to taste. Mix with cold water to stiff dough, and form into cylindrical dodgers four or five inches long and one and a half inches diameter, by rolling between the hands. Have frying-pan very hot, grease it a little, and put dodgers on as you roll them out. As soon as they have browned, put them in oven and bake thoroughly to a crisp brown.

They're basically like a small thick johnny cake or a simplified hushpuppy.

My wife asked for a little jazzier recipe for a pot luck, and I also made some with this recipe (based on another one by Kephart):

Ingredients:

1 cup cornmeal (I prefer yellow, but white works)

0.5 cup flour (All Purpose is fine, Whole Wheat comes out very dense)

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp honey (can substitute molasses or sugar)

1 tsp salt

1 cup hot water 

1 egg 

~ 1 stick butter for the pan/glaze

Directions:

Butter a heavy skillet or baking dish and place in oven

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Heat 1 cup water

Combine dry ingredients, honey, and egg in a bowl

Pour in water and stir vigorously

Remove skillet/dish from oven

Take small handfuls of dough, work into balls, and place in skillet/dish

Brush with butter

Bake for ~15 minutes