A soapstone griddle, which needs no greasing, is the best; but of whatever material, let it be large enough to hold seven cakes. Let it heat while you are making the cakes. If an iron griddle be used, put a piece of salt pork two inches square on a fork; and when the griddle is hot enough for the fat to sizzle, rub it all over with the pork. Just grease it; do not leave little pools of fat on the edge to burn, and smoke the cakes. Take up a tablespoonful of the mixture, and pour it from the end of the spoon. The mixture should hiss or sizzle as it touches the griddle. Put one in the centre and six around the outside. By the time you have the seventh cake on, the first one will be full of bubbles and ready to turn; and when the seventh is turned, the first will have stopped puffing and be done. Wipe the griddle with a dry cloth, and grease again after each baking. Turn your griddle often, bringing each edge of it in turn over the hottest part of the stove, that the cakes may cook evenly. Always mix waffles or griddle-cakes in a bowl with a lip, and beat up the mixture well between each baking.

Griddle-Cakes

1 pint flour.

½ teaspoonful salt.

1 teaspoonful soda.

1 scant pint sour milk or cream.

2 eggs, well beaten.

Crush, measure, and sift the soda and salt into the flour. Mix thoroughly. Add the milk, and beat well; then add the beaten yolks, and lastly, the whites, beaten stiff. Bake on a hot, well-greased griddle; turn when full of bubbles, and bake on the other side till they stop puffing. Use one half or one third fine corn meal or Graham flour, to make a variety.

To make Huckleberry Griddle-Cakes, add one pint of berries, picked over and rolled in flour.

Some persons prefer to mix the sour milk with the flour, and let the mixture stand over night. In the morning add the salt, soda, and eggs.

Sour milk is the best for griddle-cakes, and when thickened just right, the cakes are very good without the eggs.

Rice Or Hominy Griddle-Cakes (No Soda)

1 cup sweet milk.

1 cup warm boiled rice, or fine hominy. ½ teaspoonful salt.

2 eggs, yolks and whites beaten separately. 1 tablespoonful melted butter. Flour enough to make a thin bake either as griddle-cakes or waffles.

Bread Griddle-Cakes

1 pint stale (not dried) breadcrumbs.

1 pint milk, scalded. 1 tablespoonful butter.

Pour the hot milk over the crumbs, add the butter, and soak over night or till the crumbs are softened. Then rub through a squash strainer; add

2 eggs, yolks and whites beaten separately. 1 cup flour.

½ teaspoonful salt.

2 level teasp. baking-powder.

Cold milk to thin it if needed.

Bake slowly: spread with butter and sugar, and serve hot.

Raised Graham Griddle-Cakes

Mix one pint of milk, scalded and cooled, one cup of whole-wheat flour, one cup of white flour, one fourth of a cup of liquid yeast. Let it rise over night. In the morning add half a teaspoonful of salt, one tablespoonful of molasses, one saltspoonful of soda. If too thick, add a little warm water. These are more wholesome than buckwheat cakes.

Buckwheat Cakes

Pour one pint of boiling water on half a cup of fine corn meal; add half a teaspoonful of salt. Mix well, and when lukewarm add half a cup of white flour, one cup of buckwheat flour, one fourth of a cup of yeast. Beat vigorously. Let it rise over night. In the morning stir down, and beat again. When risen and ready to bake, add one saltspoonful of soda, sifted through a fine strainer. Beat again, and fry in large cakes.

Buckwheat cakes, even if not sour, usually require the addition of soda just before baking, to make them light and tender. But when in their best estate, they are far from perfect food. They should be eaten only in very cold weather, and but seldom even then. They are better and brown better when made with boiling milk instead of water.

Corn Meal Slappers, Or Griddle-Cakes (No Soda)

1 pint corn-meal. 1 teaspoonful butter.

1 saltspoonful salt. 1 teaspoonful sugar.

Pour into this mixture boiling milk or water enough to wet the meal. When cool, add two eggs, well beaten, and cold milk enough to make a very thin batter.

Pease Griddle-Cakes

Take green pease which have been boiled, but are too hard to eat as a vegetable. Drain very dry, then mash, and rub the pulp through the squash strainer. Or boil one cup of split pease till very tender, letting the water boil away. Drain, mash, and rub through a squash strainer, and use the same as the squash in squash griddle-cakes.

Squash Griddle-Cakes

1 cup boiling milk. 1 cup sifted squash. 1 tablespoonful butter. 1 tablespoonful sugar.

½ teaspoonful salt.

1 egg.

3 level teasp. baking-powder. 1 cup flour.

Pour the boiling milk into the squash; add the butter, sugar, and salt. When cool, add the egg, well beaten, then the baking-powder, mixed and sifted with the flour. If too thin, use more flour; and if too thick, add a little milk. The dry mealy squash is the best.