Hot Water Corn Bread

Directions

1. 1
   Mix the corn meal and salt thoroughly and then scald with 2 cups of boiling water into which has melted 1 heaping tablespoonful of shortening or fresh bacon drippings.
2. 2
   Scald is the key word. This mixing of boiling water and fresh bacon drippings or shortening into the meal is a cooking process which produces a firm mound of dough, wet enough yet only malleable when cool.
3. 3
   Set aside to cool for about 20 minutes.
4. 4
   When the dough has cooled, work into it 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder, dissolved in 2 tablespoons of cold water.
5. 5
   Pinch off a piece of dough the size of half a duck egg.
6. 6
   Pat dough into a small round cake about 5/8-inch thick.
7. 7
   Work up the balance of the dough in little cakes of this size.
8. 8
   The little cakes can be fried immediately or stored in the refrigerator on wax paper to be cooked later.
9. 9
   You fry them in deep fat, hot enough to bubble immediately over the cakes (about 380°) until they are browned slightly.
10. 10
    Serve immediately.