Recipes & Lore • The Oldest Recipe

Jonnycakes, Both Ways

First, the spelling: Rhode Island tradition often writes jonnycake, though Kenyon's own package says Johnny Cake. Rhode Island law is on the books about the meal itself: cornmeal sold for jonnycakes in the state is to be ground in Rhode Island from whitecap flint corn, the hard, light-amber variety the Narragansett people were growing and grinding here centuries before colonists arrived and adopted the recipe wholesale. The name likely comes from "journey cakes," because they traveled well. What has not traveled well is agreement on how to make them.

Rhode Island maintains two irreconcilable schools, split roughly by Narragansett Bay, and the dispute is real — the historical record includes an actual fistfight. We present both without endorsement. Choosing is your problem.

South County style (West Bay): thick & fluffy

1. Whisk meal, salt, and sugar.
2. Pour in the boiling water and stir. Scalding the meal makes it swell — that's where the fluff comes from. The batter should hold a mound.
3. Drop spoonfuls, about 3 inches wide, onto a greased griddle over medium-low.
4. Cook 5–6 patient minutes per side until deep golden: crisp crust, soft middle. Rushing a jonnycake is how you end up with raw meal and regret.
5. Butter and maple syrup. Done.

Newport County style (East Bay): thin & lacy

1. Whisk meal and salt, then stir in cold milk until the batter is thin — nearly crepe-thin.
2. Pour onto a hot, well-buttered griddle; the batter should spread to about 5 inches with lacy edges.
3. Cook until crisp at the edges and golden beneath, flip once, briefly.
4. Serve immediately, in stacks, without apology.

Sources & further reading

• Yankee Magazine — How to Make Rhode Island Jonnycakes
• Kenyon's Grist Mill — grinding since 1696
• Rhode Tour — Kenyon's Grist Mill
• quahog.org — Jonnycakes