ADVENTURES IN COOKING 39

SOUTHERN CORN BREAD WAFFLES

114 cups white corn meal 14 tsp soda
4 21% tsps baking powder 1 cup milk (about)
: 1 egg, beaten 4 tbsps melted margarine
3 ] teaspoon salt 14 cup flour
Mix dry ingredients, add beaten eggs, milk and melted margarine until

consistency of regular waffle mixture. Grease waffle iron with melted fat
and bake as you would for any waffles. Makes about 4 or 5 waffles. Remove
_ from iron and spread with butter while still hot.

SOUR MILK PANCAKES

q 2 cups sifted flour 1 egg

; 2 tsps baking powder 2 tbsps melted shortening
ly tsp salt 2 cups sour milk,

1 small tsp soda preferably buttermilk

; 1 tbsp sugar

SOURDOUGH HOT CAKES

| Sourdough hot cakes, the main breakfast dish of miners, prospectors and
old-time Alaskans, differ from other hot cakes in that the batter is leavened
with a yeast starter and must be set the night before it is to be used. ‘This
| starter has been known to last for years. ‘The most important thing is
that the crock or container must never be cleaned out, it goes on from
one mixing to another. I was in disgrace one time by my over zealous-
ness for cleanliness, by transferring the precious starter to a fine new crock
and scraping out the accumulated crusts from the sides of the old one and
throwing them out. The crock looked very nice, but I heard that the
hot cakes were never the same again. Sourdough is a name long synony-
mous with Alaska. To some it has long been a descriptive term for Alaska’s
pioneers of the bush. This nickname came to be associated in the early
days of the Territory due to the continual use the miners and trappers
made of the “Sourdough Pot” in cooking. In recent years the “Sourdough
-Pot” has nearly passed from the picture, as age takes its toll on the hardy
old timers but the “Pot” is still to be found in a few cabins and even in
modern northern kitchens one may find a modern version of the pot
tucked back in the refrigerator.

Sourdough was used in the “Golden” age of the Territory because it was
functional. It could be frozen, the sponge made into a ball and placed in
a flour sack for portage to a new camp or the starter could be dried and
revived when needed.

In the early days the Sourdoughs had a pot usually like a firkin and made
from a section of a birch log. ‘These pots were kept through many years
and in time became incrusted with age and use. Along the way it acquired
histories and pedigrees.

Sourdough is most usually used for pancakes. However, it may be used for
waffles, raised bread.or biscuits. It may be used in the convenience of your