Hoecakes or Fried Cornbread

I saw this recipe for the first time in Southern Living Magazine sometime before 2004-05.
That led me to Paula Deen- my cooking HERO!!
Her restaurant was featured in that issue of Southern Living and the more I learned from her the more I wanted to learn.
I now own all of her cookbooks, her brother's and son's cookbooks and my first piece of her cookware.
This is the first Paula Deen recipe I ever made.

Hoecakes Recipe courtesy Paula Deen



1 cup self-rising flour
1 cup self-rising cornmeal, or from a mix (recommended: Aunt Jemima's)
2 eggs
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon water
1/4 cup vegetable oil or bacon grease
Oil, butter, or clarified margarine, for frying

Mix well all ingredients, except for the frying oil. Heat the frying oil or butter in a medium or large skillet over medium heat. Drop the batter, by full tablespoons, into the hot skillet. Use about 2 tablespoons of batter per hoecake. Fry each hoecake until brown and crisp; turn each hoecake with a spatula, and then brown the other side. With a slotted spoon, remove each hoecake to drain on a paper towel-lined plate. Leftover batter will keep in refrigerator for up to 2 days.

*I always use bacon grease in my hoecakes.
**I fry in peanut oil and use a cast iron skillet.
***my hoecakes are thicker than Paula's. I drop one heaping spoonful of batter in the oil. My skillet holds 4 hoecakes at a time.