Johnny Cake

Johnny cake in the Bahamas is not the cornmeal pancake the name means in North America; it is a dense flour bread with butter and a little sugar, mixed and baked in a heavy pan, traditionally over a fire or on a stove rather than in an oven. The name is generally taken to be a corruption of journey cake, since it keeps for days and was made to take on a boat. It comes with souse at breakfast, with fish and peas and rice at dinner, and on its own with butter, and it is what most Bahamians would name if asked what their grandmother made. It is soft in the middle with a firm crust.

What you actually see

• The skillet bake - made in a heavy pan rather than an oven.
• The texture - dense and slightly sweet with a firm crust.
• With souse - the standard breakfast pairing.
• The keeping quality - the reason it was made for boat journeys.

When to go

Year-round and at any meal. It is best warm from the pan, and cook shops make it through the day. It appears alongside souse at breakfast and beside fried fish at dinner without being asked for.

Honest expectations

It is plain by design and dry if it has been sitting, which it often has in restaurants. The sweetness varies a lot between cooks and some versions are closer to cake than bread. It is heavy alongside an already heavy plate. Nothing about it is exciting on its own, which is rather the point.

Nearby

Every cook shop and fish fry across the islands.