"Named for the Spanish for ""little cake"", what name is given to a Mexican thin pancake, made from cornmeal?"
Cornmeal Cornmeal Cornmeal is a meal (coarse flour) ground from dried maize (corn). It is a common staple food, and is ground to fine, medium, and coarse consistencies, but not as fine as wheat flour. In the United States, very finely ground cornmeal is referred to as corn flour. When fine cornmeal is made from maize that has been soaked in an alkaline solution, e.g., limewater (a process known as nixtamalization), it is called masa harina, which is used for making tamales and tortillas. Boiled cornmeal is called polenta in Italy and is also traditional dish and bread substitute in Romania.
Pancake breakfast meal in Guatemala. Depending on the region, the "panqueque" can be thin as a crêpe or as fluffy as a North American pancake. Mexican "hotcakes" are similar to American pancakes. Crêpes became popular toward the end of the 19th century after their introduction by the French sometime between the First French Intervention (1838) and the Second French Intervention in Mexico (1861–67). Hotcakes are often made with cornmeal, as well as, or instead of wheat flour. Hotcakes are popular breakfast items at restaurants throughout the country, and are often sold by street vendors in cities and during the local celebrations