Hush puppies are round cornmeal dumplings that usually accompany a big dish of fried fish. There are many different ideas as to how hush puppies got their name. If you check the internet, you will come up with some of the following: 1. Confederate soldiers used their corn biscuit rations to feed to their dogs to quiet them in order to avoid detection from Union soldiers, hence the phrase hushing the puppies. 2. It is believed that while cooking fried foods with batter outside such as fish, balls of batter were fried and given to the dogs to keep them from begging or barking, thus the name “hush puppies”. 3. (This one is my favorite. I am a Kentuckian and it makes sense to me.) They were fried up to toss to the dogs to keep them quiet while the “revenooers” were snooping around looking for stills. Whatever explanation, fried catfish just isn’t the same without them.
3/4 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup onion, diced (can be regular or green onions)
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch of cayenne
1 egg (Optional)
1/2 cup buttermilk or beer
1 cup cooking oil (I use Canola)
Combine cornmeal, flour, onion, salt, egg and milk. The batter should be just wet enough that you can shape it into balls about the size of a walnut with your hands and it sticks together. Have oil hot in a skillet and drop hush puppies into oil. Cook about 3 to 4 minutes browning on all sides. Remove and drain on paper towels. This makes about 10 to 12 hush puppies. You can double or triple the recipe. Enjoy!
You might like my Pan Fried Cod Fish Fillets or Fried Catfish Fillets.
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Filed under: Southern Cornmeal Hush Puppies | Tagged: Beer, brunch, buttermilk, catfish fillets, corn biscuit, cornmeal, cornmeal dumplings, dinner, easy recipes, Entertaining, food, hush puppies, Onions, Southern, southern lady | 17 Comments »
Easy Chocolate Beignets
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Beer cheese has been around a long time in Kentucky starting with Johnnie Allman’s snappy beer cheese and Allman’s Restaurant on the River back in the thirties! Just about everyone in Kentucky knows about his beer cheese. This is the way I make my beer cheese. It is more like a spread than a dip.
