Thursday, November 20, 2008

Hushpuppies

Did you know that these simple fried balls of cornmeal and flour were actually born out of leftover fish fry coating? We tend to do them a little more on purpose these days and there are many add-ins to make them a stand-out.

Hushpuppies


Have I mentioned I love using a deep fryer?

No, of course I don't use one every day, or even every week for that matter - nobody should. By the way, there is some preconceived notion across this fine country of ours, that we Southerners deep fry or smother everything in heavy layers of cheese. We don't.

Okay, there are some who do, but they are not the majority. However, when frying some foods in oil, deep frying is the more perfect solution and heads above better than pan frying. Food is quickly cooked in a deep fryer with much less absorption of oil than pan frying.

I'm an odd kind of cook. Or, maybe not. What I mean by that is that I rarely plan the food I cook.

I admire all of you home cooks who plan out your menus for the month, or heck, even for the week. I just have never been much of a planner, well... except for that brief stint with the whole once-a-month cooking thing. I had a few more mouths to feed then though so I'm sure that was a good part of the planning. Being an empty nester with just the two of us here gives me more freedom to be spontaneous I suppose.

That's how I cook. Under the influence! I see something and decide I want it. I rarely plan for it. I just want it. Right then. Like those lemon bars that I saw and immediately had to have! I have been known to be baking bread at midnight. Which is one reason why we always have way too much food in our pantry and freezer {praise God, thank You Lord}. We may not have much else as far as material things or wealth, but we always got some food 'round here for sure!

Today it was hushpuppies that had me under the influence.

I'd been seeing cornbread everywhere on the blogs here lately and then while flipping through one of my cookbooks this morning looking for some foodie inspiration, I passed by a hush puppy recipe and well, right then and there I knew I wanted some hushpuppies!

Now there's lots of ways to do these little puppies, but this is just a plain Jane basic recipe and really that's all I wanted. It's a recipe similar to my corn fritters, and the texture should also be fairly light inside like those. If it's dense after you fry it, then you need to thin the batter out just a tad bit more, so always do a test drop to make sure your batter is where you want it. You can certainly fancy these up all kinds of ways and I've included a few suggestions in the recipe - green onion is a personal favorite as is jalapeno. One of these little cookie scooper thingys (the small one) makes perfect little hush puppies too by the way.


Y'all have all heard the tales of how a hushpuppy may have come to be gifted such a name - there are a few of them many surrounding tales of puppies hanging out at various locations from campfires on the wild west range, to confederate soldiers, to a fish fry, being quieted by a toss of bits of the fried dough.

There's also a story that hushpuppies evolved from nuns in the city of New Orleans.

I believe that hushpuppies were actually born out of somebody adding a little milk or buttermilk to leftover fish fry coating and dropping it into the hot oil. These days we make them a little bit more intentionally whether or not we're frying fish, and we've added all sorts of things to them, though in reality they truly are the perfect companion to a plateful of fried catfish, that's sure true enough.

So, for lunch today The Cajun had a bowl of my hamburger soup, to which I had added some spinach (so hehehehehe, yeah, he totally ate some spinach, ♫ lalalalala he ate some spinach ♫ hahahahaha - I so love when I pull that on him) and instead of rolls, or biscuits, or cornbread, he got some hot from the fryer, light and crunchy hush puppies ... yummmm... little fried balls of cornbread!

How can ya go wrong with that, really?





Unable to view the printable below on your device? Tap/click here.


Posted by on November 20, 2008

Images and Full Post Content including Recipe ©Deep South Dish. Recipes are offered for your own personal use only and while pinning and sharing links is welcomed and encouraged, please do not copy and paste post or recipe text to repost or republish elsewhere such as other Facebook pages, blogs, websites, or forums without explicit prior permission. All rights reserved.

Material Disclosure: Unless otherwise noted, you should assume that post links to the providers of goods and services mentioned, establish an affiliate relationship and/or other material connection and that I may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You are never under any obligation to purchase anything when using my recipes and you should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.
220620/130116
.

As an Amazon Associate, Deep South Dish earns from qualifying purchases. See full disclosure for details.




Hey Y’all! Welcome to some good ole, down home southern cooking. Pull up a chair, grab some iced tea, and 'sit a bit' as we say down south. If this is your first time visiting Deep South Dish, you can sign up for FREE updates via EMAIL or you can catch up with us on Facebook and Twitter too!

Articles on this website are protected by copyright. You are free to print and sharing via Facebook share links and pinning with Pinterest are appreciated, welcomed and encouraged, but do not upload and repost photographs, or copy and paste post text or recipe text for republishing on Facebook, other websites, blogs, forums or other internet sites without explicit prior written approval.
Click for additional information.


© Copyright 2008-2024 – Mary Foreman – Deep South Dish LLC - All Rights Reserved

Material Disclosure: This site is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Unless otherwise noted, you should assume that post links to the providers of goods and services mentioned, establish an affiliate relationship and/or other material connection and that I may be compensated when you purchase from the provider. You are never under any obligation to purchase anything when using my recipes and you should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.

DISCLAIMER: This is a recipe site intended for entertainment. By using this site and these recipes you agree that you do so at your own risk, that you are completely responsible for any liability associated with the use of any recipes obtained from this site, and that you fully and completely release Mary Foreman and Deep South Dish LLC and all parties associated with either entity, from any liability whatsoever from your use of this site and these recipes.

ALL CONTENT PROTECTED UNDER THE DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT. CONTENT THEFT, EITHER PRINT OR ELECTRONIC, IS A FEDERAL OFFENSE. Recipes may be printed ONLY for personal use and may not be transmitted, distributed, reposted, or published elsewhere, in print or by any electronic means. Seek explicit permission before using any content on this site, including partial excerpts, all of which require attribution linking back to specific posts on this site. I have, and will continue to act, on all violations.





Email Subscription DSD Feed