Hush Puppies

16 years ago

We've been invited to a hush puppy cook off tomorrow night in conjunction with a fish fry (catfish). Well, I've eaten my share of hush puppies, but never tried making them. I remember my aunt making them with beer and chopped onion. In googling recipes, there is everything imagionable out there, self rising corn meal, yellow, white, etc. So anyone have a great recipe they would be willing to share?

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Comments (14)

kframe19
16 years ago
I use a pretty standard hush puppy recipe with yellow corn meal, baking powder and soda, buttermilk, finely minced onion, black pepper, and salt.

Where I like to deviate is to add chopped jalapeno pepper and either finely ground sausage or minced shrimp.

They're especially good with a sweet chili dipping sauce.
caliloo
16 years ago
I was hoping you would get a lot of responses to this request, I too am looking for an outstanding Hush Puppy recipe for a catfish fry we are having fathers Day weekend. This is the Paula Deen recipe I have used in the past and it is good, but not anything out of the ordinary. And like kframe, I usually put a bit of finely minced jalapeno in mine too.

Hushpuppies Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

Recipe Summary
Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 35 hushpuppies
User Rating: No Rating

6 cups peanut oil
1 1/2 cups self-rising cornmeal
1/2 cup self-rising flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 small onion, chopped
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg, lightly beaten

Using a deep pot, preheat oil for frying to 350 degrees F.
Using a mixing bowl, stir together the cornmeal, flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in the onion. In a small bowl, stir together the buttermilk and egg. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until blended. Drop the batter, 1 teaspoon at a time, into the oil. Dip the spoon in a glass of water after each hushpuppy is dropped in the oil. Fry until golden brown, turning the hushpuppies during the cooking process.
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As a footnote, the leftovers did not heat well and came out a bit tough, although when first cooked they were tender and moist. I used medium grind cornmeal, and next time I will use a finer grind - or substitute more masa for part of the cornmeal. I had Hush Puppy shoes when I was a child (they were somewhat ugly), but I have never personally heard anyone refer to feet as dogs - only cartoons. Any barking dog has an adverse effect on me - I've been bitten more than once by dogs that were violating leash laws. I would never reward a barking dog with food, but I do think it used to be traditional in the South.
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Sweet cornbread is what folks from up north are accustomed to. My hubs is out of New Jersey and it has taken me a lifetime to persuade him not to put honey on his real Texas made-in-an-iron-skillet cornbread, even when we are having it as cornbread and beans. Corn muffins are sweet cakes. If that is what you like, eat that. But, for cornbread that goes with the meal, it is totally inappropriate. Cornbread and corn muffins are NOT the same thing and are NOT interchangeable. Hush puppies are a variation of cornbread. Adding a bit of flour to the cornbread lets it remain still authentic cornbread, but sugar takes out of the realm of authentic southern cornbread. Some, such as Lars, use only cornmeal. I use 1 part flour to 3 parts cornmeal. Both ways it is good. So many people in our modern times don't make their own cornbread and they buy one of these sugary mixes. Sweet has overtaken so much in our diets. Sugar shows up in the most wrong places in much of what America eats. These mixes have been sold for so long now that many people have never had real cornbread and they think that what they are eating is the real thing. The taste of sweet has become so pervasive. If you want real cornbread, get yourself some good corn meal and do your own. It is sooooo simple! Real cornbread lovers will even forgive you if you bake it in a cake pan, just as long as you don't put sugar in it, There is a difference between cornbread that originates out of the coastal low country and that which went west to Texas with the folks that stopped for a while in Alabama, Mississippi. Low country cornbread tends to be flatter.. whereas, further west it tends to be baked in a somewhat thicker version. Low country will tend toward using buttermilk and further west it tends more towards sweet milk. I use buttermilk because I use buttermilk in all of my cooking. Old fashioned country cornbread gets poured into a hot skillet of bacon grease that has been sprinkled with corn meal. You get your oil in the skillet hot, sprinkle some cornmeal onto the oil and them dump your mix onto the oil so that you hear the sizzle. Into the oven, and turn it out upside down onto a plate when it is done. You should see a nice crispy corn crust on it. I don't use bacon grease. I use peanut oil. Many old time cooks kept that little bucket of bacon grease right there near the stove. My mom did that, but I never have. I am pleased to see so many of you here on this forum that appear to be eating and enjoying the real cornbread. I don't make hush puppies because I really don't fry things. Sometimes I will put fresh corn into my cornbread, or chopped chilis or some chopped onions....at times. My cornbread always arrives at the table missing one very small little piece along the edge. That is the cooks part, that little edge of corny crust. Someone asked about what to dunk hush puppies in and I replied that I use hot sauce. The truth is that they were never intended to be dunked in anything, really. That idea of dunking fried things into a sauce and eating them like that is a modern inspiration. Traditionally, they just got eaten with, usually, the fried fish and tended to not be served as dunk worthy snacks. Lars has the right thing going when he makes his from the leftover fish fry.
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kframe19
16 years ago
I'm sorry, but that simply can't get a Paula Deen recipe.

Nowhere does it call for a dozen sticks of butter.
foodonastump
16 years ago
LOL Michael!

I'm no hush puppy connoisseur but I've enjoyed these at Legal Seafoods. Never made them, but this is from their cookbook.

(I'm being lazy - if anything is illegible let me know and I'll type it out.)

{{gwi:1520673}}
kayskats
16 years ago
we never used flour ... in my part of the South (just outside of Atlanta)

HUSH PUPPIES

Makes 6 servings
Source: Mrs Dull's Sothern Cooking
White Lily CornBread mix, available in the South, can be substituted for the cornmeal and leavenings.
Why are they called Hush Puppies? (See below)

2 cups white cornmeal preferably stone ground
1 teaspoon flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda (delete if cornmeal is self-rising)
1 teaspoon baking powder (delete if cornmeal is self-rising)
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg lightly beaten
3 tbsps minced onions
1 to 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
Crisco for frying

Mix all dry ingredients. Stir in onion, one cup buttermilk and the beaten egg. Stir well, adding more milk if needed. Let sit 10 minutes. Drop by the spoonful into skillet of hot melted Crisco about 1" deep. Fry to a golden brown, turning once. Drain on paper towels. If serving with fried fish, cook in same skillet to enhance flavor.

Outdoor fish frys used to be a form of entertainment in the south, mainly a guy thing. The fish would be pulled from the lake, dressed and cooked on the spot. Of course, there was always a pack of hungry dogs around. Someone made up an extra thick batch of the batter the fish were dipped in, fried spoonfuls of the batter and threw them to the dogs... you got it: Hush, puppy!!
beachlily z9a
16 years ago
Don't you dare hush up those puppies!

Love them myself! Very few restaurants can make really good HP's but I know one that does in St. Augustine, FL.

Have fun!
dirtgirl07
16 years ago
If you have a little bacon grease to add to the oil, that will give you a lot of flavor.

With the onions, if you take and grate them instead of chopping, it will give you nice onion flavor without the big pieces of onion. Unless, you want the big pieces that is!

I'm sure Paula tried like heck to find a way to get butter in there and just couldn't! lol

Beth
marlingardener
16 years ago
Well, Beth honey, you dip your hushpuppies in butter!
jude31
16 years ago
I use Paula's recipe with a lot more onion and yeah, jalapeno would be good. I'll add that next time. FWIW White Lily is no more....Smuckers bought it. So sad!

TeresaNC, I just knew you'd chime in!

jude
Bumblebeez SC Zone 7
16 years ago
Minced shrimp sounds yummy in a good hushpuppy. I like grated onion better too than minced.
Buttermilk is important and not the powdered stuff either.
BeverlyAL
16 years ago
I don't use a recipe, just lots of minced onion in mine and definitely no flour here either.
Lars
16 years ago
I don't use a recipe either - I just mix the leftover flour and cornmeal from breading the fish and add minced onion, minced celery, Cajun seasoning (which I make myself), the leftover egg from breading plus one more, and then enough beer to make a reasonable batter. I make my lactose free.

Lars
dirtgirl07
16 years ago
MG, I dip my hushpuppies in cocktail sauce, but if I had melted butter that would be even better! And why not, I'm already indulging in fried shrimp, fries, and coleslaw too. (I pretend the coleslaw is at least somewhat good for you...)

Beth
jude31
16 years ago
Years ago, a friend and I were at Woodman's in Essex, Mass. When I placed my order (don't remember what I ordered) I asked for hushpuppies, but my friend reminded me we were not in the south. Since the person who took our order didn't have a clue what I was talking about it kept me from being embarassed. Sure would have been good though!

jude

Hush Puppies

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kframe19

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