cornmeal
Maize meal is a meal (coarse flour) ground from dried maize. It is a common staple food and is ground to coarse, medium, and fine consistencies, but it is not as fine as wheat flour can be.Herbst, Sharon, ''Food Lover's Companion'', Third Editi ...
-based batter.
Hushpuppies are frequently served as a
side dish
A side dish, sometimes referred to as a side order, side item, or simply a side, is a food item that accompanies the entrée or main course at a meal.Native Americans, who first cultivated the crop.
Cherokee
The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...
,
Chickasaw
The Chickasaw ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, United States. Their traditional territory was in northern Mississippi, northwestern and northern Alabama, western Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky. Their language is ...
,
Choctaw
The Choctaw ( ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States, originally based in what is now Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choct ...
Seminole
The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...
cooking introduced one of its main staples into Southern cuisine: corn, either ground into meal or limed with an alkaline salt to make
hominy
Hominy is a food item produced from dried maize (corn) kernels that have been treated with an alkali, in a process called nixtamalization ( is the Nahuatl word for "hominy"). "Lye hominy" is a type of hominy made with lye.
History
The process ...
, in a Native American technology known as
nixtamalization
Nixtamalization ( ) is a process for the preparation of maize (corn), or other cereal grain, grain, in which the grain is soaked and cooking, cooked in an alkaline solution, usually limewater (but sometimes aqueous alkali metal carbonates), ...
. Cornbread was popular during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
because it was inexpensive and could be made in many different shapes and sizes. It could be fashioned into high-rising, fluffy loaves or simply fried for a quick meal.
To a far greater degree than anyone realizes, several of the most important food dishes that the Southeastern Indians live on today is the “soul food” eaten by both black and white Southerners. ... Indian boiled cornbread is present in Southern cuisine as "corn meal dumplings", ... and as “hush puppies”...
Some have assigned influence to the founding ceremony of the convent of Ursuline nuns who settled in New Orleans after leaving France, where they served croquettes de maïs (corn croquettes).
Hushpuppies are strongly associated with the
Southern United States
The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...
. A southern hushpuppy championship is held annually in
Lufkin, Texas
Lufkin is the largest city in Angelina County, Texas, United States and is the county seat. The city is situated in Deep East Texas and is west of the Texas- Louisiana state line. Its population is 34,143 as of 2020.
Lufkin was founded in 188 ...
, and they are also available throughout the United States at restaurants serving deep-fried seafood.
Name
The first recorded use of the word dates to 1899. The name has no verified origin. Etymology is attributed to a variety of sources; one such source alleges that the food was given the name when hunters & fishers would feed the food to dogs they brought with them in order to “hush them”, or get them to quiet down. Although there are many possible origins for the dish, it is found to be akin to "red-horse bread", named after the red horse fish of the South Carolina rivers. Associated with formerly enslaved chef Romeo Govan, "red horse bread" is said to have been similar in consistency and ingredients. "Red horse bread" of South Carolina then became "hushpuppies" in Georgia around 1927, then gained national traction around 1943 in Florida.
Characteristics and preparation
Typical hush puppy ingredients include cornmeal, wheat flour, eggs, salt, baking soda, milk or
buttermilk
Buttermilk is a fermented dairy drink. Traditionally, it was the liquid left behind after churning butter out of cultured cream. As most modern butter in Western countries is not made with cultured cream but uncultured sweet cream, most mode ...
, and water, and may include onion, spring onion (
scallion
Scallions (also known as green onions and spring onions) are edible vegetables of various species in the genus ''Allium''. Scallions generally have a milder taste than most onions. Their close relatives include garlic, shallots, leeks, chive ...
), garlic, whole kernel
corn
Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...
, and peppers. Sometimes pancake batter is used. The batter is mixed well, adjusting ingredients until thick, and dropped a spoonful at a time into hot oil. Many older recipes call for the batter to be cooked in the same oil as the fish it accompanies. The small corn dumplings are fried until crispy golden brown, and cooled. Hush puppies are often served with seafood or
barbecue
Barbecue or barbeque (often shortened to BBQ worldwide; barbie or barby in Australia and New Zealand) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that employ live fire and smoke to coo ...
d foods. They are commonly made at home or served in restaurants advertising home-style food.
Caribbean
In
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
, such fried bread dumplings are known as "festivals", and are made from a flour and cornmeal dough, with added salt and sugar, which is then formed into
hot dog bun
A hot dog bun is a type of soft bun shaped specifically to contain a hot dog or another type of sausage.
The side-loading bun is common in most of the United States, while the top-loading New England–style hot dog bun is popular in that r ...
shapes and deep-fried. They are sweeter than hushpuppies, which often contain onion or garlic. They are served with jerked meats such as pork or
chicken
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...
. Mostly, it is served with fried or escoveitch (see also escabeche and
ceviche
Ceviche, cebiche, sebiche, or seviche () is a cold dish consisting of fish or shellfish marinated in citrus and seasonings. Different versions of ceviche are part of the culinary cultures of various Latin American countries along the Pacific O ...
) fish.
In Puerto Rico, hushpuppies are made in the shape of a short
sausage
A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs, may be included as fillers or extenders.
...
and are called " sorullos" or the diminutive "sorullitos", for smaller sizes. Sugar is added to the cornmeal and can be stuffed with cheddar cheese or cream cheese with
guava
Guava ( ), also known as the 'guava-pear', is a common tropical fruit cultivated in many tropical and subtropical regions. The common guava '' Psidium guajava'' (lemon guava, apple guava) is a small tree in the myrtle family (Myrtaceae), nativ ...
. They are served with coffee, guava dipping sauce, or fry sauce.
See also
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List of fried dough foods
This is a list of fried dough foods. Many cultures have dishes that are prepared by deep frying dough in many various forms. Doughnuts are a type of fried dough food that are covered separately in the Wikipedia article List of doughnut varieties.
...
*
List of maize dishes
This is a list of maize dishes, in which maize (corn) is used as a primary ingredient. Additionally, some foods and beverages that are prepared with maize are listed.
Ingredients
Corn can be processed into an intermediate form to be cooked furt ...
List of regional dishes of the United States
The cuisine of the United States includes many regional or local dishes, side dishes and foods. This list includes dishes and foods that are associated with specific regions of the United States.
Regional dishes of the United States
Barbecu ...
* – a form of campfire cornbread made during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
*
* Indian fried
lentil
The lentil (''Vicia lens'' or ''Lens culinaris'') is an annual plant, annual legume grown for its Lens (geometry), lens-shaped edible seeds or ''pulses'', also called ''lentils''. It is about tall, and the seeds grow in Legume, pods, usually w ...