Let's talk Hushpuppies!

[Joe Pelonio]

Joe, I grew up in Missouri until I was 15. My Mom owned a restaurant and served catfish and hush puppies, that is how I learned to cook them. I also like to cook fried green tomatoes another great Southern dish!

My late grandmother-in-law introduced me to catfish and hushpuppies too,
plus fried chicken and biscuits like I've never tasted since. She never did the fried green tomatoes for me but she made a mean pecan pie!

[Doug Shepard]

Joe, I grew up in Missouri until I was 15. My Mom owned a restaurant and served catfish and hush puppies,...

Back in the old days when gas was cheap enough that folks actually towed travel trailers behind their car, the parental units were big on 2-3 week vacations to various parts of the US. 3 years in a row we went to Tennessee/Kentucky to the TVA Land-Between-the-Lakes area. One of the first things we would do was head out for catfish and hushpuppy dinners. YUM.

[Dan Mages]

I'm looking for some knowledge here. We're talking deep fried bliss, waiting to be split open and slathered with a big knife full of butter......

I've run into two kinds, basically the round ones and then the little tubular shaped ones that almost look like a mini hotdog shape.

I'm no master chef and I'm better out on the grill than inside, but I'd like to master the little hotdoggy shaped fellas. Around here, you see the round one's at BBQ places and the hotdog shaped ones more at seafood restaurants. I've made the round ones plenty of times, but the manufacturing method escapes me on how to make the hotdoggy shaped ones.

Anyone know how to make those and have a recipe for them? My quest for the summer is to figure out how to make those and some good onion rings

That sounds like a good summer project, doesn't it?

Well, I am a chef, pastry to be precise, and I can answer your hushpuppy questions.

According to the Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook, the football shaped are South Carolina style and the round ones are North Carolina style. North Carolina style are going to be lighter in texture than SC the style. I highly recommend buying the Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook if you like Low Country cookin. Here are the recipes from that book. http://www.amazon.com/Lee-Bros-South...reative=380797 (Using an SMC link... I hope)

NC Style
1c cornmeal
1c AP flour
1t baking soda
1t baking powder
.5t salt
2t sugar
.25c finely minced scallions
1t lemon zest
1 large egg
1c +2T buttermilk
oil for deep frying

Stir together the first eight ingredients. Beat the egg and mix it into the dry ingredients. Stir in the buttermilk slowly until you have a fexible and tacky batter.

Heat the oil in your best cast iron to 375f. Drop the batter into the pan by the spoonful. Fry for at least 3 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from the oil and place in a warm oven until ready to serve.

SC Style
1.25c cornmeal
.5c AP flour
.5t baking soda
.5t baking powder
1.5T sugar
.5t salt
.5t black pepper
3T minced scallions
1 egg
.5c plus 2T buttermilk
oil for frying.

Same exact process except you want to try to shape them into more of a football shape.

Good luck

[Gary Kvasnicka]

Ahh, Robert, there's the difference, the 2 are different in taste and texture. The "Spoon drop" ones, or round ones, tend to be a lot more coarse in texture. The hotdoggy (I just like saying that word) ones seem to me a lot finer in texture. That's the real difference I'm trying to figure out.

Scott,
If you like the hotdoggy style of hushpuppy. Nanny's is the place, it is on US 301 just south of Petersburg in Prince George County, I-95 exit 45. I don't know what part of Richmond you are in, but you couldn't be over a hours drive.
They even sell hushpuppy mix, perhaps you could reverse engineer it.
http://nannysbbq.com/store.htm
I like the hushpuppys there so much, I usually eat more of them than BBQ.

[Stephen Tashiro]

When I've made hush puppies, they've always had too much of a hint of the baking soda/baking powder flavor. Is the way to avoid this to use less of the soda/powder or is there a cooking technique to fix this problem?

[Chris Padilla]

Hmmm, I always thought hushpuppies were square diced potatoes pan-fried with onion and maybe a few other spices...but I ain't from the South....

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

http://www.chitterlings.com/hush-puppies.html

Making 'em long would, I'd guess, require that you shape 'em that way before dropping 'em in the fry oil. That might require that you reduce the fluid some so you can roll the dough up on a cake frosting spreader type spatula and then with a second one roll it off into the oil PLOP.

some good onion rings

Any decent tempura batter. The lighter the batter the better. Heavy batters just end up making a thick gooey cakey mess.

Slice Vidalia or large Spanish onions ('bout a quarter inch thick) swirl 'em in batter and drop the dipped rings into hot oil.

[Belinda Barfield]

Hmmm, I always thought hushpuppies were square diced potatoes pan-fried with onion and maybe a few other spices...but I ain't from the South....

Chris, how can you have reached the ripe old age of 40 without ever having tasted a hushpuppy? You poor, poor dear. Good hushpuppies are just like little fried pieces of heaven. The potatoes you describe are hashbrowns (country fries, cottage fries, or breakfast 'taters). I can see the confusion of old age has already taken hold.

Not being from the South . . . bless your heart . . . you just don't know what you're missing.

[Scott Shepherd]

Excellent folks, thanks for sharing all that information! I've printed it out and we'll give it a try soon.

Gary, thanks for the tip on Nanny's. Never heard of it, but we've been known to drive for hours for a meal, so Petersburg for BBQ and Hushpuppies? That's a trip for lunch I can't wait for dinner

Chris........:::sighhh:::......now we understand a lot of California's problems

Belinda, think we can whip up a mess of Southern style food and ship it out to those deprived folks? Never had a hushpuppy?

That's like saying you never had a bike as a child!

[Belinda Barfield]

Excellent folks, thanks for sharing all that information! I've printed it out and we'll give it a try soon.

Gary, thanks for the tip on Nanny's. Never heard of it, but we've been known to drive for hours for a meal, so Petersburg for BBQ and Hushpuppies? That's a trip for lunch I can't wait for dinner

Chris........:::sighhh:::......now we understand a lot of California's problems

Belinda, think we can whip up a mess of Southern style food and ship it out to those deprived folks? Never had a hushpuppy?

That's like saying you never had a bike as a child!

I know Steve, how sad. However, hushpuppies don't ship well. Maybe we could invite him to the South and feed him some good, fillin', soul food. I'm guessing Cheese Grits or Shrimp & Grits have never passed his lips.

[Scott Shepherd]

Maybe we could invite him to the South and feed him some good, fillin', soul food. I'm guessing Cheese Grits or Shrimp & Grits have never passed his lips.

No way, that's how we got the Yankee's down here now! Don't feed them, they'll never leave

[John Fricke]

Next think y'all rednecks be talkin chittlins, pickled porks feet, and black eyed peas..........Just kiddin I love most southern cooked food.

[Don Bullock]

Chris, how can you have reached the ripe old age of 40 without ever having tasted a hushpuppy? You poor, poor dear. Good hushpuppies are just like little fried pieces of heaven. The potatoes you describe are hashbrowns (country fries, cottage fries, or breakfast 'taters). I can see the confusion of old age has already taken hold.

Not being from the South . . . bless your heart . . . you just don't know what you're missing.

Belinda, I'm quite a bit older and have never had a Hush Puppy except for the ones I wear on my feet and I have lived in the South.

[Robert Parrish]

Belinda, Nice thing about living in Florida is that we get tomatoes 2-3 times a year. I was just out to the farm yesterday picking some green ones to fry up! I also got a peck of sweet onions for onion rings. I think I'm eating too much fried food!

[Jim Mattheiss]

See - this is why I'll have to remain a Yankee.

As my mother would say "He's a fussy eater!".

I'm not sure I'm up to real southern cooking . . . I'm a steak and french fries kind of guy. I went to New Orleans on business ages ago and dined at NOLA (one of Emeril's restaurants) and had a STEAK. It was a good steak, but a steak. . . No cajun this or creole that - just a filet mignon steak.

There's no hope for me gastronomically

Cheers

Jim