Cookin' n Heels

I remember when I first moved to Northern Virginia in 2009; the fall of that year my job hosted a chili cookoff and I volunteered to bring the cornbread. Of course being the good southern girl that I am, I brought hushpuppies to the work function. Now, as you might imagine, most of the uninformed were perplexed to say the least- one of my old coworkers legit asked me if they were hoecakes. Bless his heart. Of course everyone was obsessed. And meanwhile I’m just thinking to myself, “Who raised y’all and why have you not had hushpuppies before?”

So here we are, almost 12 years later (whew, chial!), and I’m still trying to spread the gospel of the hushpuppy to the uninformed. Hence today’s #FNFF post: after all, what’s a fish fry without hushpuppies? What exactly are hushpuppies. Well I’m glad you asked. According to this post on the Serious Eats blog:

If you’re eating a fried catfish or shrimp dinner at a seafood restaurant in the South (or, increasingly, anywhere else in the country), odds are it will be accompanied by the golden brown nuggets known as hushpuppies. Made from a thick cornmeal batter, they’re dropped in balls, fingers, or even long squiggly strands into a deep fryer and cooked till crisp on the outside and soft and chewy in the middle. They’re delicious, they’re iconic, and no one seems to have a clue where they came from

–Serious Eats: The Real History of Hushpuppies

If you wanna know more about the history, etc. then feel free to visit them. But for today, just know that hushpuppies are fried cornmeal based pillows from heaven, manna straight from the Lord. While they hot, dip them in some butter or honey butter and get your life! And that’s all you need to know.

So next time you have a work function, or you just wanna taste love and joy personified, fry you up a batch of hushpuppies! Now I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not good at writing recipes, I’m definitely more of an intuitive cook. But I’m trying y’all I promise 😊

In making these, or really anything to be honest, the most important thing is to be mindful, specifically when making this batter. No, seriously. Use the basic wet & dry ingredients and take the onion and corn out. Instead, throw in some cheese and sliced jalapeños for a little extra razzle dazzle. Or just make them plain. Get creative! Do what you feel. Cooking should be fun after all.

Ingredients 

• 1 1/2 c cornmeal
• 1/2 c flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 medium vadallia onion, grated finely
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 c buttermilk
• 1/2 c water
• 1/4 c sugar
• 8 oz cooked sweet corn
• oil for frying

Preheat the oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients: the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and mix thoroughly.

In a separate smaller bowl, combine the wet ingredients: the egg, buttermilk, water and sugar together thoroughly and mix them with the dry ingredients. Lastly, add the corn and grated onion to the batter and stir. Drop the batter, a spoonful at a time into the hot oil and fry until golden brown on both sides, turning during the cooking process.

Drain on paper towels and enjoy.

Cheat Code: if you just can’t be bothered, then I recommend this hushpuppy mix from Moss. But good luck because they only sell it south of Richmond, VA…