Hush Puppies

PORTER’S ANSON COUNTY HUSH PUPPIES

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups plain white corn meal                 1/2 cup all purpose flour White Lily
1 teaspoon baking powder                       1 1/2 cups buttermilk (whole not skim)
1 teaspoon salt                                        3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda                      1/2 cup diced onion, white
1 egg, lightly beaten

Fill a 2-quart saucepot half full with oil and heat to 350 to 375 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, sugar; then stir in the cornmeal and onions. In a separate bowl, combine the egg and milk, then pour into the mixture; stir to blend. This stiff batter should be thick enough to stay on a spoon without dripping off the sides. You may need to stir in more cornmeal if it's too runny or milk if it's too dry. Let batter rest in refrigerator for 30 minutes. Very carefully drop the batter by teaspoons into the hot oil, and cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes on each side. The puppies sometimes will turn over by themselves to cook the other side, but you might have to help them out a little. Drain on paper towels and serve immediately. If using peanut oil for deep frying, you can run the temperature up to 400 degrees F. which will quickly seal the outside of the hush puppies and the hush puppies will retain less oil.

YIELD: about 2 dozen

NOTES: You can substitute beer for the buttermilk if desired. Our original recipe that my bride “Tweet” came up with back in the early 1970’s got lost or misplaced, but I believe it was one of those recipes that you had committed to memory only. Anyway, this is one that I have been working with the past few weeks/months changing the ratio of corn meal to flour and leaving off any Cajun type seasonings but you can add, cayenne, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, etc to your liking, but I guarantee this recipe will work for you! I believe the addition of the sugar makes all the difference. These “puppies” are light, but not as light as a fritter and will melt in your mouth. It would be scary to see all the fish, fries, slaw and hush puppies we prepared over the years! For a couple decades we used a “humongous” size black cast iron skillet for all the fish frying but now do all the fish frying outside using a propane fish cooker which is more convenient but really can’t say the fish taste any better! I know fish do taste better when prepared soon after being caught. Some of our best fish cooked were caught from the Pee Dee River, Anson County and cooked at the shore’s edge while camping on Jerry Ingram’s property near the old boat landing, Blewett Fall’s Lake. Our “kids” still talk about all the good times we had back in the 1970's to middle 1980's before their estrogen and testosterone kicked in. Grin if you must!

Comments and recipe by Bill aka Mickey Porter 05-27-07

Below pix of hush puppies served with some BBQ and marinated slaw on 09-22-08.

ALTERNATE HUSH PUPPIES RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups self-rising corn meal           1/2 cup self-rising flour
3 tablespoons sugar                         1 1/2 cups buttermilk (whole not skim)
1 egg, lightly beaten                            1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix corn meal, flour, salt and sugar. Add chopped onion, then buttermilk and egg and stir until well blended. Let rest in refrigerator for 30 minutes. Drop by spoonful into hot oil 350 to 375 degrees. Batter will sink and then will float to the top of the oil. Sometimes, they will turn by themselves, but most of the time will need a nudge to turn them over to brown both sides. Drain on taper towels. Serve while hot.

This recipe is for those that use only self-rising corn meal and self-rising flour.

YIELD: About 24

Above hush puppies deep fried on 03-23-13 by Bill aka Mickey Porter. Served with my beef stew.

Click on thumbnail sequence pixs for a larger screen view:

Bill aka Mickey Porter 04-01-09.

LEAVING ON A SPIRITUAL NOTE

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Romans 10:17 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

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Open this link of Bible Verses About Salvation, King James Version Bible (KJV).

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