On Mon, 10 Nov 2003 22:41:46 +0000, Peggie Hall wrote:

Lloyd Sumpter wrote:
After all the discussion on coleslaw, I STILL wanna know what a "hush-puppy"
is (apart from the shoe already mentioned...)

A REAL hush puppy is nothing but a bit of fried corn bread batter. Hush puppies
are so named because that's exactly what their orginal purpose was: something to
toss to hungry barking dogs to shut 'em up. It was only after someone (prob'ly a
Yankee...Yankees don't really like real southern cooking, so they change it into
something else and pretend it's still southern cooking) decided to turn hush
puppies into people food that recipes began to include onions, jalapenos and
whatever else.


Well, once again Peggy posts one of the most informative posts I've seen in a
while. Thanks, Peggy!

We have a cornmeal "bread" known as bannock, originated by the natives. (it's
actually really good stuff to make onboard - doesn't take an over, etc.). I'll
trade you some bannock for some hushpuppies...

Lloyd

I grew up eating all that stuff here in Texas. BTW, there is PLENTY of sandy
soil in TX... we can grow carrots! BTW, you forgot Collard Greens and
Cracklin's.... pork fat fried until crispy, sorta. The genesis of what they
call pork rinds in the store, but a LOT heavier and greasier... probably the
most direct way to a heart attack I can think of!

"Peggie Hall" wrote in message
...
Lloyd Sumpter wrote:
After all the discussion on coleslaw, I STILL wanna know what a
"hush-puppy" is (apart from the shoe already mentioned...)

A REAL hush puppy is nothing but a bit of fried corn bread batter. Hush
puppies are so named because that's exactly what their orginal purpose
was: something to toss to hungry barking dogs to shut 'em up. It was
only after someone (prob'ly a Yankee...Yankees don't really like real
southern cooking, so they change it into something else and pretend it's
still southern cooking) decided to turn hush puppies into people food
that recipes began to include onions, jalapenos and whatever else.

REAL southern cooking is what some people call "soul food" 'cuz that
sounds trendier than "poor folks food". But that's what it really is.
Wheat flour is hard to come by in the south, but anyone can grow
corn...and they invented cornbread....and hominy...and how to make
grits. "High class" green vegetables like peas and green beans cost
more to grow than turnips...carrots only grow in sandy soil (the south
is red clay)...and someone found that turnip greens (the part of the
turnip that grows above ground) are edible if simmered with "fat back"
(a chunk of bacon trimmings), salt and pepper. Pigs don't cost much to
raise, so they had meat and learned how to preserve it...since they
couldn't afford to waste anything, they also learned how make pig's feet
and hog jowls edible...and turn the entrails into chitterlings
(correctly pronounced "chitlins"--and the the only thing I know of that
tastes and smells worse is Scottish haggis). They grew peanuts and
learned to boil 'em as well as roast 'em. This was--and is--the diet of
poor southerners, black AND white.

But some time during the civil rights era, it got the name "soul food"
and for a while was THE "in cuisine" among the trendy. But people who
can afford better don't like it, so they had to change it into something
they do like while calling it by its orginal names. And that includes
hush puppies, which are actually nothing more a bite size bit of stone
ground cornmeal and buttermilk fried in some lard.

Peggie
----------
Peggie Hall
Specializing in marine sanitation since 1987
Author "Get Rid of Boat Odors - A Guide To Marine Sanitation Systems and
Other Sources of Aggravation and Odor"
http://shop.sailboatowners.com/detai...=400&group=327

http://www.seaworthy.com/html/get_ri...oat_odors.html