Cooks guard their recipes for Southern delicacy

gotriad ^ | September 13, 2006 | Katie Reetz

[stainlessbanner]

GREENSBORO — A polite smile and genteel Southern manners will get you a lot of things.

Opened doors, a kiss on the hand and, if you're lucky, help with heavy boxes.

But some tasks are beyond even the best efforts of a woman born and bred on this side of the Mason-Dixon line.

Turns out top-secret family recipes are one of those things.

A few weeks ago I made it my mission to track down the mystery of the hush puppy, a scrumptious glob of fried cornmeal served in seafood and barbecue restaurants across the Triad and around the country.

The result?

Spectacular failure.

The Southern dish has been served alongside fried fish and barbecue for years. Sometimes the golden cornmeal comes in a crescent shape, other times it's round. The pups can be salty, sweet or stuffed with an assortment of veggies and cheeses. They're always delicious.

The history of hush puppies is as storied as it is uncertain.

Some say they were invented in 1727 by nuns in the territory that would later become Louisiana. Others say an African cook in Atlanta tossed the doughy balls on the floor to quiet a whining puppy. Still others trace the famous side dish to hunters, trappers and Confederate soldiers who wanted to silence their yipping canines.

Whatever their roots, hush puppies have become one of those uniquely Southern foods that drive otherwise civilized people to fisticuffs debating whose mama has the superior recipe.

I made several stops in my cruise around town. Everywhere I went, owners and employees were as sweet as their tea, offering me drinks and samples of the savory pups.

They seemed determined to please their inquiring guest and went out of their way to make my visit enjoyable. Mindful of my upbringing, I thanked them and brushed their offers aside with a smile. The one thing I wanted was what they weren't willing to give — their secret hush puppy recipes.

"It's like my grandmother used to say," says Chip Stamey, owner of Stamey's Barbecue. "I'll tell you everything that's in them, but not how much."

Stamey and I chatted near the barbecue pit at his High Point Road location. Our conversation was light-hearted and peppered with laughter. I thought I had a shot.

The first time I asked for his grandmother's original recipe, he tried to make it seem like his rebuff was more for my benefit.

"Oh, you wouldn't want that," he said. "It makes too many."

When I tried a more direct approach, he politely shot me down. No way I was getting that recipe in my reporter's notepad.

My conversation with other owners and managers was much the same.

Oh, what a fun idea, they chuckled.

How flattering it was to think of them, they cooed.

But share their recipe? Surely, I must be kidding.

There's a lot to be said for Greensboro's hospitality, but the sweet talk stops when family recipes are on the line.

Contact Katie Reetz at 691-5091 or kreetz@news-record.com

RECIPES

We did our best to snag hush puppy recipes from your favorite local restaurants, but, alas, we came back empty-handed. These recipes might not be local, but they're still delicious.

Traditional Hush Puppies

1 1/2 cups white or yellow cornmeal

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

1/4 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup water

Combine cornmeal, salt and baking soda; stir in onion. Add buttermilk and water, and stir just enough to moisten the dry ingredients. Drop by rounded teaspoonsful into hot fat (375 degrees), and fry until golden brown, turning once. Remove from fat and drain on paper towels.

Cheddar Hush Puppies

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

3/4 cup self-rising white cornmeal

1/4 cup flour

2 tablespoons finely chopped onion

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

1/3 cup milk

1 egg, beaten

Combine cheese, cornmeal, flour, onion and sugar. Add combined milk and egg, mixing until well blended. Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of batter into deep hot oil (375 degrees). Fry until golden brown, turning once. Drain and serve warm.

Shrimp Hush Puppies

2 cups cooked and shredded shrimp

2 (6 ounce) packages of jalapeno corn bread mix

1 (1 pound, 1 ounce) can cream corm

1/4 cup chopped green onions

1 finely chopped jalapeno pepper

Oil for frying

Shred cooked shrimp in a food processor or chop finely with a knife. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Heat oil to 365 degrees. Drop mixture by heaping teaspoonfuls into hot oil and deep fry until golden brown. Remove the puppies from the oil and drain them on absorbent paper.

Baked Hush Puppies

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

3/4 cup milk

2 beaten eggs

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup melted fat or oil

Stir dry ingredients together. Add remaining ingredients, and stir only until well blended. Place 1 tablespoon of batter into well-greased small muffin tin wells. Place muffin pans on sheet of aluminum the size of the pan to prevent over browning. Bake in a hot oven at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

— Recipes courtesy of Cooks.com.

[Mrs. Darla Ruth Schwerin]

Hush puppies are yummy little critters. But I can live without the cayenne. All the Louisiana folks can have it...

[Grammy]

That is my favorite line from the movie!

[fredhead]

Best hushpuppies I've ever had were at the Sanitary Fish Market and Restaurant in Morehead City, NC. They (along with all the other good restaurants in that area) make the long style hushpuppies. No onions, and they go great with fried oysters.

[stand watie]

i'm NOW domiciled in VA. when asked where you can get REAL dixie BBQ, i say: MY HOUSE!

free dixie,sw

[Kaylee Frye]

Oh thanks. Now I'm starving with no way to get my beloved Hush Puppies up here in the Pac NW!!! Some days I miss home so bad!

[stainlessbanner]

A little taste of home always brings back memories.

[Kaylee Frye]

Sigh, I guess I'll just have to wait until I'm back home at Christmas. :)

[toddlintown]

"Having Cheddar or shrimp in them almost makes them a side dish"

Metro-puppies. Ignore these foo-foo adaptations.

[bert]

Martha White Sweet Yellow cornbread mix with a little onion added to taste..... Couldn't be more transparent or easy.

Put it in a plastic bag with corner cut out and extrude.

[andysandmikesmom]

I love hushpuppies...I lived for 5 yrs in North Carolia, when my husband was stationed at Fort Bragg...

The first time we went out to eat in a local seafood restaurant, we received a big old batch of hush puppies on our plates along with the seafood dinner..we did not even know what they were...had to ask the waitress, who quickly realized we were from up north....

Since that first time we bit into those yummy hush puppies, we were hooked on them...everyone in my family loved them, and we were delighted to find, that when we went to almost any restaurant, no matter what you ordered, hush puppies came along with the meal...

YUM YUM....

[blam]

I've always thought that hush-puppies were made from the left over batter that was used to batter fish for frying.

Hey Mabel, "what do you want to do with this left-over batter" Mabel, "make it into small balls and throw it in the fryer after the fish...we're a little short on fish anyway."

[Condor 63]

My old man used Schlitz. He was one catfish fryin'/hush puppie makin' SOB.

Occasionally he would take his own pups when we went out and had some "store bought bobeque."

LOL

[Edgar3]

Ha! I can still see my dad with a big brown paper grocery bag full of flour just shakin' those fish covered. Then he would just drop them in the hot grease and voila!

[PistolPaknMama]

LOL!

[PistolPaknMama]

How did my Grandmother make those flat, delcious fried hoecakes that we always ate with the day's catch?

My Grandma used to make one big hoe cake the size of an iron frying pan. And we'd have rice and stewed tomatoes as a side dish. Man I'd love to have a slice of that hoecake now!

[PistolPaknMama]

Even more than "two yutes"? :-)

[Xenalyte]

What Hal said. Hushpuppies are plum-sized at the biggest. And they're just meal/dough and onion, fried. None of that cheddar or shrimp nonsense.

[Xenalyte]

An onionless hushpuppy is an abomination unto the Lord, and it is vile and wretched in His sight. You are correct to condemn it.

[Grammy]

Even more than "two yutes".
It was the "I've never actually seen a grit" that did it to me.

[Rte66]

So, YOU're the ONE. It's because of you that people make hushpuppies without onions! Southern cooks just don't want to offend *anyone.*

But glad you agree with me on the grease making all the difference. It needs to be "broken in." That's why I don't like to fry stuff at home - besides the smell in the house, it's never as good as at a place with used grease!

Those "hushpuppies" you had with corn in them were corn fritters. Love them, but they're not hushpuppies. They are good with fried oysters, but so are hushpuppies.