Bill Neal’s Hush Puppies
Bill Neal tremendously important to the revival of Southern cooking in recent decades. He co-founded and ran La Residence and Crook’s Corner in Chapel Hill, NC, and wrote several cookbooks. He died far too young at 41, but has left a lasting legacy that extends to all regions of the South and many styles of cooking. We recommend you read Sara Engram’s profile of Bill in Duke Magazine, “Some South for Your Mouth: How Corn Bread Cuisine Became Haute.”
“Neal approached the postlapsarian state of southern cooking as an anthropologist as much as a food writer.”
—Book Forum
In his wonderful cookbook, “Biscuits, Spoonbread, and Sweet Potato Pie,” Bill Neal writes the definitive book on southern breads and pies. His hush puppies are just the best.
“Hushpuppies are deep-fried cornmeal fritters and the classic accompaniment to outdoor fish fries and barbecues. Some are little more than fried dough of the cornmeal dumpling variety, but most are enriched these days with eggs, butter, milk, and onion. Almost every corn milling operation in the South puts out a hushpuppy mix and few cooks make hushpuppies from scratch. For hush puppies from scratch, here is a typical recipe.
2 c. cornmeal
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2/3 tsp. salt
2 tsp. sugar
1/8 tsp. black pepper
3/4 c. grated onion
1 egg
1 c. buttermilk
Fat for deep frying: shortening, lard, vegetable oil, or a combination
Sift together the dry ingredients. Beat the onion, egg and buttermilk together; add to the meal mixture. Beat well and let stand at room temperature for about 15 minutes. Cook a test hushpuppy – drop by the large teaspoon into 350 degree F. deep fat. Test after it has browned, in 2-3 minutes; if the hushpuppy is not cooked through, add a little more cornmeal to the batter. If the outside is very rough and the inside too heavy, add a little buttermilk. Proceed, cooking the puppies about 2-3 minutes until golden brown. Drain on brown paper and serve immediately. Recipe makes 36 hushpuppies.
From: Biscuits, Spoonbread, and Sweet Potato Pie: 300 recipes that celebrate the glories of Southern baking – with a generous accompaniment of historical lore, Bill Neal, originally published by Alfred A. Knopf, 1990 and now in paperback from University of North Carolina Press.
