Tag Archive for: Regina’s Table at Twin Oaks

While we’re on the subject: Mississippi Hushpuppies

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I am enamored by Regina Charboneau‘s recipes. Regina Charboneau is the owner of Twin Oaks Bed & Breakfast in Natchez, Mississippi. She is the author of Regina’s Table at Twin Oaks.


Mississippi Hushpuppies

(From Regina’s Food section in The Atlantic)

Here is Regina’s recipe for the treasured Southern dish. You can add what you like (when no one is looking).

• 1½ cups self-rising cornmeal (yellow or white)
• ½ cup self-rising flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon of granulated garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ½ cup (about 1 small) chopped green onion, including the white bottom
• ½ to ¾ cup buttermilk
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Using an electric fryer, preheat oil to 350 F.

In a mixing bowl, stir together the cornmeal, flour, baking soda, and salt, garlic powder, and cayenne. Stir in the green onion. (If you are adding other ingredients like bacon, crawfish or smoked fish, this is where you add them.)

In a small bowl, stir together half a cup of the buttermilk and egg. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until blended. You want the mixture to be stiff enough to roll into a one-inch ball. If the mixture seems too dry add a touch more buttermilk.

Fry until golden brown, turning the hushpuppies during the cooking process.

To read Regina’s account of the hushpuppy’s history, click here. (Hushpuppies: From Civil War to Modern Standby.)

A Heavenly Grain

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Corn flour is also known as Southern flour because it’s the key ingredient for so many Southern dishes. Here, from The Atlantic, comes a very interesting spotlight on corn flour, to which we all owe some gratitude whenever we enjoy a truly delicious Southern meal.

Image by Regina Charboneau

A Baker’s Well-Kept Secret: Corn Flour by Regina Charboneau

– Regina Charboneau is the owner of Twin Oaks Bed & Breakfast in Natchez, Mississippi. She is the author of Regina’s Table at Twin Oaks.

Every week I have the task to come up with some topic on Southern food to write about for TheAtlantic.com. It typically is easy because my life is centered on food, and most often Southern food. Last weekend, as I was taking corn flour out of my baking cabinet to dust fresh shrimp for a quick Sunday lunch of fried shrimp and cole slaw, I knew immediately that I should write about this well kept Southern secret—corn flour.

Everyone knows about corn meal, white or yellow, used for breading catfish and making corn bread. Somehow I think we have done a good job of keeping this silky flavorful flour more of a secret. In many Southern kitchens, this is the key ingredient that makes a homemade cake, Chess Pie, or a breading for shellfish or fish just a bit more special. Corn flour is also used often in Italian cooking. No matter how proud we Southerners are of our cuisine, we do realize that Italian cooking was around long before Southern cooking. Yes, we know it all began in 1492 when Columbus’s men discovered this new grain in Cuba. Native to the Americas, it was exported to Europe rather than being imported, as were other major grains.

It is difficult not to get into a long-winded article about corn and all the fabulous products that come from this heavenly grain. Don’t worry—I will condense my information…

For the complete article, click here. To try Regina’s cake recipe using this characteristic Southern flour, click here – you don’t want to miss this one, it’s a Pineapple-Pear Corn Flour Cake with Brown Sugar Sauce!