Basic Down-Home Hush Puppies | Cookstr.com

If you don’t intend to serve the hush puppies virtually straight from the stove, preheat the oven to 200°F.

Combine the dry ingredients thoroughly in a medium bowl.

Beat together the eggs and buttermilk in a small bowl. Stir this into the dry ingredients to make a batter thick enough to mound on the end of a teaspoon. Stir in the onion. As is almost always the case with cornbreads, don’t overbeat the batter or you’ll toughen the hush puppies.

Pour the oil into a large skillet to reach a depth of 1 to 1½ inches, depending on the depth of your skillet. Place the skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot enough to fry in (365°F on a thermometer, or test with a drop of batter, which should sizzle immediately and start to brown), drop the batter in by small rounded teaspoonfuls, using a second teaspoon to scrape off the batter into the fat. Working in batches, fry 5 or 6 hush puppies at a time, making sure not to overcrowd the skillet. Fry until the balls are golden brown on their underneath sides, 45 seconds to 1 minute. Then turn them with a slotted spoon and continue cooking until the other side is nice and golden, too, 30 to 40 seconds more.

Either transfer to a serving dish, blot with paper towels, and serve posthaste, or line a baking sheet with paper towels (or, traditionally, torn-open brown paper grocery sacks) and scoop the finished hush puppies from the fat onto the paper-lined sheet. Transfer them to the preheated oven to keep them warm, and begin frying the next batch.

A milk batter has slightly less tang and tenderness than one made with buttermilk. Use milk to replace the buttermilk, omit the baking soda, and use 1 level tablespoon of baking powder to leaven the batter.

Use stone-ground yellow cornmeal instead of white. Add a teaspoon of garlic powder or (infinitely better in my view) 3 or 4 pressed garlic cloves. Omit the black pepper, but add 1 to 2 finely minced fresh or pickled jalapeño peppers (leaving in the seeds, if you wish, for extra kick). If you like, add a little minced parsley or cilantro. And—I am told this is the secret—fry the hush puppies in the same oil used for frying the fish you’re serving them with.

Quickie Garden Hush Puppies

Substitute 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons of self-rising cornmeal (White Lily is the preferred brand) for the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Use milk or water in place of the buttermilk, adding a few tablespoons of finely minced tomatoes to the liquid, to equal the 1 cup total. Use 2 or 3 finely chopped scallions instead of the regular onion.