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Hushpuppies

Source of Recipe

From "Bon Appétit, Y'all" by Virginia Willis


Recipe Introduction

"A fish fry would not be complete without hushpuppies, yet another dish Southerners prepare with corn. Meme always added grated onion to the meal leftover from frying the fish, and then added an egg and enough buttermilk until the consistency looked about right. My late father-in-law used to host fish fries, cooking up what they'd caught over the weekend at Lake Lanier. Now, I never actually had one of his hushpuppies, but I've spent fifteen years trying to replicate one, based on what his family describes. He used beer instead of buttermilk and, it seems, lots of onion. It doesn't matter how much onion I add, there's never enough onion. I have a sneaking suspicion that a special food memory created on a sunny summer afternoon has bypassed reality and it's actually not about the onion. No worries, I'll keep trying. There are impossible quests that produce far worse results."

List of Ingredients

â—¦  4 cups peanut oil, for frying, plus more if needed
â—¦  2 cups white or yellow cornmeal
â—¦  2 teaspoons baking powder
â—¦  Pinch of cayenne pepper
â—¦  Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
â—¦  1 cup beer, plus more if needed
â—¦  2 large eggs
â—¦  1 onion, preferably Vidalia, very finely chopped


Recipe

In a large cast-iron Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot, heat the oil over high heat until it reaches 375° F on a deep-fat thermometer.

To make the batter, in a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, baking powder, cayenne pepper, and 1 teaspoon of the salt. In a second bowl or large liquid measuring cup, combine the beer, eggs, and onion. Season with salt and pepper. Whisk until smooth. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, using as few strokes as possible. (The mixture should resemble wet sand; add more beer, if needed.)

Line a plate with paper towels and set by the cooktop. To fry the hushpuppies, scoop up batter using a medium ice cream scoop and drop it into the hot oil without crowding. Fry, stirring occasionally with a slotted spoon, until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon to the prepared plate. Adjust the heat to maintain the proper temperature and repeat with the remaining batter. Serve immediately.

Makes about 15