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Fried Mush

Fried cornmeal mush is a batter of cornmeal cooked in boiling water, then fried into patties.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Fried Mush

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mush

  1. Stir cornmeal into boiling water until smooth.

  2. Boil for 30 minutes, then add salt and stir briskly.

Fry

  1. Heat lard and butter in a skillet.

  2. Drop the boiling mush into the skillet in small patties.

  3. Fry until light crisp brown on both sides.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Cornmeal
Forms the thick body of the mush as its starch swells and sets when cooked in water.
Lard
Fat for frying that helps the patties crisp and brown in the skillet.
Butter
Adds flavor and helps the patties brown in the frying fat.

The step that matters

Drop the boiling mush into the skillet in small patties. The mush must be hot and firm enough to hold its shape. Cornmeal starch sets as it cools, so the patties need to go into hot fat promptly to form a crisp surface.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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