Cornmeal Mush
Ingredients
Directions
Make the mush
Mix cornmeal with cold water in a kettle.
Heat the kettle on the stove until the chill is removed.
Add boiling water while stirring continuously to prevent lumps.
Boil for 35 minutes over steady heat.
Set and fry
Pour into molds and let cool.
Once cold, slice into thin pieces.
Fry the slices in lard on a pan or griddle.
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.
- Lard
- Fat for frying the slices, giving them a crisp, browned surface.
The step that matters
Adding boiling water while stirring continuously. Cornmeal dropped into hot liquid clumps quickly, and the outside of each clump hydrates before the inside. Constant stirring keeps the grains dispersed so the mush cooks smooth and without lumps.
“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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