Cornmeal Mush
Ingredients
Directions
Make the mush
Bring 1 quart of water to a boil in a saucepan.
Add 1 tablespoon of salt and remove any scum from the surface.
Slowly sprinkle in cornmeal while stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.
Continue adding cornmeal until the mixture is stiff.
Cook gently for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally until it puffs and bubbles.
Serve and store
Serve with sugar and milk or syrup.
If there are leftovers, mold in a deep square dish, slice, and fry for breakfast the next morning.
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.
- Water
- Hydrates the cornmeal so its starch can gelatinize and thicken into a porridge.
The step that matters
Adding the cornmeal slowly while stirring constantly. Dumping cornmeal into boiling water causes clumps, because the outer grains swell and seal off the dry centers. Sprinkling it in gradually while stirring keeps the mush smooth.
“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.
More cornmeal mush recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.