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Fried Mush

A cornmeal mush cooked in water, then sliced and fried in butter and lard.

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. Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil and add salt to taste.

  2. Gradually stir in fine yellow cornmeal until the mixture resembles a medium thick batter.

  3. If the mixture is too thick, add hot water.

  4. If it gets lumpy, stir in a little cold water.

  5. Cover and cook for 1 to 2 hours.

  6. Dip a pan in cold water, then turn the cooked mush into the pan.

Fry and serve

  1. Once cold, slice the mush.

  2. Fry the sliced mush in equal parts butter and lard until browned.

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

Fine yellow cornmeal
Forms the thick body of the mush as its starch thickens while cooking.
Butter
Adds richness and flavor and helps the slices brown in the pan.
Lard
Gives the slices a high-heat frying fat that browns them crisply.

The step that matters

Cook the mush long enough before setting. Cornmeal starch must fully gelatinize during the long, covered cooking to thicken properly. Undercooked mush stays pasty and will not slice cleanly or fry to a crisp brown.

“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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