What is it about hush puppies that make them so charming? Is it their name? Their lumpy, endearing shape? Perhaps it’s their versatility, which makes the bite-sized snacks at home alongside everything from a chicken fried steak to a shrimp po’ boy to, of course, a crab feast.
“Corn is always a great addition to crab,” says Jesse Sandlin, the chef and owner of Bunny’s, a diner-style restaurant in Baltimore. “Hushpuppies are the perfect addition to a crab feast because they provide a nice mellowness to balance out the spicy and salty crab seasoning.”
For Bunny’s version of hush puppies, Sandlin uses a pink-hued “unicorn” cornmeal, which gives them a distinctive flair — but regular yellow or white cornmeal works perfectly fine in this recipe, too. To amplify the corn flavor, Sandlin suggests adding corn kernels to the batter for extra pops of sweetness.
Cornmeal Hush Puppy Recipe
Makes about 20 hush puppies
Ingredients:
1¼ cups cornmeal (see headnote)
½ cup all purpose flour
1½ tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon white pepper
⅔ cup (5 ounces) buttermilk
1 scallion, minced
1 egg
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
½ cup corn (optional)
4 to 6 cups vegetable oil, for frying
Instructions:
Step 1: In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and white pepper.
Step 2: In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, scallions, egg, and lemon zest.
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Step 3: Combine the wet and dry ingredients. Add corn, if using, and stir until just incorporated. Chill for 20 minutes, until the batter is set.
Step 4: Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with paper towels and set aside. In a medium heavy-bottomed pot or deep-fat fryer, heat the oil until it reaches 350 degrees on a deep-fat fryer thermometer.
Step 5: Using a 1½ tablespoon (¾ ounce)-portion scoop, scoop balls of the hush puppy batter and add them to the hot oil without overcrowding (they will puff up while cooking). Fry, stirring and flipping the hush puppies occasionally, until they turn golden brown and a test puppy is cooked through, about 4 minutes. Transfer to the paper towel-lined pan and keep warm in the oven while frying the remaining batter.
Justin Tsucalas is an award-winning photographer and owner of Plaid Photo, a Baltimore, Maryland-based studio.
Creative director and set designer Giulietta Pinna specializes in visual content creation for commercial and editorial food, interior, lifestyle, product and still life projects.
Recipe tested by Ivy Manning
