Shut up, dogs

That's how I affectionately refer to hushpuppies, the southern American deep-fried cornbread. Legend has it that southern fisherman would toss small bits of fried cornbread to their dogs to keep them quiet, or "hush" them, at mealtime. Hushpuppies are a side dish, frequently served with fish dishes, but also with pork barbecue. Or anything, really.

My hushpuppies are football-shaped, and smooth. Others can be round and/or much rougher.

The recipe I use for our home-made pups comes from the coastal North Carolina seafood restaurant, Tony's Sanitary Fish Market & Restaurant in Morehead City. You mix cornmeal (I used white meal this time, but yellow cornmeal works just the same), salt, soda, sugar, an egg, and buttermilk (I use yogurt) into a batter, then shape the hushpuppies as you like. Sometimes they are round, other times they are football-shaped. Then they get deep-fried until they're done.

Twenty raw hushpuppies, shaped and ready for deep-frying.

Hushpuppies are really good with a little sweet butter, or just plain along side your meal. On Monday we ate field peas (small red beans) with Toulouse sausages (from southern France), collard greens, and a basket of hushpuppies. Yum!