Anne Byrne shares an iconic favorite recipe from New York Times editor, Craig Claiborne.
“It might seem odd to feature a hushpuppy recipe from a former New York Times food editor in a Southern cookbook. But Craig Claiborne never let go of Mississippi, where he was born and raised on chicken spaghetti and coconut cake. Claiborne’s recipe, from Craig Claiborne’s Southern Cooking (1992), calls for white cornmeal and baking powder, but I’ve substituted self-rising cornmeal.”
recipe 
yields
Serves 4-6
Makes about 1½ cups
1½ cups (195 grams) coarsely ground white cornmeal
2¼ teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
1½ cups (204 grams) Self-Rising Cornmeal (recipe below)
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup boiling water
1 large egg
⅓ cup minced onion
3-4 cups vegetable or peanut oil for frying
For the self-rising cornmeal
For the hushpuppies
Special equipment: Deep-fry thermometer; instant-read thermometer
steps
Make the self rising cornmeal
- In a small bowl, whisk ingredients together.
Make the hushpuppies
- In a large bowl, whisk together cornmeal, flour, sugar, and salt. Pour boiling water into bowl and stir until cornmeal absorbs all the water and is thick like mush, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in egg and onion. Place bowl in refrigerator.
- Pour enough oil into a 10- to 12-inch cast-iron skillet or Dutch oven to measure 2 to 3 inches. Place over medium-high heat until the oil reaches 365 to 375 degrees on a deep-fry thermometer. Remove batter from fridge and scoop or spoon about 1½ tablespoons into hot oil, frying 6 or 7 at a time. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes on one side, then turn with a slotted spoon to cook on the other side. When hushpuppies are browned all over, continue to cook until they reach 195 degrees in the center using an instant-read thermometer, 3 to 4 minutes, and are deeply browned. Remove to paper towels to drain; repeat with remaining batter.
Date Published: 09.16.24
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Recipe Excerpted from
Baking in the American South: 200 Recipes and Their Untold Stories by Anne Byrn. Copyright © 2024 by Anne Byrn. Used by permission of Harper Celebrate.
