Now served as a tasty side dish in seafood restaurants all over the country, hushpuppies originated from corn meal prepared by southern Native American tribes. Cooking with ground corn started long before Columbus discovered America. Along the way cornbread was developed, and newcomers to the American South adopted it as their own. Cornmeal was further developed into grits and hominy, plus corn fritters and corn meal dumplings.
The name hushpuppy supposedly came from hunters and fishermen frying pieces of cornmeal for their dogs to “hush the puppies”. A typical recipe for making hushpuppies contains cornmeal, salt, eggs, baking soda, milk, wheat flour, and water. Other optional ingredients are onion, garlic, pepper, and scallions, plus whole kernel corn or pancake batter may be used. After a good mixing to get a thick batter, it is dropped into hot oil and cooked to a golden brown before allowing to cool.
They are served in a round or oval shape, with five of them in a tiny cardboard box at both seafood and barbecue restaurants. Many southern families make hushpuppies at home. Variations of the southern American hushpuppies are served in Caribbean countries, where they are made into oblong shapes somewhat like a hotdog bun. Sugar is then added during cooking, creating a sweet snack food often served with chicken or pork.
