Yeah that's pretty much it. Take some corn meal, water, salt and pepper. Fry it and you've got a hushpuppy. Most people add various spices: onion powder, garlic powder, all types of stuff.
The hush puppy question has tempted me to drop by the bookstore today to look for (but not buy) a good Southern cookbook...
Slaw first. I love good mayonnaise-based slaw. I've never had vinegar slaw though. In western North Carolina you can get slaw based on a tomato sauce. In South Carolina and some parts of NC they have mustard slaw. No me gusta. --Re: BBQ: Well here in NC you can get two kinds of bbq. There's my favorite eastern NC style which is made with red pepper flakes and vinegar added to you pork shoulder. It's heavenly. In Western NC they have chopped BBQ but it's made with a tomato paste sauce. This I don't like so much.
If you like Southern cooking (and heaven knows, it's delightful!), you're better off contacting a club in the South (Junior Leagues are big with this) and ask for their cookbook. NO woman will put her name on a recipe unless it's really good!
I've found this basic one to work well: 1 c cornmeal 1/4 cup flour 2 teas sugar3/4 teas baking powder 1/4 teas baking soda 1/4 teas salt 1 beaten egg 1/2 c buttermilk Cooking oil at 375 for frying Combine dry ingredients, set aside In another bowl, combine wet ingredients Combine the two, mix. Batter should be lumpy and moist Drop batter by tablespoons into hot oil for 3 min each. Drain on paper towels. If I'm feeling spicy, I'll add cayanne, Old Bay, sometimes some cheese, whatever. Usually I let my BBQ sauce do the talking though.
I just might do that. Thanks honeychile. I might have posted this before but for good greasy Carolina cooking in NYC, try Brother Jimmy's on 2nd Ave and 77th-ish. Best, if not the only real, sweet tea in the city, though the fact that the cup isn't bottomless makes it less authentic. I prefer northern (North Carolina, that is) style ribs. BBQ next time.
A sign of good cooking: a mom & pop restaurant in the South has a family name in it or on the menu ("Sister Sue's Peach Pie"; "Bubba's Pulled Pork").
--I went to this great rib shack in Fredericksburg but they didn't have sweet tea. It was just wrong.
There's this one barbecue restaurant I go to in this little town called Beulaville NC. The restaurant is literally in this guys back yard. You drive behind his house and past a grain silo to get to the place. Good eats though.
You have indeed and I have yet to heed your advice. I was down there for Shakespeare in the Park last week but was running late, so no BBQ for me. Perhaps tomorrow...
I'm putting together the rib recipe now. Here's a great archive, though... http://www.dinosaurbarbque.com/Recipes/recipe_of_the_month_archives.htm
Here it is, kids, the moment you've all been waiting for... Explosion Dry Baby Back Ribs (Modified for the Weber Kettle Grill) You'll need: 2 racks of baby back ribs (spares are OK, but there's a lot more work and a little more cooking time.) Apple wood chips/chunks (substitute hickory if unavailable) Szegeo Rib Rub Paul Prudhomme's Pork And Veal Magic (Meat Magic or his Barbecue Seasoning can be substituted) Dinosaur Bar-B-Que Foreplay Spice rub (http://www.dinosaurbarbque.com/) Stubb's Pork Marinade (http://www.stubbsbbq.com) A rib rack 2 zippered freezer bags (gallon size) An instant read meat thermometer A good blues CD. I suggest "Big Blues Extravaganza: The Best of Austin City Limits". *** First things first. Turn over each rack and remove the paper thin membrane on the back. If you don't get this bad boy off, everything comes out tougher. Take a small knife or the point of your instant read thermometer and slide it under the membrane at one end to loosen it. Get enough of it that you can get a good grip on it (a dish towel may come in handy here) and just peel the sucker right off. Make sure you go all the way down. (On spares, this doesn't extend the length of the ribs.) Generously season the ribs with a mix of your spice rubs. The percentage of each and order they go on is a matter of your taste, but be generous. You'll thank me later. Rub the spices into the meat, then insert each rack of ribs into a freezer bag. You'll have to fold the rack over-- don't cut it. Add 1/2 a bottle of Stubb's marinade to each bag. Squeeze the air out, zipper it closed, give it a good shake, and refrigerate for at least 8 hours. *** An hour before grill time, soak your wood chips/ chunks (2 handfuls should do) in water, or for more fun, beer. If you did find the apple wood, use apple juice or cider. Set up your grill for medium-high indirect heat. On a Weber, the best way to do this is using dividers or charcoal baskets, so you can easily gather the coals on either side of the meat zone. Make sure the area the ribs will be over is clear. You may want to use a drip pan-- I fill mine halfway with apple juice. Drain your wood chips. Using a rib rack, stand up your two racks of ribs with the short ends high and the backs of the ribs facing the coals. Spread the soaked wood chips on both sides of the coals and cover the grill. Make sure the bottom vent is fully open and the top vent is 3/4 open, and positioned over the cold area of the grill so that smoke has to go over the meat. Do not peek. Each unscheduled look adds 15 minutes of cooking time. At the hour mark, you should add 10 hot coals per side and 2 more handfuls of soaked wood chips. Cover again. At the 90 minute mark, take your meat thermometer (which I hope you've washed) and insert it into the meat near the center of the rack, without touching any bones. You want to be around 165 degrees or so. Remove ribs, and let stand for 5 minutes. If you carve the ribs, I suggest the following options: 10 short side ribs (the large portion) /5 large side ribs (the dainty one), 7 large/ 8 short, 5/5/5, or 3/3/3/3/3 portions. And if you get first dibs, grab the shorter ribs, they're more tender. You will not need sauce for flavor, but serve some on the side so some of your guests will have a cooler option-- these are quite spicy. Never mind the red color-- that's smoke-induced.
When do you use the CD? Would one only use Texas artists, or would Chicago be appropriate? If the former, make sure you get some T-Bone Walker. If the latter, I recommend anything put out by Alligator, especially their collections. Oh, also: Damn Ian, that sounds awesome.
At all points. Start now. Honestly, Texas is better for Beef Brisket. But if it's smokin', it will do. Wait till the first bite. Your taste buds will overload.
Am I the only one here who doesn't like hush puppies? All they do is take up valuable room in my stomach that could be used for things such as fried chicken, mashed potatos, biscuits and gravy, etc. kevin + http://tullamarine.org
You can get hush puppies in Maryland...they're kind of hard to come by, but they can be found. I wish I had some now. If you're trying to get BBQ, and you have to go past a grain silo, you know you're going the right way. It's these little details that makes Ian King of the Grill. *** I hope to have some sort of taquito product tonight after class.
I don't mind them, kevin, but I certainly would prefer a biscuit any day of the week! If you have some good bbq going, you want some gentle, fluffy biscuits to sop up the nasties in your tummy before it becomes heartburn! Ditto mashed potatoes.
Cornbread! Nectar of the Gods of BBQ!! I have got to get my mama to show me once more time how to make it properly. She doesn't use a recipe, it's a handful of this and a bit of that, little bit of flavoring and brown sugar or honey. In nice fluffy muffins, not the corn dodgers that are just bigger hush puppies, only baked!