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Re: Hushpuppies - was Ahem! (blush)



Bravo Christine!

Christine Crawford-Oppenheimer wrote:

> I figured if we were going to get this deeply into food history, the CIA had better chime in. The _Food Lover's Companion_, which we librarians here have been told to regard as a source second only to our Bible, our own publication _The New Pro Chef_ (which does include a recipe for hush puppies, but no history) repeats the story of the African American cooks (but raises the onions in the recipe to more exalted scallions). Craig Claiborne's _New York Times Food Encyclopedia_ tells a similar story, but with Southern troops using the "patties" to hush "yelping dogs" when Yankee troops came near (this was during The Late Unpleasantness, of course).  _The Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink_ says this food was developed during the times of hardship in the South following the Civil War and cites the _Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins_ quoting a Southerner who said that the cornmeal dough formed into sticks resembled a salamander (latin names given for two types of
> salamanders!) called a water dog or water puppy; the "puppy" part is because the dough resembled the salamander and  and the "hush" part is "because eating such lowly food was not something a southern wife would want known to her neighbors." (sounds a little far fetched to me....) You'll be happy to know that I restrained my urge to see what the Oxford English Dictionary had to say on the question.
>
> Christine Crawford-Oppenheimer
> Special Collections Librarian/Archivist
> Culinary Institute of America
> 433 Albany Post Road
> Hyde Park, NY  12538-1499
> (914) 451-1757
> c_crawfo@culinary.edu
>
> >>> Arlette Copeland <Copeland_A@MERCER.EDU> 03/21/00 05:30PM >>>
> There is another part of the Hush Puppy history commonly told.  It says that
> African American cooks came up with the concoction in antebellum days. This
> folklore says that when the cooks were preparing meals the dogs would gather
> around and begin to bark because they liked the smell and wanted to be fed. The
> barking was aggravating to those gathered for the meal. To keep the dogs quiet,
> the women dropped batter into the grease and then tossed the balls to the dogs
> saying "Hush puppy!"
>
> I was for six years a newspaper food writer and I read this story more than
> once.  Unfortunately I can't remember the sources. You might check the
> Encyclopedia of Southern Culture.
>
> However they came about they were ingenious additions to Southern eating and my
> hat is off to the creator.  Have a good evening.
>
> Arlette Copeland
>
> Ginny Jones wrote:
>
> > Hush puppies are a southern delicacy made from corn meal, egg, milk, and
> > chopped onion; rolled into bite size balls and fried to a golden brown.
> > After 5 days the drippin' you fried them in may take on a new life form!  To
> > keep the thread pertinent (pardon my toungue in my cheek) - historically
> > hush puppies were a "poor man's" food because they are very filling and
> > require commonly obtainable and inexpensive ingredients.
> >
> > The name supposedly comes from using them as a quickly concocted, somewhat
> > nutritional and cheap way of feeding dogs and puppies that have been weaned
> > or have lost their mothers.
> >
> > Ginny Jones
> > (Virginia A. Jones, CRM)
> > Newport News Waterworks
> > Newport News, VA
> > vjones@ci.newport-news.va.us
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Archives & Archivists [mailto:ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU]On
> > > Behalf Of Linda Nakamura
> > > Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2000 2:44 PM
> > > To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
> > > Subject: Re: Ahem! (blush)
> > >
> > >
> > > Hello to everyone:  Just to become an
> > > object of ridicule myself, I have to
> > > ask: what is a hush puppy?  Why are they
> > > dangerous after five days?  I thought
> > > they were shoes.
> > >
> > > Thanks
> > > Linda
> > > lnakamura@aao.org
> > > "Can hear the smirks now..."
> > >
> >
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>
> --
> Arlette Copeland                        Mercer University Main Library
> Special Collections Assistant       1300 Edgewood Avenue
> (912) 301-2968                           Macon, Georgia 31207-0001
>
> copeland_a@mercer.edu
> http://cdsearch.mercer.edu/mainlib/special_collections/default.htm
>
> A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!
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> Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
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> Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>
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> A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!
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> Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
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> Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>



--
Arlette Copeland                        Mercer University Main Library
Special Collections Assistant       1300 Edgewood Avenue
(912) 301-2968                           Macon, Georgia 31207-0001


copeland_a@mercer.edu
http://cdsearch.mercer.edu/mainlib/special_collections/default.htm

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Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>