Cornmeal Mush

Cornmeal mush is a classic of Southern cooking. For breakfast, mush is warm and comforting served with butter and honey, maple syrup or molasses, or butter, salt and pepper. For lunch or dinner, cornmeal mush can be the base for Chili, beef stew, or braised poultry.

While grits and cornmeal can be substituted for each other, cornmeal is considerably finer and will give you a dish with a much smoother texture than grits.

Once you have cooked the cornmeal, you can pour it into a buttered loaf pan and allow it to cool until it forms a firm cake. The cornmeal can then be sliced and pan fried for breakfast or garnished with sautéed mushrooms as a side dish. You could even cut it into sticks and deep-fry it, like French fries, and serve with fish or fried chicken. This is popular in Brazil. It also goes well with pork roast and brown gravy for dinner. (See recipe below)

1 cup cornmeal (in some parts of the country, yellow cornmeal is preferred)
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup cold water or milk
3 cups boiling water

Combine cornmeal, salt and cold water or milk in a 2 quart saucepan over medium heat.

While stirring, gradually pour the boiling water into the saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Quickly reduce heat to low medium, cover with a lid and cook about 5 minutes more until thickened.

At this point you can serve it hot with milk and sugar (or honey, maple syrup or molasses) as a cereal - you could also add berries or chopped nuts or bananas, whatever toppings you love. Or with a little butter, salt and pepper as a side dish with eggs. Can be reheated the next morning. To restore its creamy texture, place the leftovers in a saucepan, add a splash of milk or water, and warm gently on the stove over medium-low heat while stirring.

Or follow the next few steps to fry it up to crunchy goodness and serve it on the side with eggs or other breakfast fare.

Note: Cornmeal Mush is best made shortly before serving (it will thicken up and set if allowed to sit for long).

4 servings

Fried Cornmeal Mush

Turn the cooked mush into a well greased 8x4 inch loaf pan, cool slightly, and cover. Refrigerate 2 - 3 hours or overnight before using.

oil, butter or bacon grease for frying
flour for dredging

To cook: have a fair amount of hot grease, such as bacon fat, or butter in a skillet. Carefully turn the now solid mass of cornmeal out onto a cutting board and cut into 1/2 inch thick slices (12 slices per loaf). You may find it easier to slice if you wipe the knife blade with an oily piece of paper towel between slices.

Turn once in plain flour, and place in the skillet over medium heat to cook, about 10 minutes per side or until golden brown.

Makes 12 slices. Serves: 6