It has been said that the name for this favorite food of mine came about when some fishermen, surrounded by their hungry dogs, told them to wait. “Hush you puppies. We will have something for you in a little while.” They supposedly fried up some cornmeal in the grease the fish has been fried in and fed it to the dogs. Makes a good story.

Let’s face it. I am a fish lover from way back. Have fish for supper? I can eat the leftovers for breakfast the next morning. I am not a connoisseur. I like all fish, both freshwater and the saltwater kind. So it follows that I like hush puppies as well. After all, they usually taste like fish.

However, I have a recipe that doesn’t taste like fish. It tastes like a hush puppie. Yes, it is made with cornmeal and, yes, it has onion in it. It is easier to make that the traditional deep fried hush puppies of yore. You can be a purist, if you want, but I will take the easy way out.

My recipe is fried in a frying pan. I suppose you could bake them in the oven. I would if I had something else to bake, but it tastes delicious just pan fried. Give it a try. You will like it.

SKILLET HUSH PUPPIES
1 cup corn meal, fine, not the coarse kind
1 tablespoon plain flour
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 egg
½ cup milk
¾ cup to 1 cup minced onion.

In medium bowl mix dry ingredients together. Beat in egg and milk. When well combined, add minced onion. (This will make a medium batter. It cannot be formed into a ball.) Heat in a 10 inch skillet in about ¼ cup cooking oil over medium heat until hot. (I like to use those new non-stick skillets.) Add batter by heaping tablespoons, making small mounds not touching each other. Cook to a golden crispness, carefully turning once. Remove to serving plate and cook the rest of the batter in additional cooking oil. Makes about 10 puppies.