A Sentiment

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Friday, January 8, 2010

Cornmeal Mush YEWWW!


Do you remember cold winter mornings, when you were a kid? I,m remembering that I would lie in bed listening for my Mom to go downstairs and put coal in the furnace. Dad was a night worker and didn't get home till breakfast time. I was an only child until the age of 13. I would take my clothes into the kitchen, where my Mom would have the oven turned on and the door open...I would stand in front of the oven door and get dressed jumping on one foot then the other. My body would have "goosebumps" all over it. Then, once the furnace got going, I would stand, barefooted on a big floor register to get warmer. Mom wasn't a morning person and making breakfast wasn't her favorite thing to do. We usually had grapenuts or puffed wheat, but on really cold days she would make my favorite...fried cornmeal mush. This involved making the mush the night before and then in the morning slicing it and frying it in a pan. I can still remember her in her rose colored chenille robe with the big chenille flower on the front, the spatula with a wooden handle...paint chipping off of it, cast iron frying pan...cooking on our big gas stove that always had a jar of grease on top. Here's a recipe:

FRIED CORN MEAL MUSH

2 3/4 c. water

1 c. yellow cornmeal

1 c. cold water

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. sugar
Bring 2 3/4 cup water to boil. Combine cornmeal, cold water, salt and sugar, gradually add this to boiling water, stirring all the time. Cook until thick. Reduce heat and cover pan. Cook 5 minutes more stirring frequently. Pour into a loaf pan and cool. Then refrigerate several hours. Turn out of pan and cut in 1 inch slices. Fry slowly in hot fat, turning one time. When browned, serve hot with butter and syrup.
Here's a newer version:

FRIED CORN MEAL MUSH

2 3/4 c. water

1 c. Jiffy corn bread mix

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. sugar

1 c. cold water
Bring 2 3/4 cups water to a boil. Mix in cornmeal, cold water, salt and sugar. Gradually add this to boiling water stirring all the time, cook until thick. reduce heat and cover pan. Cook 5 more minutes stirring frequently. Pour into a loaf pan and cool. Then refrigerate several hours. Turn out of pan and slice in 1 inch slices, fry slowly in hot grease turning one time. When browned serve with hot butter and syrup.
This was so yummy and I couldn't wait to have my breakfast on those mornings. It was about the cheapest breakfast that you could put on the table. My friends would ask what I had for breakfast and when I said fried mush...they would curl up their noses and say YEWWW! Little did they know how good it was. It's cold this morning and I wish that I had made some mush last night. I wonder if Joe would go YEWWW?
Balisha
An addition to yesterday's post....Joe made chili. He is not a slow cooker type. Halfway through the process, he said, "Let's dump it in a big kettle and cook it on the stove, Balisha...I'm hungry!"

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your fried mush looks like what they refer to as polenta now. It looks delicious to me!

Pat said...

Never had cornmeal mush, but sure do remember such cold mornings in my big old childhood home. We had a register in the dining room floor and would stand on it in our night gowns and let the hot air fill them up. The upstairs of that house was cold in the winter and baking hot in the summer. My parents didn't have a new heating system installed until after all of us kids were grown and out of the house. My Mom had a table made out of that iron register, with a piece of glass on top. She still has it on the balcony and uses it as her outdoor dining table. Think I'll try out the cornmeal mush on Lou.
Thanks for the memories,
Pat

Tolentreasures said...

Wow, does that ever sound good. I can remember making cornmeal with my Dad when I was little...great memories. Might have to make some of that up this evening, it sounds so good!

Cathy

Lona said...

Everything always tasted better cooked in an old cast iron skillet.
I remember those robes and the bedspreads too. LOL!

Gram said...

Cornmeal mush was one of my favorite breakfasts when I was growing up. Mom would also make scrapple (mush with pits of meat usually pork in it). Imagine my surprise when I grew up and tasted polenta the first time - it is just a fancy name for cormenal mush.

Balisha said...

Oh, those Italians...they have to fancy up a name like mush! My hubby didn't like mush, but he ate polenta...go figure.