Recently in Seattle, I was able to visit a childhood friend; perhaps our fourth visit since the third grade. Don't tell anyone, but we're 50 now. Or 29 with 21 years' experience. Isn't it wonderful to have friends that you were so close to that time and distance are irrelevant?
Mary took my son and me to a restaurant specializing in southern cookery, and after 3 years away from home, you can bet we were excited. We wanted to order everything on the menu, and nearly did. The menu wasn't what I'd call Old South cooking; New Southern Cuisine might be a more appropriate description. They offered fried chicken, catfish, hushpuppies (thank you, Lord), turnip greens, and many other southern staples, even cajun/creole offerings like red beans and rice. But many of them were presented with a new twist.
Take the lowly hushpuppy for example; balls of deep fried cornbread, basically. At Kingfish, they were quite large, and the appetizer plate of hushpuppies could have fed a crowd. One was enough, so we only ate three or four each. They were piled up and plated with small dishes of two sauces; each sauce had also decorated the pile by use of a squeeze bottle. Minced parsley completed the presentation. They were so good, after not having a single hushpuppy for well over three years. However, they could have been better.
One sauce was chipotle based, and while it was good, it didn't give me that down home comfort food feeling I was craving. Not an issue for most of the diners there, so I'm not taking issue with the chef. But the aioli or whatever the white sauce was just didn't quite do the trick. With anything deep fried you simply need an acidic or spicy foil. Something to cut the grease; both your taste buds and your gall bladder will thank you. Even tartar sauce at least has some pickles in it. There you go - for a really down home appetizer, serve hushpuppies with tartar sauce and cocktail sauce. But for something dressier, more deserving of this particular restaurant, maybe they'd have been better off with a horseradish aioli, or an orange or lemon aioli. (Note: do a little research into cooking with essential oils. You can get an intense flavor without affecting the texture as you would by adding a tablespoon or more of liquid - lemon juice, for example, to a sauce/dip/aioli.) Aioli is by definition, oil. Serving oil with something deep fried just doesn't make sense to me unless it's going to have an intense kick to it of spice or acid.
Now, when it comes to hushpuppies, everybody down south has their favorite version - some like them plain, others love the addition of minced onion, bell pepper, etc... Contrary to my grandfather's instructions, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!", what can you think of that would be a good addition to hushpuppy batter?
What about bits of crisp bacon, speaking of grease? A dash of cayenne? Jalapenos - particularly pickled ones to cut the oiliness. Corn kernels? Cheddar...
Sometimes appetizers are re-worked versions of a full meal or entree: BLT Dip and Pizza Fondue come immediately to mind, not that I've ever made either one. I wonder if it would work to put flakes of cooked catfish into appetizer hushpuppies? What if they were served as a first course on a bed of coleslaw? Just a thought. (If you try it, a vinegary slaw will work better as a foil for the greasy bread, and a longer shred on the cabbage, wth a little purple cabbage for interest, will be more attractive than the minced type.) Add horseradish aioli and onion relish? Man! I think I'm onto something.
Even better...those of you down south, when you're having friends over for dinner, go to your favorite catfish restaurant and buy some slaw and some puppies on your way home from work, and when your guests arrive just put it all together. If the onion relish is too vinegary to pair with a vinegary slaw, what about thinning down some Durkee's Famous Sauce or using something sweeter like a ChowChow?
I know one of the reasons the restaurant served a chipotle sauce and an aioli was to have two different colors that showed up against the brown of the hushpuppies. That should also be a factor in the sauces you choose. Just remember the pups are cornmeal, so anything that would work with corn will work with hushpuppies. My mom has a favorite storebought Raspberry Chipotle sauce - worth trying; it's a beautiful deep red.
For my northern readers, what would be your equivalent to hushpuppies? British Columbia, English influence... I'm guessing Yorkshire pudding! Try making small ones to use as dippers. What about filling them with a bit of roast beef? Dip/topping/sauce options would of course be your standard gravy, horseradish sauce; the onion relish once again sounds promising. What about hot English mustard? It wouldn't quite be the same, but an easy version might be to wrap chunks of cooked roast in store-bought crescent roll dough. Pile them up on a platter with a variety of dipping sauces, and you'll have a winnner on your hands. Great Grey Cup appy. Just hand out my blog address at the door.
Have fun with comfort food. It's a great way to turn what you have on hand into a culinary presentation worthy of a very special event. Share your ideas with us!
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