Cornmeal mush

[Guest guest]

& I were exchanging nightowl messages. She liked this so I

thought I'd post it to the group too --

You can do a lot with basic cornmeal mush!

Serve like grits (also on the NIH not-for-LID list, dammit) or mashed

potatoes on a plate (it is called " mush " , after all!) with butter (or

oil) as a garnish.

Think of it like hot cereal and serve in a bowl with milk (tho not on

LID) or the ever-useful olive oil.

Cook longer so it's less spready and/or refrigerate so it solidifies

some in a loaf pan, then slice and fry in pan (but sometimes if I

have some really good brown stuff in the pan after cooking my burger

I'll dump in a bit of cornmeal mush and fry it as is, sopping up the

fat & brown stuff).

I'm sure there are other things one could do.

I'm thinking of experimenting with using egg whites (and maybe some

flour?) and making a sort of mock cornbread -- not finger-eating, but

as a side dish or casserole. The egg whites and flour would act as a

stiffener (like I know what I'm doing -- hah!).

I don't think you could fry it like chips -- but I have very little

experience with deep frying -- maybe if it's thick enough?... like a

dough?... somebody who deep fries could try it out???

Anyway, it makes a change from potatoes. And it's very easy to cook,

even when hypo, as long as you can remember to stick around while the

water boils and then the cornmeal cooks -- doesn't take long. Cook up

a potful, eat some, refrigerate the rest; reheat in microwave, oven,

frying pan....

I found some " blue cornmeal " to try out. Not sure about eating it as

cornmeal mush rather than in muffins, but willing to give it a try.

Probably be a visual disconnect going on there!

Here's my " recipe " : add 1 cup cornmeal to 1 cup water with a bit of

salt, and let sit a bit to hydrate; boil 2-3/4 cup of water, add

cornmeal-water mix, cook over low heat (it will bubble and spit so

keep a cover partly over it), stirring occasionally (it will stick to

the bottom of the pot) until done, it doesn't take me more than 5-10

minutes -- thickens to a gloppy consistency, I can't explain it very

well but you'll know it when you see it -- about like grits, maybe a

bit thicker than cream of wheat cereal, and it's partly a matter of

how you like it anyway. If you've got gravy, you want it thicker (just

as you would with mashed potatoes). If you want to eat it like hot

cereal you want it thinner. It's not what you'd call " picky " about how

it's cooked, it's hard to go wrong.

bj