The CWI Cookbook

Posts Tagged ‘hominy’

 1 c. cold boiled hominy (small)
1 tbs. butter, melted
1 c. milk
1 tsp. sugar, white
1 egg, beaten
Flour
1 egg, beaten (for dipping)
Cracker crumbs

To a cupful of cold boiled hominy (small-grained), add a tablespoonful melted butter and stir hard, moistening, by degrees, with a cupful of milk, beating to a soft light paste. Put in a teaspoonful of white sugar, and lastly, a well-beaten egg. Roll into oval balls with floured hands, dip in beaten egg, then cracker-crumbs, and fry in hot lard.
Very good!

From Common Sense in the Household by Marion Harland, New York, 1871

Comment: Mrs. Harland devotes several paragraphs in her book to the distinction between “small” and “large” hominy, which can be pretty safely ignored nowadays when finding hominy of any sort or dimensions is difficult enough. Hominy is simply whole-kernel corn (as opposed to cracked or ground forms of the vegetable) which has been preserved by a lengthy process that in the 19th century home version including soaking in lye. As this custom is no longer followed, hominy today is usually found in canned form. This is a whole-kernel form of hush puppy.

A croquette is a small patty or cylinder, usually made of grain and some sort of binder to allow it to be formed, and then deep fried. It is not to be confused with croquet, a yard game involving the knocking of large wooden balls through metal hoops with a large wooden mallet. Attempting to play croquet with croquettes would be interesting if sufficient quantities of Ardent Spirits were involved, but somewhat messy.

 2 c. fine-ground hominy, boiled and cold
3 eggs
3 c. sour milk. If sweet, add one tsp. cream-tartar
1/2 c. melted butter
2 tsp. salt
2 tbs. white sugar
1 large cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda

Beat the hominy smooth, stir in the milk, then the butter, salt and sugar; next the eggs, which should first be well beaten; then the soda, dissolved in hot water; lastly the flour.
There are no more delicious or wholesome muffins than these, if rightly mixed and quickly baked.

From Common Sense in the Household by Marion Harland, New York, 1871

Comment: We are puzzled by the phrase “fine-ground hominy” as hominy is usually a whole-kernel form of corn. This sounds more like it would be based on grits, the next size up from corn meal. Experimentation may be called for.

The “sour milk” called for here does not mean milk which has spoiled, but rather a thin version of sour cream, which may be substituted. Further confusing things, “sweet” milk is not milk to which sugar has been added but simply means that it is not sour, i.e. regular fresh millk.. In combination with the baking soda (and cream of tartar if regular milk is used) the two act as mild rising agents, basically homemade baking powder. The three cups called for seems alarmingly excessive but that is how Mrs. Harland wrote it in her book so we have no choice but to repeat it here. Since the typographical error is not a modern invention, we again suggest experimentation. Keep adding the liquid until the batter looks like that which is usual for muffins.

 1 quart Corn, cracked not ground
2 qts. water
Butter
Pepper
Salt

The large kind, made of cracked, not ground corn, is erroneously termed “samp” by Northern grocers. This is the Indian name for the fine-grained. To avoid confusion, we will call the one large, the other small. Soak the large over night in cold water. Next day put it into a pot with at least two quarts of water to a quart of the hominy, and boil slowly three hours, or until it is soft. Drain in a cullender, heap in a root-dish, and stir in butter, pepper and salt.

Common Sense in the Household by Marion Harland, New York, 1871

Comment: While grits are on something of a popularity roll these days (particularly with garlic and cheese additives, something entirely unknown to 19th century cookbook writers) hominy continues its slow slide into obscurity. The long soaking period advised here serves to both rehydrate the dried corn kernels and to leach away the lye used at the time in the preserving process. Most hominy found in stores today comes in canned form, which eliminates the need for this step.

 1 c. cold boiled small hominy
2 c. milk
1 tsp. butter
1 tsp. white sugar
Salt
3 eggs

To a cupful of cold boiled hominy (small kind) allow two cups of milk, a heaping teaspoonful of butter, a teaspoonful of white sugar, a little salt, and three eggs. Beat the eggs very light, yolks and whites separately. Work the yolks first into the hominy, alternately with the melted butter. When thoroughly mixed, put in sugar and salt, and go on beating while you soften the batter gradually with the milk. Be careful to leave no lumps in the hominy. Lastly stir in the whites, and bake in a buttered pudding-dish until light, firm and delicately browned.

This can be eaten as a dessert, but it is a delightful vegetable, and the best substitute that can be devised for green corn pudding.

From Common Sense in the Household by Marion Harland, New York, 1871

Comment: While grits are making something of a resurgence (or at least expanding their range from their native habitat in the South where they never went away) hominy continues its slow sleepy slide into obscurity. Grits are ground corn, while hominy is more often whole, or at most cracked, kernels. The process of hominy-making is complicated and somewhat nasty (soaking in lye is involved) and corn is easy enough to preserve by simple drying that the latter is more commonly practiced. Mrs. Harland makes a lengthy note about the differences between “small” and “large” hominy, but we find no indication that this distinction is still made today. Use what you can find.

Hominy can occasionally be found in canned form in supermarkets, which would probably be the easiest way to make this recipe. It is a form of simple soufflé, as you might have guessed from the folded-in egg whites. While it is unlikely to rise nearly as much as a “regular” soufflé, this also eliminates concerns about the delicate version’s tendency to collapse upon removal from the oven.