Hush Puppies

Hush Puppies are fried cornmeal dumplings or croquettes, usually made and served along with fried chicken or fried fish. Since deep fat frying is strongly associated with African American cooking, hush puppies probably began as soul food, perhaps as a lagniappe using up the extra dredging meal for kitchen slaves. The term has not been found in print prior to the teens of the twentieth century, which also argues for a soul food origin. There is a persistent folk etymology that the dumplings were thrown to quiet barking dogs.