Red Horse Bread

The WPA Guide to Florida popularized the name hush puppy for a cornmeal fritter popular in the South. From the 1950s onward, the old Carolina name for the fritter—red horse bread—faded as newspaper reporters and roadside eateries embraced the story of barking dogs bribed to silence with deep fried corn batter bread. The problem with the old name was that it seemed a misnomer to begin with; there was nothing equine in its origins. Red horse bread had been named after a fresh water sucker fish nicknamed the red horse that was frequently fried, along with catfish and bream, at barbecues and fish fries. By mid-century, the red horse fish was already scarce in Carolina waters. It is now protected. Red horse bread was fried in the same cauldrons of boiling lard or peanut oil cooking the fish. It was served piping hot alongside the fish it had accompanied in the boiling fat.