Mountain Man Corn?

[crockett]

I've read about corn boilers and read most of the diaries, etc but I'm still sort of confused on exactly what type of corn the trappers ate between St. Louis and Buffalo Country. I thought it was whole dried corn but corn meal mush only takes a few minutes to cook, requires no pre-soaking- it just seems that would have been the better option, boiled with salt pork. In any event any information on what they actually used appreciated.

 

[coloradoclyde]

what's corn meal mush?

 

[teakmtn]

Think Grits. Or Polenta if you'd prefer. There's many variations. New Mexicans, and South West Indians had their own variations of corn meal mush. Actually so did NE indians. With a little sugar and some type of fat (butter) it could keep you going for a long day. Original trail food.

 

[Oudoceus]

I may not be spelling it right but I think it was called sagamite in the east. Parched corn, pounded into meal, then made into porridge.

 

[coloradoclyde]

I was afraid you were going to say that!

 

[ohio ramrod]

Corn mush is the same thing as grits. The most common form is made by boiling corn meal to make a thick "paste" then pouring it into a mold ( a common bread pan is what I use ). Cooling and then when it has set up cutting it into slices and frying in butter or bacon grease. The corn meal simply boiled and eaten hot is usually called porridge .It seems a local thing, in the north it is called mush, in the south grits .I like mine with a small amount of rye or barley flour mixed in. :idunno:

 

[R.I.Jerolmon]

Those "slices" of left over corn meal mush fried in bacon fat and then topped with maple syrup or molasses sure make a good breakfast!!

 

[coloradoclyde]

Maybe a bowl of popcorn instead?

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Grits and Mush are not the same thing, although they are both made from corn.

Grits are ground hominy, and hominy is corn treated with lye to remove the outer hulls. Hominy may be boiled, or it may be ground into grits to reduce the cooking time. Originally, the term referred to any very coarsely ground grain. Corn grits are one of the original fast foods. (Whole corn meal has a lot more food value than hominy or grits.)

Hasty Pudding is made from meal made from ground, whole corn, and boiled in water or milk, although some early cook books have it being made with other flours in addition to corn meal. Another term for this is Indian Meal Mush, or simply Mush, though in some places "Mush" may be made from other cereals such as oatmeal. When corn meal mush is made very thick, and then baked from the heat of the fire it becomes a flatbread that is called Johnny Cake or it may be called Hoe Cake. If you substitute ground oats instead of corn meal, and you bake the hot batter into a flatbread, it's called bannock.

When the mush is allowed to sit and congeal and cool, it may be then used to make Fried Mush. In the 20th century when frying of congealed mush became a common method, the distinction between mush and fried mush was dropped in many communities, and the word "mush" was applied to the fried dish.

Gruel may be made from any cereal, including Indian Corn meal, but it is not made very thick as compared to Hasty Pudding/Mush. It is more commonly a sort of thin, oatmeal soup.

LD

 

[satx78247]

Making corn meal mush is simply boiling ordinary yellow/white corn meal in water, usually with salt & black pepper, until it thickens. = Here in Dixie, lots of "antique recipes" require a layer of much to be cooked & then poured over the other ingredients, before baking.
(For example, my late aunt's WONDERFUL, "cheap to make", "sinfully high-calorie" & filling Hot Tamale Pie recipe requires an "inch thick layer" to be poured over "the filling" before it is baked.)

NOTE: I finally found my aunt's hand-written recipe in the pages of one of her books.

WARNING to ALL: Corn meal mush "pops" while cooking & IT WILL BURN YOU SEVERELY, if it "pops out" on your skin.

yours, satx

 

[tenngun]

Thank you LD. When I read OR post I was afraid It was Alden using a pen name :rotf: .I like mush I like grits ... but two different anamules

 

[satx78247]

Fwiw, I frequently wonder if "Alden" has a life and/or if he/she "needs to get one"?????
(CHUCKLE)

yours, satx

 

[coloradoclyde]

Ok guys you can put down the pitch forks and torches. I was'nt trying to start a grits war. I like parched corn, hominy, cornbread.....but hate grits. I have never had mush per/say and wondered if it differed from grits. most of you say no...some say yes.

Oh ya I like popcorn too and grow my own. seems like I read somewhere that popcorn was eated by the pilgrims for breakfast or something like that.
:surrender: :v :v :v :v :v :v :v :v :v :v :v

 

[crockett]

As a transplant to Dixie at a young and tender age I thought there was ONLY grits. It was this forum that introduced me to corn meal mush. I never ate the stuff because who wants to eat something called "mush" but I gave it a try. It is really just like grits but the ground corn meal is finer. The cooked article is very similar. The only big difference is grits will not "clump" when you cook them. Actually the corn meal gives you a finer, smoother type food. On the corn meal if you add a little hot water to dry corn meal to get everything wet and THEN add that to the pot- no clumps. Cooks in about 7-10 minutes. Like grits you need bacon, salt pork, something to "kick it up a notch".
So...on the mountain man food. I had no idea what they cooked in a corn boiler but plain old corn meal cooks up so fast it seems that might have been it. I was just wondering if anyone knew. I've seen supply lists of TRADE GOODS but nothing on the foodstuffs.

 

[Billnpatti]

Actually, there is a difference between corn meal and grits. Both are made of corn but cornmeal is a meal ground from dried corn. Modern grits are also made of corn but differ in that they are commonly made of alkali-treated corn known as hominy and are more coarsely ground than corn meal. Mush is made by cooking corn meal into a porridge. Both are great eating.

 

[tenngun]

Make up a pot and pour it in to a greased bread pan and stick it in the 'fride over night. The next morning slice it about 1/2 an inch and fry. When browned add butter and maple syrup or honey, or sorgum ifyou like it and eat like pan cakes. Youncan have any breakfast meat on the side and its good eats.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

NOW..., don't get me wrong..., fried Mush and Fried Grits is plenty good..., but seems to have been unknown to those writing cook books in America or England until well into the 19th century...., OR it may have been something that slaves ate as a special meal and so was omitted from cook books in America. (I have been told that Okra is a food that was omitted for a long time from "southern" cook books because it was hog and slave food... and it wasn't known to northerners... that's unconfirmed info, but it sounds plausible... might apply to fried mush or fried grits too.)

Polenta is made from coarse ground, whole corn, and after boiling is baked. It is often made with garlic and parmesian cheese, and I have even had it with an egg in the middle with tomato sauce over top.

IF you really want to make something historic from corn meal, hasty pudding or otherwise..., you probably want to try coarse ground corn meal, and I find it in the Hispanic Food aisle at my local supermarkets. You can also find "polenta" premade in the Italian aisle in the market sometimes, but this tends to be pricey.

OH and if you are fortunate enough to be dealing with historic events that might have New Orleans cuizine or South Western cuizine, Spanish, French, Indian, and Mexican cooking had a huge impact in those areas..., and the food is very different. Not nearly as boring as Eastern, Colonial-Anglo cooking.

Somebody once told me that the motive for empire building by the British was merely the need to escape the cuizine....:haha:

LD

 

[Blizzard of '93]

a bit off topic and surely something not related to frontier life - but if you have any taste for seafood at all try the real deal shrimp and grits. you will be a convert, gauranteed.

 

[Billnpatti]

I will give an amen to that. If you ever go to Dixie Gun Works in Union City, Tenn., there is a restaurant just a short distance down the road called Sassifrass. They serve shrimp and grits that are the best I have ever eaten. All of their food is top notch. There are also a couple of BBQ places near by. Don't eat there. The BBQ that they serve tastes like it was smoked over pine knots and old rail road ties. Terrible stuff! Sassifrass is the place to go. Great food at reasonable prices.

 

[satx78247]

The last time that I visited DGW, I ate at a "Mom & Pop place" called THE BAKERY CAFE. - EXCELLENT.

Otoh, the best Shrimp & Grits that I've ever had was at JONES SEAFOOD HOUSE on Oak Island, NC.

yours, satx