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Hominy, Fried
This is made from the remains of boiled hominy, which is a firm jelly when cold. Cut the cold hominy into slices, flour them, egg and bread-crumb them, and plunge them into boiling oil or fat until they are of a bright golden colour. They may be eaten with lemon juice and sugar, or served with orange marmalade.
A way of using up leftover hominy porridge, closely related to fried cornmeal mush and fried polenta. The whole thing depends on the cooked hominy being cold and thoroughly set before it is cut.
- What "hominy" means hereIn British books of this period hominy usually means coarse-ground maize meal, sold as hominy or hominy grits, rather than the whole nixtamalized kernels sold in cans today. Coarse grits or polenta boiled thick will behave the same way; canned whole hominy will not set into a sliceable block.
- "A firm jelly when cold"The porridge has to be cooked stiff enough to set solid. Pour the hot cooked hominy into a loaf tin or shallow dish, level the top, and chill at least four hours and preferably overnight. Slices cut from a barely-set block will slump in the fat.
- CuttingHalf an inch is about right. Thinner slices heat through before the crumb colours; much thicker and the outside darkens while the centre stays cold.
- Frying temperature"Boiling oil or fat" indicates fat hot enough to brown the crumbs quickly; in modern terms somewhere in the region of 350-375F. Below that the coating absorbs fat and the slices break up.
- Handling the coatingFlour, egg and crumb the slices and let them sit ten minutes before frying so the crumb sets on the surface. Fry in small batches; crowding drops the fat temperature and the slices stick to each other.
- ServingLemon juice and sugar, or marmalade, place this as a sweet course or a breakfast dish rather than a savoury side. It also takes salt and pepper perfectly well if you would rather serve it alongside meat.
- YieldA loaf tin of set hominy gives enough slices for four to six as a course.
Hominy came into British cookery books through America, where boiled maize meal was a common breakfast dish and leftovers could be sliced and fried; the same thrift lies behind fried mush in the United States and fried polenta in northern Italy. The method illustrates a general technique as much as a dish: a starch boiled thick, chilled to a solid, then crumbed and fried. The sweet finish of lemon and sugar or marmalade puts it in the register of a pudding rather than a vegetable, as with semolina or ground rice.