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Indian Mush
1201. Have ready on a clear fire a large saucepan of boiling water; take in one hand the mush-stick (a strong round stick, nearly half a yard long, and flattened at the lower end), and with the other hand throw in gradually sufficient Indian-meal to make a very stiff porridge, stirring it all the time with the stick; add a very little salt. After the mush is sufficiently thick and smooth, boil it one hour more, stirring it frequently from the bottom to prevent its burning; then cover the pot closely, and let it simmer for an hour. Its goodness depends upon its being thoroughly boiled, and sufficiently smooth and thick; if kept three or four hours over the fire, first boiling and then simmering, it will be better. Send it to table hot in a deep dish, and eat it with cither milk, buttermilk, cream, butter, and sugar, or butter and treacle. Cold mush may be cut in slices and fried.
A plain cornmeal porridge with no quantities given, written for an open hearth where a pot could sit for hours. Two things carry it: adding the meal slowly enough that it never lumps, and cooking it far longer than seems necessary.
- Indian mealThis is cornmeal, not anything from South Asia. A medium or coarse yellow stone-ground meal gives the best texture; fine degerminated supermarket cornmeal sets up faster and tastes flatter.
- No proportions are givenThe original relies on judgement rather than measurement. For a workable starting point, four parts water to one part cornmeal by volume gives a stiff porridge; the recipe wants it stiffer than you would expect, so hold back a little water rather than a little meal.
- The mush-stickA flattened wooden paddle roughly 16-18 inches long, matching the "nearly half a yard" of the original. A flat-edged wooden spoon or a heatproof spatula does the same work, and the flat edge matters because it scrapes the bottom where the meal catches.
- Adding the mealThrow it in gradually with the water at a full boil and the stirring continuous. Cornmeal dumped in at once seizes into lumps that no amount of later cooking will smooth out.
- The long cookingAn hour of boiling then an hour of simmering is not padding: it is what fully gelatinises the starch and removes the raw, gritty taste. On a modern burner use the lowest setting and a heavy pan, or set the pan over a pot of simmering water, which is how to get the three or four hours the recipe prefers without scorching.
- ScorchingCornmeal settles and burns readily. Stir up from the bottom every ten minutes or so during the boiling stage, and check that the covered simmer is barely moving.
- TreacleBlack treacle or golden syrup, depending on how dark you want it; molasses or maple syrup will serve the same purpose.
- Fried mushPour the leftovers into a loaf tin, chill until firm, then turn out and cut into half-inch slices. Fry in butter or bacon fat over medium-high heat until crisp on both sides.
- YieldA pint of cornmeal to two quarts of water feeds six as a hot breakfast, with enough left to chill and fry the next day.