Hush Puppies Origin Slaves. The naming has often been attributed to a slave who pretty much did the same thing the hunters did in the story above the difference being that the croquettes were being cooked up to go with fried fish not just to quiet the dogs. The palmetto state was not the only place where southerners were frying gobs of cornmeal batter.
The croquettes became popular throughout the south and the name hush puppy came later. The name is often attributed to hunters fishermen or other cooks who would fry some basic cornmeal mixture possibly that they had been bread coating or battering their own food with and feed it to their dogs to hush the puppies during cook outs or fish fries. Slaves planning to escape in the wee hours of the night would prepare a concoction of cornmeal milk eggs and okra which was fried and then thrown to the slaveowners dogs as a means to quieten them.
The palmetto state was not the only place where southerners were frying gobs of cornmeal batter.
The first recorded use of the word hush puppy dates to 1899. According to my grandmother there exists a totally different origin of hush puppies in american history during slavery. Jan 31 2015 hush puppies name came from the slavery times in the deep south. Hush puppy a deep fried or baked ball of cornmeal batter and spices usually served as a side dish.
