Cornmeal Mush...a family tradition (slightly more cilivlized than Bocephus's)

A far back as I can remember we've eaten mush for breakfast.

The name is just awful.  I'm quite sure we rolled our eyes back in our heads, jutted our tongues out and pretended to gag the first time we heard it.  I was joking about it with my mother-in-law who is French-Canadian.  She told me about an old family tradition of her own where they would take the left overs from dinner the night before, mince it all up, make a patty out of it then fry it to a crisp.  For such a mosh posh it had the most beautiful sounding name!  So we decided to name this dish La Mushie` which really means something entirely different but she was on a filet mignon buzz and was on my second Manhattan. 

 
All Recipes Presents Fried/Baked Cornmeal Mush

Ingredients

• 2 + 1 cups water
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 tablespoon butter

Directions

1.       In a medium saucepan, heat (2 cups) water to boiling. Reduce heat to medium. 

2.      (In a bowl pour 1 cup cold water) stir in salt (you may be tempted to add more,  don't do it especially if you plan on frying it in bacon drippings)and cornmeal. (Whisk fast until cornmeal starts to thicken, then slowly pour into the boiling water.  Continue to whisk fast.)  Cook, stirring regularly, until mixture is thick.

3.      Spoon (dump) cornmeal mixture into a lightly greased 9x5 inch loaf pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

4.     In the morning, melt butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Slice cornmeal mush into 1 inch wide slices. Cook in melted butter (or bacon drippings) until golden brown on both sides.(Some top with powdered sugar, a variety of jams, or lemon curd.  I just use syrup.)

  

I read some comments below the recipe where people preferred baking to frying which I suppose is healthier (boring).  I really like mine crispy, but I thought I would give it a try.  I took half the sliced cormeal mush and baked it on a sheet of parchment at 400 degrees for 10 minutes on each side.  

 In the battle of fried vs. baked...

 Fried won out hands down...shocker ;)

And here's why.  The baked version was hardly touched because visually it looked just like it did "raw" and there was only a slight crispness to it. I could've kept it in the oven longer but seriously...if you're going to go, go all the way!  For me the bacony crunchy shell with a soft warm middle is oh so gooood.  Fear not, they did not go to waste. In the amount of time it takes my morning tea to brew I was able to toss a couple in a pan for a little crisping up and had the perfect commuter's breakfast over the next couple of days.  This salty, sweet and hearty breakfast is perfect for those chilly winter mornings!

I love reading the comments when I pull a recipe off the web. At times you gain some clarity, others a unique spin and every now and then a big red flag to steer clear!  Some other interesting suggestions were to pair with spicy beans or marinara sauce like you would polenta and one family's Christmas tradition is to add green or red food coloring, alternating every year.  
Have fun with it!