Made from organically grown heirloom dent or flour corn, fresh hominy is a lovely addition to soups, stews or even eaten with unrefined salt and butter for breakfast! The process described here for preparing the corn is called “nixtamalization” and greatly enhances the nutritional profile of the corn. It does take some time, but is not difficult, and if you make a substantial amount all at once and freeze or can the extra, it will be ready to eat when you are!
The night before: Pour dried corn kernels into a large colander. Rinse thoroughly. Remove any ugly or damaged kernels.
Into a 2-gallon heavy-bottomed pot, pour the rinsed corn, add the lime and cover with filtered water half again as deep as the depth of the corn.
Stir. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Turn off heat. Leave this to sit all night.
In the morning, pour the corn into a large stainless colander and rinse thoroughly.
Fill the cooking kettle with lots of cold water and pour in the corn. Work the corn with your hands, rubbing and stirring and rubbing and stirring. The water will become yellow.
Strain through the colander and rinse.
Repeat this process until the water is clear when you work the corn. It will take about 4 changes of water.
Rinse in the colander again and return to the pot. Cover well with filtered water.
Bring to a boil, put on the lid and reduce heat.
Simmer until the hominy is very tender (approximately 3 hours). Check to make sure it remains submerged in water.
Drain. Serve warm with unrefined sea salt and plenty of butter.
Freeze the extra in meal-sized containers, or ~ hominy may be canned. Consult a canning guide for instructions on how to can safely.
Fried Cornmeal Mush reminds me of my great-grandmother. It was something special she would make for breakfast when we were visiting her. I’ll never forget how the crunchy, salty outside with a warm chewy center tasted in my mouth with the sweet maple syrup. If you’ve never had fried cornmeal mush, you’re in for a treat!
Soak
Cover 1 cup of cornmeal or grits with 2 cups of lime water and allow to soak at least 8 hours, but preferably 24 hours. When done soaking, rinse and drain cornmeal twice. (If using organic masa, skip this step and proceed below, you will likely have to use additional water since your corn did not soak and masa soaks up more moisture)
Butter 3 small loaf pans or 1 large loaf pan. Alternately, you could line them with parchment paper.
Place soaked cornmeal, salt and 2 cups of stock or water in a heavy bottomed medium saucepan. Turn heat on medium. When the mixture begins to bubble, lower heat and stir constantly, adding a little more water or stock if the mixture is getting too thick. You’re looking for the consistency of thick cake batter. Cook the mush for about 5 minutes more once desired consistency is reached.
Pour cooked mush into the loaf pans and allow to cool. Once mostly cooled, store in the refrigerator up to a week or until ready to fry.
To Fry:
Melt a tablespoon or so of your fat of choice in a cast iron skillet set to medium low heat. Un-mold the mush and slice into 1/4 - 1/3 inch slices (I do this as I fry them, rather than all at once because they can be fragile. Also, if you use the large loaf pan, I slice the loaf in half lengthwise first and then make slices.). Fry mush slices in hot oil on both sides for about 3-4 minutes or until golden brown and crisp. Allow to cool and drain on a plate lined with paper towel or cloth. Sprinkle with additional salt if desired.
Serve topped with a drizzle of grade B maple syrup.
*NOTE: I’ve also made this by soaking whole corn kernels in the warm lime water for 24 hours. Rinsing and draining. Then, pulsing in a food processor until the corn is the texture I want. Then cook it into porridge above and proceeding with the rest.