Inspired by Mississippi
THE MEAL
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I’ve never been to Mississippi, but this meal is exactly what I would expect to find there. The state is mostly lowland plains, bordered on the west side by the Mississippi River, an environment where catfish thrive. The Mississippi Mud Pie is so called (it’s said) because it resembles the muddy banks of the river. The side dishes are Southern staples brought by Native Americans, African Americans, and European immigrants. There are so many other great options for Mississippi-inspired dishes–fried chicken, Delta tamales, or chicken and dumplings, to name a few–but this, to me, felt like a great representation of the state
Except for the dessert, this meal was incredibly quick and easy to make! Each recipe took less than 1/2 hour to put together and turned out so delicious. I was a little alarmed by how much mayonnaise I used, but I also got to use some leftover buttermilk, and my cornmeal and Cajun seasoning came in handy again, which was nice. I felt like this meal was a breeze compared to the others I’ve done so far. It was a good feeling! I just wish doing a write-up about it were as easy–I lost my first draft and right now I’m really tired, but I’m gonna push through!
FRIED CATFISH
Mississippi is known as the Catfish Capital of the World. As mentioned before, catfish flourish in the Mississippi River, so it’s been a part of the region’s cuisine for ages. In the 1960s, catfish farming became a major industry in Mississippi, and since then, most farmed catfish you find throughout the United States comes from Mississippi! It’s the biggest farm-raised fish industry in the United States, second only to trout.
I had to use frozen catfish for my meal, unfortunately. There are wild catfish in my area, but I don’t have a fishing license, and the main source of catfish near me is a polluted lake where it’s actually dangerous to eat too much of anything you catch there, so…
I’m just glad I was able to find it frozen! I ALMOST subbed tilapia. I thought my local grocer’s fish selection was pretty small, but only when I went hunting for the catfish that their app claimed was there did I realize that there were THREE separate freezers with fish in them. I ended up digging through piles of packed fish for a good fifteen minutes trying to find catfish. It was only when I turned around to give up that I saw ANOTHER freezer with fish in it, and squeezed in the corner was–finally–the catfish. I’m so glad I found it! It would have been really disappointing to use a substitute.
In Mississippi, catfish is commonly coated with cornmeal and fried. There’s some debate about whether you should brush dijon mustard on the fish for the coating to stick to or soak it in buttermilk and hot sauce. I went with the latter method because I already had buttermilk on hand, and it tasted great! I’d be open to trying the mustard method, though.
I’ve had fish and chips in the past and liked it, but fish is always hit-or-miss with me. I was worried that I wouldn’t like the taste of catfish, or that the texture would throw me off like fried steak keeps doing to me. But I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved it! The cornmeal coating had a great crunch and was so flavorful, and the fish was flaky and light. It barely tasted like fish at all! I couldn’t tell you how catfish compared to other fish–I haven’t eaten enough of it to tell the difference–but I really enjoyed this catfish and will happily make the rest of the frozen fillets I now have on hand. It was even good reheated in the microwave the next day, which is miraculous for any fried food, let alone fish!
10/10 would recommend
TARTAR SAUCE
The fried catfish was delicious on its own, but my grandparents always make tartar sauce to go along with fish, so for me, fish and tartar sauce go hand-in-hand!
Tartar sauce was originally made to go with steak tartare in France, hence the name. Nowadays, in the U.S. at least, it’s most commonly served with fish. There are tons of different ways to make tartar sauce, but most are made with mayonnaise, chopped pickles, and herbs. My grandma always uses lemon juice and dill in hers, so that’s what I did. I made the tartar sauce several hours before cooking the rest of the meal, so all the flavors had time to mingle and enhance each other. It was great! Like I said, the catfish is delicious all on its own, but if you want a sauce to go with it, this tartar sauce goes well!
COLESLAW
I couldn’t find any history about why coleslaw is a common side dish in the South, but I saw it alongside a lot of the fried catfish recipes I consulted, so I decided that would be my vegetable for this meal. You’ll see it again in the Tennessee meal and the North Carolina meal!
Cabbage salads are found throughout the world, but what we know as coleslaw comes from my great-great-grandparents’ homeland, the Netherlands! The name comes from the Dutch word “koosla,” which means “cabbage salad.” It’s been in the U.S. since at least 1770.
I’ve never been a huge fan of coleslaw, because while I’m not mayonnaise averse, I don’t love things that are drowning in it either. It seems like restaurant coleslaw is always super soggy and lifeless, and that’s just not my thing. For my coleslaw, I used less mayonnaise, chopped the cabbage a little thick, and used two kinds of cabbage to make it prettier. It turned out perfect for me! I liked the mustard in the dressing, and it didn’t get too soggy over time. I made a lot of it and have been eating the leftovers all week.
The best thing about this recipe, though, was a valuable life lesson I learned while buying the ingredients. I went to the produce section and thought (with an internal sigh), “Here I go, about to buy a whole bag of carrots and a whole bunch of celery that will sit in the bottom drawer of the fridge and go bad before I can eat it all…” And right then, I noticed an almost-empty bin with a label that said “single carrots.” Mind blown!! Why did nobody ever tell me that they sell carrots AND CELERY, it turns out, individually?? The bins were mostly empty, so maybe I’m not a total idiot for not noticing them earlier, but now that I know, I feel so much better about buying produce. I was able to grab my one carrot and my one celery stalk for my coleslaw recipe, and I didn’t have to put “eat celery” on my to-do list for the week so it wouldn’t go to waste. I’m so happy about this discovery!
HUSHPUPPIES
Anyway, let’s talk about hushpuppies!
Hushpuppies are another side I kept seeing alongside fried catfish during my research. Cornbread would’ve been a good option for Mississippi too (apparently they eat it in a glass of milk sometimes??), but since I just made cornbread for Oklahoma, I decided to go with another cornmeal-based Southern treat–hushpuppies!
Like cornbread, hushpuppies came to the American South thanks to Native American use of cornmeal in cooking. There are lots of theories about where the name “hushpuppy” came from. The common answer is that people fed fried batter to their dogs to keep them quiet either during hunting trips or during the Civil War, but that’s most likely an urban legend. Here’s an in-depth article about it, but basically, “hush-puppy” was already a term in the 1700s that meant to cover something up, then somehow it became the name of a gravy, which then became associated with fried cornmeal. It’s been a very popular food in the South since about the 1730s.
They’re made with a dough composed of cornmeal, flour, egg, buttermilk, and mix-ins. I added corn and green onion to mine. It made a pretty dense dough. I was worried they wouldn’t be round when I fried them, but I used two tablespoons to shape and drop them in the oil, and they turned out nice and round as described! Between these and the beignets, my confidence with frying has gone way up lately.
I really enjoyed these hushpuppies! They weren’t quite as good as the kind I tried at Station 22 a couple months ago, but the taste and texture reminded me a lot of sopa paraguaya without the cheese, which was nice and nostalgic for me. I liked the crunchy exterior and the savory cornbread insides. While I feel better about frying foods, it’s still kind of a hassle, so I don’t know how often I’ll make these, but they’re definitely added to my list of make-again foods.
COMEBACK SAUCE
I don’t know what kind of sauce came with the hushpuppies at Station 22, but I remembered there being a dip of some kind. Afraid that they would be too dry or flavorless without a sauce, but not wanting to use tartar sauce, I did some Google searching and was recommended comeback sauce.
So I’m learning that what I always thought was a uniquely Utah/Idaho thing–fry sauce–seems to have tons of variations elsewhere. What Mississippians call comeback sauce is basically just our fry sauce but with some different flavors added. Looks like my local cuisine has something in common with Southern cuisine after all!
Like fry sauce, comeback sauce has a base of ketchup and mayonnaise, but they add hot sauce and Cajun seasoning to give it an extra kick of Southern flavors. It’s credited to a Greek restaurant in Jackson, Mississippi, called The Rotisserie, and is named for the Southern habit of saying “Y’all come back” when guests are leaving.
I’m sure this sauce would taste great with fries! However, I don’t think it paired well with hushpuppies. It was like eating ketchup on cornbread. I guess that would taste good to some, but it wasn’t my jam. I have a container of it in my fridge now, though, so looks like I need to make fries again sometime soon!
LEMONADE
Once again, the official state beverage is . . . MILK! Sigh. When they were naming state beverages, were the only options milk and, like, water??
Just call me Edward Elric, because I still refuse to drink a glass of milk plain. An obvious option for the South was sweet tea, but I don’t drink tea either, so lemonade was the closest I could get. I considered doing some kind of fruity lemonade but decided classic lemonade was good enough this go-around.
I found out days too late that Barq’s root beer was invented in Mississippi, so I missed an opportunity there! Oh well. What this state-inspired meal lacks in fancy drinks, it makes up for in sauces.
MISSISSIPPI MUD PIE
Last but not least, dessert! Again, there were a lot of options for Mississippi-inspired desserts, but I couldn’t resist choosing this one. It has Mississippi in the name! Plus it’s super chocolatey, so that’s a plus for me!
This is one of those desserts that might not have actually originated in the state it’s named for but has since been claimed by it, similar to Texas Sheet Cake and Baked Alaska. Most sources agree that it gets its name from the fact that the chocolate pie resembles the dark brown mud at the banks of the Mississippi River.
However, that seems to be the ONLY thing people can agree on concerning this recipe. Just Google “Mississippi Mud Pie” and look at all the different versions that come up! Some have equal layers of chocolate cake and whipped cream. Some have no whipped cream at all. Some have marshmallow fluff or meringue instead of whipped cream. Some are in actual pie shells, some are more like cake. Some have a pudding element, some have melted chocolate on top. Seriously, no two pies online are the same!
I had NO IDEA what was considered “authentic.” The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets defines the pie as a rich chocolate dessert “variously composed of pudding, cake, biscuits, ice cream, whipped cream, marshmallows, and liqueur presented in a cookie crust.” Great. Super specific. From what I could tell after LOTS of Googling, Mississippi Mud Pie was originally a chocolate pie with a fudgy filling and a cookie crust, and everything else is just stuff people have added over the years for their personal preferences. So, knowing that technically I couldn’t go wrong but still afraid I somehow would, I went with a recipe that used the prescribed cookie crust and fudgy filling, then included a chocolate pudding layer and topped it with whipped cream.
This was the most time-consuming part of the meal, but it was still super simple. I’ve made lots of Oreo crusts for pies before, the bottom layer was basically just brownies, and I just learned how to make chocolate pudding for the possum pie! The most difficult part ended up being dusting the top with cocoa powder, because I realized too late that I don’t actually own a sifter or a fine-mesh sieve. I improvised by passing the cocoa through a small cheese grater. Haha!
Overall, this recipe was a breeze, but it turned out so rich and decadent and delicious. It tasted just like one of those dirt pudding cups! Throw some gummy worms on there, and it would be my brother-in-law’s favorite dessert!
CONCLUSION
This was one of my favorite meals so far! Everything turned out delicious, and it was super quick and easy to make! It was definitely a heavy meal that I wouldn’t make often, but I’m happy that the rest of the frozen catfish I bought won’t go to waste, because I’ll legitimately make it again!
So how’d I do? Let me know in the comments if you have any suggestions for improvement, and be sure to tune in next time for my take on a meal inspired by Tennessee! If that’s where you’re from, what do you think I should make to represent your state? Bonus points if you have reliable recipes or pro tips before I make the attempt! Thank you for reading!