A deep-fried cornmeal ball commonly served in Southern seafood restaurants is a hushpuppy.
Hushpuppies are small, savory, round dumplings made from cornmeal batter and fried until crisp and golden. They are especially associated with fried fish, shrimp, oysters, and other seafood, though Southern restaurants may also serve them with barbecue.
Typical batter can include flour, eggs, milk or buttermilk, salt, baking soda, onion, scallions, garlic, or peppers. The mixture is dropped by spoonfuls into hot oil; older recipes sometimes used the same oil in which fish was fried.
The name’s origin is uncertain. A popular story says cooks tossed fried bits of batter to barking dogs to “hush” them, but this explanation is not verified. The word was first recorded in 1899. Hushpuppies also resemble older Southern foods such as South Carolina’s red-horse bread, and related fried cornmeal foods appear in Caribbean cuisines.