When I was a kid, the best hot lunch my mom could have ready was a bowl of corn meal mush with a dab of butter and a big spoon of sour cream on top.
Yum!
Now I can buy a 'tube' of polenta, cut it and fry it up and eat it the same way.
Yum, again!

It is midwest food I believe since my mother was from Ohio and she fixed it often. I do not recall ever seeing it on menu in the south. Take care.
Linda

This is so coincidental! Some girlfriends and I were just talking about this. My Mom made it in a loaf pan and put in the fridge overnight. Then sliced it, fried it and served with syrup. I think I'll make some!

Is corn meal mush like polenta? I buy packaged polenta in the store and make it, and then chill, slice and fry like grits. The only difference for me is that it is yellow, the grits white and the grits are bleached.

Even in Ontario we ate "cornmeal" cooked as Carol's Quilts recipe. Never had scrapple style until I travelled.
European lady taught me to eat it with butter, brown sugar and sprinkled with cinnamon -still eat that for breakfast.

Friends from Italy eat their cornmeal cooked same way but when finished stir in tomato (spagetti) sauce added grated cheese and serve as we would mashed potatoes but call it "polenta" Enjoy it anyway it's fixed because it is a good grain food and VERY inexpensive for families.

Our cormeal is courser ground than a box of Jiffy Mix muffins. Anyone remember calling it "Johnny Cake"? As a hobby I follow these food similarities in different areas.

I was raised in KS, and mother made it when we were kids.Just the cornmeal, water and salt, and fried it...we
didn't put anything else in it or on it. I haven't even thought about it for years. We had ours for supper...never
for breakfast. Doesn't much matter when you eat it, if you
like it. Never thought that a store might sell it so never
looked for it there.

My mom used to make that but it was not one of my favorites so I never paid attention to how she fixed it.

This is how my mother would make and serve it when I was a little kid. When polenta became so popular and was considered such a progressive and "new" culinary dish, I would just laugh at how silly it sounded listening to these youngsters (Im in my 50's) carry on so. It was filling, and cheap and Mother had 5 mouths to feed after my daddy died.

Wow, I thought I was one of the few who like cornmeal mush. I eat it as a hot cereal with milk (or half & half) and then slice and fry any leftover to go with breakfast. I thought it was an old recipe from the south.

Raised in Pennsylvania lived in Ohio. Corn meal mush was a staple in the family. Moved South in retirement and found no one knew anything about corn meal mush. How odd, corn is a staple in the South. Bob Evans restaurants saved the day. They serve corn meal mush on their breakfast menus. All golden brown and crispy.
I like to make like you described.
Severna

My parents also made Johnny cake that we ate with butter and syrup. Once a week we had a low cost supper without meat and often it was the mush or Johnny cake and we loved it!!

He must have seasoned it somehow to make it savory and then served it hot while it was still a soft consistency. Then it is called polenta and is an Italian dish, made/served with cheese, tomato sauce, any number of ways but I don't think it is ever served sweet.

When corn meal is boiled with water and salt, it is called corn meal mush. If it is then eaten hot, it is considered a cereal and is served like oatmeal or cream of wheat or however you eat your hot cooked cereal, perhaps with milk and butter, but always with something sweet like brown sugar, syrup, etc.

When it is poured into a loaf pan and chilled until firm throughout, it is still mush, but is sliced and fried crisp and served with a sweet syrup.

It's also very delicious!

Make it yourself. Just add any chopped cooked pork (it doesn't have to be from pork neck bones, but they were inexpensive and an easy way to stretch a meal) or even sausage. Consult a formal recipe to find out what kind of seasoning you may want to add. Just add all that to your mush and chill it in a loaf pan to be sliced and fried when firm. You've just made scrapple!

P.S. See gagranny's post on Page 2 for a scrapple recipe. Sure sounds good!

Yes it is the same thing. The differences lie in what you do with it after the corn meal it is cooked!

You cannot make mush from Jiffy corn muffin mix. That has flour in it and it makes a quick bread (unyeasted).

Johnnycakes are also different. They are not made from cooked cornmeal. They are made with dry cornmeal, have eggs in the batter, and are prepared like pancakes. Somewhat similar but not the same. Perhaps some of our southern members can more adequately explain johnnycakes.

Look for polenta! Just about the same thing.

I also fry leftover grits like this. Just put them in a dish, let them set, slice and "fry"

Love it, cut it, fry it in butter and eat with maple syrup.

Reminds me of Grandma. From Iowa. We'd get mush in the morning and fried mush for supper! I liked the fried best! What memories you have stirred up, good ones!

fry it CRISPY!

Looks like I am going to have to pick up some cornmeal today, been thinking about it since we all started talking about it,lol.........Michele

3 cups water,1 teaspoon salt,1 cup yellow cornmeal,1 Tablespoon butter.
in a med. sausepan,heat water to boiling.Reduce heat to medium,stir in salt and cornmeal.Cook,stirring regulary,until mixture is thick.Spoon cornmeal mixture into a lightly greased 9x5 in loaf pan.cover and ref. overnight.In the morning,melt buttein a skellet over med.heat.Slice cornmeal mush into 1 in wide slices.Cook in melted butter until golden brown on both sides.You could use it before ref and add suagr and butter.
Hope this helps.

recipe for johnny cakes
2 cups stone ground cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 cup whole milk 2 tablespoons boiling water
Cream the cornmeal,salt and butter together.Add the milk and enough water to make a moist but firm batter.
Drop by large spoonfuls onto a hot greased griddle,and flatten slightly with the back of a spoon.When rown turn and cook the other side.

ohhh my memories of my childhood growing up in Pa. we had that sliced and fried in bacon grease, and a ring of liver pudding which was just placed in a skillet with water and slow cooked. Haven't had either one in lots of years.