Subject: Re: Kush

From: [email-masked] (Matthew Hill)
Date: Mon, 23 Jan 1995 14:31:25 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
Cynthia Donahey <[email-masked]> wrote:
>
>My husband's family made this breakfast dish called kush, although it was
>probably applicable to other meals. I make it now by adding dry cornbread
>to bacon grease adding milk and brown sugar to taste. I just cook it until
>it sticks together in this lump.  I eat a little bit myself with bacon
>crumbled over it. My husband just loves it.  Anyway, i understand the
>original recipe came from Texas.  When all else was short, it must have
>been a way to use the staples of the day.
>
>Once I talked to a black woman with roots in the South who told me of a
>dish pronounced (Koosh).  Anyway this was cornbread mixed with sauteed
>onions, green peppers, and either bacon grease or pork fat.  I don't
>remember her saying anything about milk or brown sugar.
>
>Has anyone heard of this dish or any other variations.  It must have been
>a pioneer mainstay.
>
>There was also this remedly called Po-Co in the family (short for pork and
>corn).  Supposedly, you took it in a little orange juice.  Has anyone ever
>heard of this.  It was supposed to be a cure-all
>
>Thanks for any help,
>
>Cindy

I have no knowledge of the recipes which you describe, but my immediate
thought was that the name may derive from the Senegambian term 'cous'
meaning millet.  I can't quickly check whether the word is Wolof or 
Mandinka.  The mode of preparation seems most un Senegambian, but
may have changed over the years.  My hunch would be that the 
crumbled corn bread was substituted by slaves in the Americas
for unavailable millet. 
 
Matthew Hill ([email-masked])