I just had to send a bit of clarification on this one. Stagecoach Inn hushpuppies are hand rolled folks. No machine involved with those babies. I will admit however that there was a lapse in the late 90s where they had resorted to the tube shaped frozen wonders you see everywhere in the south. Customers soon revolted and the complaints were shouted from all ends of the state. But the 'new' managment soon learned that they need to shape up and stick to the food that made them famous in the first place. They have tweaked the original recipe, to make it more cost effective I suppose.

The 'original' Stagecoach Inn recipe straight from Mrs. VanBibbers handwriting is really quite simple. You bring water and butter to a boil and add the corn meal (White) and salt. The whole mixture bubbles along and starts to thicken then a bit of lard (what did they care about clogging an artery?) is added. The mixture cools and you roll it into little fingers just as soon as you can handle it. Place on cookie sheets and freeze. Deep fry till golden brown and serve with real butter or even better the vegetable beef soup that they used to make in the Stagecoach Inn Coffee Shop. Pure bliss.

As a child I didn't realize that the Stagecoach Inn had a front door. My grandmother baked all the pies and desserts for the Inn when the VanBibbers took over. She rolled millions (at least) of these buttery little fingers and it was always my pleasure to sit on the stone steps that led to the 'old' kitchen and munch on a few that weren't quite pretty enough to go to a customer.