Your recollection of grease-besotted abominations can only mean that the oil temperature was too low and the outside didn't fry up nice and crisp before the oil started absorbing into the hush puppies. That would make them horrible.
See, that explains it perfectly and is probably the exact reason for the horror.
Unfortunately, Spouse's first sampling of Hush Puppies was the same unfortunate batch, which will make a resample somewhat difficult.
She's feeling sick and feeble right now, though, so I can prolly get the necessary kitchen time for this experiment.