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Apple Fritters, Rich
Take a pint of hot cream, two glasses of port wine, and a cupful of ale; mix well, and when cold, add the yolks of four eggs and the whites of two, all whisked: a little salt, ginger, and nutmeg are an improvement. Let the apples, prepared as in the preceding recipe, soak in wine and sugar for two or three hours before using. Throw them into the batter, drain, and fry them in boiling oil or lard. When they are tender, place them on blotting-paper for two or three minutes, and pile them in a pyramid on a hot dish. They should be dry enough to be eaten with the fingers. Time to fry, eight minutes. Sufficient for ten or twelve persons. Probable cost, 2s., exclusive of the wine and ale.
A Victorian fritter batter built on cream, port and ale rather than milk and water. It works, but the text as printed leaves out the one ingredient that holds it together, so read the points below before you start.
- The batter has no flourAs printed the liquids and eggs alone will not coat anything; flour appears to have dropped out of this entry. Whisk in enough flour to bring the mixture to a thick-cream consistency, and treat the quantity as genuinely missing from the text rather than as a converted figure.
- Why the ale is thereNineteenth-century ale was generally unfiltered and could still carry live yeast, which would have contributed some lift as well as flavour. Modern bottled beer contributes carbonation and flavour but almost no lift; add 1/2 teaspoon baking powder with the flour if you want more puff.
- Archaic measuresAn imperial pint of cream is 20 fl oz, about 2 1/2 US cups. A "glass" of wine in this period is roughly 2 fl oz, so two glasses is about 1/2 cup of port. A cupful of ale is about 8 fl oz.
- Hot cream, then coldThe cream goes in hot and is mixed with the wine and ale, then cooled before the eggs are added; the text is explicit, "when cold." Don't shortcut it: adding whisked eggs to warm liquid risks curdling them.
- "Prepared as in the preceding recipe"The preceding entry is not reproduced here; for fritters apples are normally peeled, cored and cut into rings or slices. The two- to three-hour soak in wine and sugar does season the fruit; drain it well, as the recipe directs, before frying.
- Frying and timingThe recipe says boiling oil or lard and eight minutes. At a modern 350-360F, apple rings are done in about 3 to 4 minutes, turning once; much longer and the batter darkens before the apple softens.
- Blotting-paperPaper towels or a rack set over a tray. The instruction that they be "dry enough to be eaten with the fingers" is the real test of whether your fat was hot enough.
- YieldTen or twelve as one dish among several at a Victorian dinner. As a dessert on its own the quantity serves about six.
Apple fritters are among the older sweet fried dishes in English cookery: medieval manuscripts give "fritours" or "fruturs" of apple in a batter raised with ale or barm. What marks this version as "rich" is the substitution of cream, port and ale for the usual milk or water. Before chemical raising agents were general, brewer's yeast or barm was a common leaven for batters, and the cupful of ale here would have worked in the same way. The costing of 2s. "exclusive of the wine and ale" suggests the expense lay in the drink rather than the fruit.