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FRENCH FRITTERS, BATTER FOR (another way)
Mix two large table-spoonfuls of flour with as much warm water as will make it into a stiff paste; beat up the whites and yolks separately of two eggs; add the yolks to the paste, a table-spoonful of salad-oil, enough sugar to sweeten, and, lastly, the whites of the eggs, which should be a stiff froth before being added. This preparation is excellent for fruit fritters, such as apples, peaches, oranges, etc. Time, about ten minutes to fry with fruit. Probable cost, 6d.
A light, egg-white-raised frying batter of the kind Victorian cookery books distinguished from the heavier ale or milk batters. It is a small quantity, and it will not wait.
- Fold and fry immediatelyThe whipped whites are the only leavening here — there is no chemical raiser and no yeast. Fold them in with a light hand and start frying at once; a batter left standing will lose much of its lift and fry heavier.
- Scale of the recipeTwo tablespoons of flour and two eggs makes a small quantity, enough for perhaps one or two apples' worth of slices. Double or triple it for a family, keeping the same proportions.
- ConsistencyWorking the flour to a stiff paste with warm water first, then loosening it with the yolks and oil, is a deliberate order — it prevents lumps. The finished batter should coat a slice of fruit and cling, roughly the thickness of double cream.
- Salad-oilIn this period salad-oil generally meant olive oil. Any neutral oil works and will taste less assertive with fruit.
- Sugar"Enough to sweeten" is left to the cook; a teaspoon or so suits this quantity. Much more and the batter browns before the interior sets, since sugar accelerates colouring in hot fat.
- Frying temperatureThe original assumes a deep pan of fat judged by eye. Aim for 350-375F; below that the batter absorbs oil, above it the coating darkens while the fruit is still raw.
- The ten minutesThe ten minutes probably covers a batch rather than a single fritter, though the original does not say. Thin apple or peach slices need two to three minutes, turned once, until the crust is set and pale gold.
- Preparing the fruitPat the slices dry and dust them lightly with flour before dipping. Wet fruit — orange segments especially — sheds the batter in the fat.
Cassell's distinguishes some of its fritter batters by nationality, and "French" here appears to signal the lighter, egg-white-lifted style associated with the *pâte à frire* of French professional kitchens, as against the English batter thickened with milk, ale or beer. The distinction was largely one of texture and prestige: French cookery had dominated fashionable British dining since the early nineteenth century, and a compiler could label a batter "French" and expect readers to understand it meant delicate and puffed rather than substantial. The costing of sixpence, given as a matter of course, is a reminder that Cassell's was addressing a household that budgeted by the dish. Fruit fritters themselves are far older than the label; frying sliced apples in batter appears in English cookery manuscripts for centuries before this, often as a dish for fast days and for the end of the meal.