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Pear Fritters
Take out the cores then peel and cut some ripe pears into halves, and dip them into a rich batter to which a little cream has been added; fry in boiling fat for three or four minutes, then drain. Arrange neatly on a dish, sift castor sugar over, and garnish with angelica. Probable cost, 6d. to 8d. per pound.
A straightforward fruit fritter, but the original leaves out the two things that decide whether it works: how thick the batter is and how hot the fat is.
- Halved pears are too thickWhole halves need longer in the fat than the batter can survive, so the coating browns before the fruit softens. Quarter or slice them about half an inch thick, or poach the halves in syrup first and cool them before dipping.
- Fat temperatureThe recipe gives no temperature, only "boiling fat." Modern deep-frying practice for fritters is roughly 350-365F. Below that the batter drinks oil; above it the sugar in the pear scorches. Three or four minutes suits that range with pieces no thicker than half an inch.
- A rich batterThe recipe specifies nothing beyond "a rich batter" with cream added; a frying batter of this period is generally flour, egg and milk, sometimes enriched further. Aim for the consistency of thick cream, thin enough to run off the fruit in a sheet rather than a blob. The cream called for here softens it further, so add it a spoonful at a time.
- Dry the fruitWet pear sheds its coating in the pan. Pat the cut surfaces dry and dust them lightly with flour before dipping.
- Castor sugarSuperfine or caster sugar. Granulated will sit on the surface without dissolving; a spin in a food processor or clean spice grinder gives the same effect.
- AngelicaCandied angelica stem, once sold in bright green strips for cutting into leaves and stalks. It is now a specialist item; candied citrus peel, or nothing at all, does the job of garnish.
- Pears to useRipe but firm is what you want -- Bosc or Anjou hold their shape. A soft, fully ripe Bartlett collapses inside the batter.
- YieldThree or four pears, quartered, gives roughly 12-16 fritters, enough for four. Serve at once; fritters go limp within minutes of leaving the fat.
Fruit fritters are long established in English cookery, appearing in medieval manuscripts as fruit dipped in a batter and fried, and they persisted into the Victorian kitchen. Cassell's arranges its entries alphabetically, and fritters of other fruits appear elsewhere in the book on much the same frying batter. The costing, sixpence to eightpence a pound, is quoted per pound and so appears to refer to the pears rather than the finished dish. Angelica, the candied stem of Angelica archangelica, was a common confectioner's garnish in the nineteenth century, valued for its green colour.