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Spanish Fritters
Cut the crumb of a French roll into lengths as thick as a finger; soak them in cream flavoured with nutmeg, pounded cinnamon, and sugar, and with an egg beaten up in it. When well soaked, fry them in butter to a good brown colour, and serve very hot.
An unquantified recipe of the pain perdu family, and none the worse for it — the proportions are a matter of soaking bread until it is saturated but still holds its shape. A few notes on the vessels and the frying.
- The breadA Victorian French roll was a small, soft-crumbed white roll; the crust is discarded here and only the crumb used. A day-old brioche, challah or plain white bakery loaf, crusts trimmed and cut into finger-thick batons, gives the same result. Fresh bread collapses in the cream.
- Quantities to work fromFor the crumb of two rolls, allow about 1 cup (240 ml) cream, one egg, 1-2 tablespoons sugar, and a grating of nutmeg with a pinch of cinnamon. "Pounded cinnamon" simply means stick cinnamon crushed in a mortar; ground cinnamon does the same job.
- Soaking"Well soaked" is the hinge. Five to ten minutes a side in a shallow dish, turning once, lets the custard reach the centre; lift the pieces with a slotted spatula so they do not tear. Anything that has gone to porridge should be discarded rather than fried.
- Frying in butterWhole butter at the heat needed to brown these will scorch. Clarified butter or ghee, about 1/4 inch deep in a heavy pan over medium heat, browns them evenly; a spoonful of neutral oil added to whole butter is the other usual dodge.
- DonenessTwo to three minutes a side, until deep gold and just firm. The egg custard inside needs to set, so keep the heat moderate — high heat gives colour before the middle has cooked.
- ServingThe recipe stops at "very hot," which was the point: drain briefly on paper, then dust with caster sugar and cinnamon. A warm thinned jam or a wine sauce is a common accompaniment for fried-bread sweets generally, though this recipe calls for none.
- YieldTwo rolls' worth makes roughly a dozen fingers, enough for three or four. They do not keep and cannot be reheated with any success.
This is the sweet fried-bread dish that turns up across Europe under a dozen names — French pain perdu, English poor knights of Windsor, Spanish torrijas — all of them built on the same thrift: stale crumb revived in spiced milk or cream and egg, then fried. The Spanish version is traditionally associated with Lent and Holy Week, when eggs, milk and bread stood in for meat, and Spanish versions often use wine or syrup alongside the milk. Victorian compendia hang national labels loosely; a "Spanish" fritter here signals the cinnamon and the cream rather than any documented Iberian original.