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Fried Cakes
Cream 1 cupful sugar, 2 tablespoonfuls unmelted lard. Add 2 eggs, 1 1/2 teaspoonfuls grated nutmeg, 1 3/4 cupfuls sweet milk, 1 level teaspoonful baking-soda, 2 level teaspoonfuls cream of tartar, and flour enough to make a soft dough. Fry golden brown in deep fat; drain, and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
A plain soda-and-cream-of-tartar doughnut, leavened chemically rather than with yeast. The recipe leaves both flour quantity and frying temperature to the cook's judgment, which is where most of the risk lies.
- Fat temperatureDeep fat should be 365-375F. Below that the dough absorbs grease and goes heavy; above it the outside browns before the centre sets. A thermometer is worth more here than any amount of flour adjustment.
- How much flour"Flour enough to make a soft dough" is roughly 4 1/2 to 5 cups with this amount of liquid. Aim for a dough that is just barely rollable and still tacky; more flour gives tough, bready cakes.
- Soda and cream of tartar1 teaspoon soda with 2 teaspoons cream of tartar is homemade baking powder, and it begins working the moment the milk is in. Mix, roll, cut and fry without delay. If you substitute commercial baking powder, use about 4 teaspoons and omit both.
- Sweet milkThis simply means fresh unsoured milk, as against the buttermilk or sour milk used in other doughnut recipes of the period. Whole milk is the closest match.
- Unmelted lardThe lard is creamed cold with the sugar to aerate it, so it must be solid and pliable, not liquid. Modern shortening or softened butter works, though lard gives the shorter, more tender crumb the recipe intends.
- NutmegA teaspoon and a half of freshly grated nutmeg is assertive by current taste; halving it gives a milder cake, and pre-ground nutmeg is weaker still.
- Rolling and cuttingRoll about 1/3 inch thick and cut with a floured cutter. Chilling the dough 20 minutes makes it far easier to handle without working in extra flour.
- YieldExpect roughly two and a half to three dozen doughnuts. Fry in small batches so the fat temperature does not crash, and sugar them while still warm so it clings.