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Cheese Fritters
1/2 cup grated cheese 1 measure Fritter Batter No. 2 Add the grated cheese to the batter, drop by spoonfuls into the hot fat, drain on soft paper and serve with a little grated cheese sprinkled over each.
A two-line recipe that depends entirely on a batter printed elsewhere in the book, and on knowing what "hot fat" meant to a cook working without a thermometer.
- Fritter Batter No. 2The recipe is meaningless without it. A drop fritter batter of this era might run roughly 1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 egg and 1/2 cup milk, beaten smooth, but that is a guess at the proportions rather than this book's. Use the book's own No. 2 if you have the full text.
- "One measure"This most likely means one full batch of that batter as written rather than any fixed volume. On the reconstructed proportions above, half a cup of cheese to roughly a cup of flour would be the working ratio.
- Grated cheeseIn American cookbooks of this period, unqualified "cheese" usually means firm store cheese, i.e. cheddar. Grate it fine so it disperses evenly through the batter. Sharp cheddar or a dry aged cheese gives more flavor than the mild stuff.
- Fat temperature365 to 375F. Below that the fritters absorb fat and go heavy; above it the outside colors before the batter sets around the cheese. Fry in small batches so the temperature does not crash.
- TimingTwo to three minutes, turning once, until deep gold. These are small and cook through fast; the interior only needs to set.
- Draining"Soft paper" means plain unglazed absorbent paper; paper towels are the modern equivalent. Drain on a rack set over paper rather than directly on it, or the undersides steam and soften.
- Yield and servingThe recipe gives no yield; one batch of batter would probably make something on the order of a dozen or two small fritters, enough for four as a light course. They collapse and toughen as they cool, so serve them straight from the pan with the cheese scattered over while still hot.
Fritters occupy an unusually large place in turn-of-the-century American cookbooks because a good deep-fat batter was a cook's workhorse: one base batter, numbered and cross-referenced, could carry corn, apples, oysters, clams or cheese depending on what the household had. Milling-company cookbooks of the era were written to sell flour, and batters were a straightforward argument for buying more of it. It is worth remembering, too, that "entree" in such books carried an older sense of the word -- not the main course, but a made dish served between heavier ones in a multi-course dinner, or as a savory filler on a meatless day.