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Tomato Fritters
1 can tomatoes 6 cloves 1/3 cup sugar 3 slices onion 1 egg 1 teaspoon salt Few grains cayenne 1/4 cup butter 1/2 cup corn-starch Cook first four ingredients twenty minutes, rub all through a sieve except seeds, and season with salt and pepper. Melt butter, and when bubbling, add corn-starch and tomato gradually; cook two minutes, then add egg slightly beaten. Pour into a buttered shallow tin, and cool. Turn on a board, cut in squares, diamonds, or strips. Roll in crumbs, egg, and crumbs again, fry in deep fat, and drain.
These are croquettes rather than batter fritters: a thick corn-starch panade set firm in a pan, cut cold, breaded and fried. Everything depends on the paste being stiff and thoroughly chilled before it is cut.
- The hinge: chill it hardThe tomato paste must be cold and firm all the way through before cutting, or the pieces will slump in the crumbs and burst in the fat. An hour or two in the refrigerator, in a pan spread no more than 3/4 inch deep.
- Can of tomatoesA period No. 2 or No. 2 1/2 can is roughly 20 to 28 fl oz. Use one standard 28-oz can of whole or crushed tomatoes; if it is very juicy, reduce the pulp a little after sieving so the corn-starch is not fighting excess water.
- Straining"Rub all through a sieve except seeds" also removes the six whole cloves and the onion slices, which are there only for flavour. Push the pulp through a medium sieve or food mill and discard what stays behind.
- The sugarA third of a cup is sweet by current taste, and may reflect the canned tomatoes of the period. A tablespoon or two is enough with modern canned tomatoes; taste the sieved pulp before deciding.
- Cooking the panadeWhisk the corn-starch into the melted butter, then add the tomato in stages so it does not lump. Two minutes at a bare simmer is the minimum to lose the raw starch taste; the mixture should be stiff enough to hold a mark from the spoon.
- The eggBeat the egg with a spoonful of the hot mixture before stirring it in, and keep the pan off direct heat, or the egg will set in threads rather than binding the paste.
- FryingThe recipe gives no temperature; about 375F suits deep fat of this kind. Fry in small batches so the temperature holds, about two minutes to a deep gold; the inside only needs reheating. Drain on a rack rather than flat paper so the crumb stays crisp.
- Yield and servingThe recipe gives no yield; the quantity will make roughly twenty small pieces depending on how they are cut. "Entree" in this period often meant a course served before the roast rather than a main dish.