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Bell Fritters
Put a pint of boiling water in a preserving kettle, and as it boils, put in a tablespoonful of fresh butter. Have ready a pint of the best flour, sifted and wet with cold water, as for starch. Dip up some of the boiling water and pour to this, being careful to have it smooth. Return this to the kettle, stirring rapidly to prevent lumps. Turn into a wooden tray, and while hot, beat in six well beaten eggs, a spoonful at a time. Best till very light, and beat quickly that the eggs may not cook in lumps. Have ready a pint of boiling lard in a pan. Make the fritters the shape of an egg, drop in and fry a light brown. To be eaten with a pint of molasses, a heaping tablespoonful of butter, a little ginger and cinnamon, boiled to a thick syrup and served hot. A great deal of lard is required to fry fritters nicely; yet it is not extravagant, as it may be used again. Strain what remains and put it by for use.--Mrs. S. T.
This is a choux paste by another route: instead of dumping dry flour into boiling water, the flour is first slaked with cold water and then scalded. The method is more forgiving of lumps, and the result fries into hollow, puffed fritters.
- The measurementsA pint here is a measure of volume for dry goods as well as liquid: a pint of water is 2 cups, and a pint of sifted flour is 2 cups, roughly 8 oz. Weigh the flour if you can, since sifted volume varies noticeably depending on how it is scooped.
- Preserving kettleA wide, heavy pan with sloping sides, used because it heated evenly and allowed vigorous stirring. Any heavy 3-quart saucepan does the job.
- The wooden trayA shallow wooden trough or bowl, used to spread out the hot paste. The recipe has the eggs beaten in 'while hot', and it is the instruction to beat quickly, a spoonful at a time, that keeps the eggs from cooking in lumps. A stand mixer bowl with the paddle running does the same job.
- Six eggs is a guide, not a ruleEggs of the period are often said to have run smaller than today's large. Add the beaten egg a spoonful at a time as directed and stop when the paste falls from the spoon in a thick, glossy ribbon; you may need only four or five modern large eggs.
- Frying temperature"Boiling lard" is a visual cue, not a boil. Hold the fat at 350-360F. Hotter than that and the outside browns before the centre sets; cooler and the fritters absorb fat instead of puffing.
- Depth of fatA pint of lard in a shallow pan is a thin bath by modern standards. Use enough fat in a deep pot that the fritters float and can turn themselves, and fry in small batches so the temperature does not crash.
- Shape and donenessEgg-sized portions will roughly triple. Give them 6-8 minutes and take one out to break open before pulling the batch; a raw, custardy centre is the usual failure.
- The sauceA pint of molasses with a tablespoon of butter and the spices, boiled to a thick syrup, reduces fast and scorches faster. Cook it over moderate heat and stop while it still pours; molasses stiffens considerably as it cools.
- YieldAbout 18 to 24 fritters, enough for six to eight at a breakfast or supper table. They collapse as they cool and are best eaten within the half hour.
- Reusing the fatStraining and saving frying fat is sound practice, but sweet-batter frying leaves sugar and egg solids that darken and smoke on reheating. Strain through cloth, refrigerate, and use it within a few weeks.
Housekeeping in Old Virginia (1877), edited by Marion Cabell Tyree, gathered its receipts from named and initialled contributors in Virginia and neighbouring states, which is why this one closes with "Mrs. S. T." rather than a byline. Bell fritters belong to the family of boiled-paste fritters that the French call beignets soufflés: flour cooked in water, enriched with egg, and dropped into deep fat, where steam alone raises them with no yeast or chemical leavening. The name is sometimes traced to the bell-like shape the paste takes as it swells and turns in the fat, though the term appears in earlier cookery writing without any settled explanation. The molasses sauce places the dish in a Southern household economy, where molasses was the everyday sweetener and refined sugar the more expensive one, and the closing note on straining and keeping the lard is a reminder that frying fat was itself a household asset worth accounting for.