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Corn Fritters for Breakfast
Make a batter as you would for fritters, put in pepper, salt, lard, or butter, add to a quart of batter, a pint of corn, cut from the cob, and fry.--Mrs. A. P.
A note rather than a recipe: Mrs. A. P. assumes you already know a fritter batter and only tells you what to add to it. The proportions she does give are the useful part.
- The proportionsA quart of batter to a pint of corn is 4 cups batter to 2 cups kernels, or two parts batter to one part corn. That ratio holds if you scale down, which most cooks will want to do.
- What "a batter as you would for fritters" meansThe book assumes the reader knows one. A workable modern stand-in is about 2 cups flour, 2 eggs, about 1 1/2 cups milk and 2 teaspoons baking powder, beaten smooth to the thickness of heavy cream. Some period batters are leavened with beaten egg whites instead; either works.
- Cutting the cornPeriod cookbooks often describe scoring the kernel rows with a knife point, cutting off the tops, then scraping the cob to release the milky interior. Those scrapings add flavour and also thin the batter, so hold back some milk until the corn is in.
- Fresh corn onlyThis works with young sweet corn in season. Frozen kernels carry no cob milk and are tougher; drain them well and expect a drier fritter. Canned corn is too soft and too sweet.
- The lard or butterThe wording suggests the fat is worked into the batter, though the recipe also assumes fat in the pan for frying. If adding it to the batter, a couple of tablespoons melted per quart is reasonable; add it after the milk so it does not seize.
- FryingShallow-fry in about 1/4 inch of fat at 350-365F, dropping tablespoonfuls and turning once, two to three minutes a side. Corn kernels are wet and the interior needs time; too hot a pan browns the outside before the batter sets.
- Seasoning"Pepper, salt" means these are savory, not sweet. Start with a teaspoon of salt per quart of batter and taste a test fritter before frying the rest.
- YieldA quart of batter with a pint of corn is a large batch, enough for a family breakfast; the count depends entirely on how large you drop them.
Housekeeping in Old Virginia (1878), compiled by Marion Cabell Tyree from contributions by Virginia and neighbouring housewives, is full of entries like this one: shorthand between cooks who share a common repertoire and see no need to spell out a fritter batter. Corn fritters belong to the broad family of green-corn dishes that Southern and mid-Atlantic kitchens made during the few midsummer weeks when sweet corn was at the milk stage, alongside corn pudding, corn oysters and succotash. The habit of scraping the cob after cutting the kernels is the technique that distinguishes these dishes from anything made with dried or canned corn, and it recurs in American cookbooks through the nineteenth century. Serving fritters at breakfast, rather than as a supper dish or a garnish for meat, fits the substantial hot breakfast that a Virginia household of this period still expected.