Home › Vegetables › Fried Carrots
Fried Carrots
Pare and boil several good-sized carrots ; drain thoroughly. Cut lengthwise into rather thin slices, dip in egg and bread crumbs, and fry in smoking hot fat. Cold carrots may be recooked in this way.
A straightforward way of using up boiled carrots, and it still works. The points below cover the vague quantities and the frying temperature the original leaves unstated.
- Boil them shortThe carrots must be tender but still firm enough to slice and handle without breaking. Boil whole until a skewer meets slight resistance at the centre rather than cooking them to softness; timing will depend on their size.
- Dry is everything"Drain thoroughly" is the hinge. Wet carrots will not hold crumbs and will spit in the fat. Spread the slices on a towel and let them cool and dry completely before coating.
- Slice thickness"Rather thin" is not defined; aim for slices thin enough to heat through in the pan but thick enough not to collapse when dipped and turned.
- Standard breading orderBreading -- The recipe calls only for egg and crumbs. A preliminary dusting of flour is a common addition and can help the egg adhere to a damp boiled surface.
- "Smoking hot fat"In practice something in the region of 365-375F. The original relies on visual judgement of the fat; a thermometer is more reliable. Fry in batches so the temperature does not drop.
- Fat to useThe recipe does not say which fat; lard or drippings would have been usual choices. Any neutral oil with a high smoke point works. Shallow frying in half an inch of fat is enough for slices this size.
- Quantity"Several good-sized carrots" is left open; judge by how many you want to serve. Season the crumbs, since boiled carrot carries little salt of its own.
Frying leftovers in egg and crumbs was one of the standard economies of late nineteenth and early twentieth century household cookery, applied indifferently to cold potatoes, cold fish, cold parsnips and, here, cold carrots. The closing line is the point of the entry: this is a second-day recipe dressed as a first-day one, and it turns a plain boiled root into something with a crust and a bit of richness for the price of one egg and a handful of stale bread. Carrots were among the cheapest and best-keeping vegetables of the winter cellar.