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Apple Fritters
Apples Batter Peel, and core the apples, and cut them into thin slices; dip them in the batter, and fry in boiling oil. The fritters will be much improved if the slices of apples are boiled for one minute in sugar and water, and drained before dipping them in the batter.
A skeleton recipe of the kind common in early twentieth-century vegetarian books, which assume you already keep a fritter batter to hand. The details it leaves out are the ones that decide whether the fritters are crisp or greasy.
- The missing batterNo batter is given here; the definite article ("the batter") suggests the book expects one supplied elsewhere. A workable fritter batter is roughly 1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, a pinch of salt, 1 egg and about 2/3 cup milk, beaten smooth and rested 20 minutes. It should coat a slice and cling, not run off.
- "Boiling oil" means 360-375FOil does not boil at frying temperature; the phrase describes the shimmer and the vigorous bubbling around the food. Use a thermometer and hold the oil between 360 and 375F. Below that the batter drinks fat; much above it the outside colours before the apple softens.
- Slice thicknessCut rings about 1/4 inch thick. Thicker slices stay raw and crunchy in the middle within the time the batter takes to brown.
- The one-minute sugar bathThis is the instruction worth following. A brief poach in light syrup (about 1/2 cup sugar to 2 cups water) seasons the fruit and softens it just enough that the apple and the crust finish together. Drain the slices well and blot them dry, or the batter will slide off wet fruit.
- Choice of appleA firm, tart cooking apple holds its shape: Granny Smith, Northern Spy. Softer varieties, and cookers such as Bramley that are prized for collapsing, will turn to sauce inside the batter.
- Frying in batchesThree or four slices at a time in a deep pan. Crowding drops the oil temperature sharply and is the usual cause of pale, oil-logged fritters. Drain on a rack rather than paper so the undersides stay crisp.
- Finishing and yieldDust with caster or powdered sugar and a little cinnamon while still hot, and serve at once; they lose their crispness quickly as they stand. Three good-sized apples yield about 20 rings, enough for four.
Fritters of this sort are old kitchen currency in English cooking, and apple was among the commonest fruits used for them: a cheap, storable ingredient that could be made into something festive with flour, an egg and a pan of fat. Vegetarian cookbooks of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries often set out to show that a diet without flesh could still be generous, and fruit dessert chapters carry much of that weight, offering fried, batter-rich dishes substantial enough for a table with no roast on it. The instruction to poach the slices in sugar and water first addresses the perennial fritter problem of a browned crust wrapped around an undercooked slice of fruit.