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Parsnip Fritters
Parsnips Batter Pepper and salt Wash, and scrape the parsnips, and throw them into plenty of boiling water. Skim them frequently during boiling. They will be tender in half an hour to an hour, according to age and size. Moderate sized parsnips are most suitable for this dish. When they are quite tender, slice them either round or lengthwise, and dip them into frying batter. The batter may be seasoned if liked. Fry them in salad oil.
The original assumes you already know how to make a frying batter and how hot the oil should be. Both are worth pinning down.
- The batter is not givenA workable frying batter is roughly 1 cup flour, a large pinch of salt, 1 egg and enough milk or water (about 2/3 cup) to make a coating consistency. It should cling to a slice without running off in sheets.
- "Salad oil" means olive oilIn British books salad oil is olive oil. Any neutral high-smoke-point oil works as well and costs less; olive oil contributes a distinct flavour if you want it.
- Frying temperatureAim for 350-375F. Below that the batter absorbs oil and slumps; above it the outside colours before the coating sets. Two to three minutes a side gives a crisp shell on already-cooked parsnip.
- Boil whole, slice afterBoiling before slicing keeps the pieces intact; cut parsnip waterlogs and falls apart. Start testing with a skewer at the half-hour mark, as the recipe indicates. Drain and let the steam dry off, then slice; a wet surface will not hold batter.
- The woody coreLarge old parsnips have a fibrous central core that stays tough however long you boil it, which may be why the recipe calls moderate-sized roots most suitable. If all you can get are large ones, quarter them lengthwise and cut the core out after boiling.
- SeasoningParsnip is sweet, and unseasoned batter tastes flat against it. Season the batter itself as the recipe permits, and salt the fritters the moment they leave the oil.
- Yield and servingRoughly 1 1/2 lb of parsnips should give something like 16-20 slices, enough for four as a side or two as a main. Drain on paper, keep in a single layer, and serve at once; stacked fritters steam themselves soft.
Parsnip fritters belong to a long tradition of treating the root as a substitute for something richer. Before the potato took hold in Britain, parsnips were a significant winter starch, and their sweetness made them a common Lenten vegetable, often eaten with salt fish; the frying batter here does much the same job, adding fat and body. Battered and fried vegetables of this kind -- parsnip, marrow, salsify, cauliflower -- were a familiar way of building a substantial meatless dish.