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Crisped Apples
Core some good apples such as easily cook soft, then pare them and if large cut them in two. Steep them several hours in sugar-and-water syrup well flavored with lemon. Take the apples out, roll them over and over in flour and fry them in hot lard. Serve with sauce.
Crisped pears can be done the same way if soft varieties of the fruit are used.
A late-nineteenth-century fritter without a batter: the apples are candied slightly in syrup, dusted with flour and fried bare. The steeping is what makes it work, so plan ahead.
- The hinge is the steepSeveral hours in syrup draws moisture out of the fruit and firms the surface, which likely is what lets a bare flour coat adhere and crisp. Without it the fruit is wetter and more apt to collapse in the fat.
- Syrup proportionsThe original gives none. A cup of sugar to two cups of water with the pared zest and juice of a lemon is a workable strength; keep the fruit fully submerged with a small plate.
- Apples that "cook soft"I.e. a variety that collapses readily: McIntosh, Cortland, Gravenstein, Bramley. A Granny Smith or Honeycrisp holds its shape and may still be raw inside when the flour is browned.
- Fat and temperatureLard at 350–360F. Lower and the flour turns pasty; higher and the coating colours before the fruit heats through. Two to three minutes a side for halves, less for small whole apples. Neutral oil or shortening substitutes directly.
- FlouringLift the fruit from the syrup, let it drip, then roll in flour immediately while the surface is still tacky. A second roll after a minute's rest gives a heavier crust.
- "Serve with sauce"Unspecified, and most likely a sweet accompaniment: a thin custard, or the steeping syrup reduced until it coats a spoon. A hard sauce would also suit, though it is served soft-set rather than poured.
- YieldReckon one large apple per person, halved. Fry in small batches and drain on a rack rather than paper so the underside stays crisp.
Fried fruit fritters run through English and American cookery for centuries. The preliminary steeping in flavoured syrup is a candying step, and it does some of the work a batter would by sweetening and firming the surface. Lard was a common frying fat in this period, and the recipe assumes the reader already has both a syrup and a sauce to hand, which is why neither is described. The closing note on pears extends the technique to another soft fruit.