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Rice Fritters
988. Boil three table-spoonfuls of rice in water until it swells to the full size, then drain it quite dry, and mix with it four eggs well beaten, size, then drain it quite dry, and mix with it four eggs well beaten, a quarter of a pound of currants, a little grated lemon-peel, nutmeg and sugar to the taste. Stir in as much flour as will thicken it, and fry in lard. If they do not brown quickly add a little more flour.
A plain Victorian batter fritter: cooked rice bound with egg, studded with currants and fried in fat. The hinge is the rice, which must be dry and cold before the eggs go near it.
- Drain and cool the riceDrain the rice -- "Quite dry" means the boiled rice should be well drained and left to cool before the eggs go in; steam left in it thins the batter and the fritters will spread in the fat. Three tablespoons of raw rice swells to something over half a cup cooked, which with four eggs should give a batch of small fritters.
- Rice and cooking waterBoiled in plain water rather than milk, as here, long-grain or pudding rice both work; pudding rice gives a softer, more cohesive fritter. Rinse off surface starch first or the mixture turns gluey.
- A quarter pound of currantsThat is 4 oz, about 3/4 cup of dried currants. These are true Zante currants, small and sharp, not raisins and not fresh blackcurrants.
- "As much flour as will thicken it"The recipe gives no quantity; a few tablespoons is a reasonable starting point. Aim for a batter that holds a soft mound on the spoon and does not run; the closing line about adding more flour if they will not brown quickly probably points to a too-wet batter absorbing fat instead of setting.
- Frying fat and temperatureFrying fat -- The recipe says only "fry in lard," and lard is still the closest thing to the original result, though any neutral fat with a high smoke point serves. Modern practice would be around 350-360F, turning once; a fritter dropped into cooler fat soaks and collapses.
- SeasoningGrated lemon peel means zest only, no white pith. Sugar "to the taste" is around 2 tablespoons if the fritters are to be eaten sweet; a good grating of nutmeg is a quarter teaspoon or less.
- ServingDrain on paper, dust with caster sugar and serve hot as a pudding, with a wedge of lemon or a spoonful of jam. Like most fritters they are best eaten straight from the pan.
Rice fritters belong to a long line of British fritter puddings in which a cheap cooked grain is enriched with eggs and dried fruit and fried. By the mid-nineteenth century rice was reaching Britain in quantity, Carolina rice in particular being a familiar import, and it was among the cheaper starches available, which is one reason Victorian collections carry so many rice puddings, moulds, cakes and fritters close together. Currants, lemon peel and nutmeg are a common sweet-spice combination of the period, of the sort also found in mince pies and plum puddings, and they mark this as a pudding-course dish rather than a savoury one.