Corn Fritters

A plain drop fritter of the kind that filled out a supper table when corn was cheap. The ingredient column has been garbled in printing, and the proportions need judgment before you start.

• The duplicated butter"1 teaspoon melted butter" appears twice in the list, an artifact of the two-column typesetting. Use one teaspoon.
• The batter is too stiff as printedTwo cups of flour against half a cup of milk and one egg gives a paste, not a batter, even with the moisture from the corn. Expect to add milk by the tablespoon until the mixture drops thickly from a spoon, or cut the flour back to about a cup. Canned corn packed in liquid will need less added milk than drained fresh kernels.
• LeaveningOne teaspoon of baking powder for two cups of flour is light by modern standards; two teaspoons is the usual ratio. If you reduce the flour to one cup, the single teaspoon is about right.
• Chopping the corn"Chop very fine" means breaking the kernel skins so the batter binds and the corn flavor comes out. Cut fresh kernels from the cob and run a knife back down the cob to scrape the milk, or pulse canned corn briefly. Do not purée it.
• Fat temperatureThe recipe says only "fry in deep fat" and names no temperature. For fritters of this kind, fat around 350-375F suits: cooler and they soak, hotter and the outside colors before the flour cooks through. Drop by tablespoons and allow roughly three to four minutes, turning once.
• Test one firstFry a single fritter before committing the batch. If it spreads and falls apart, add flour; if the center is raw when the outside is brown, thin the batter and lower the heat slightly.
• Yield and servingRoughly eighteen to twenty fritters if dropped by the tablespoon, enough for four to six; fewer if you cut the flour back. They take maple syrup happily.