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Orange Custard Fritters
Put one pound of flour into a basin and stir it gradually, keeping it quite smooth, one quart of milk and five well-beaten eggs. Turn the batter into a saucepan, and stir it over a moderate fire for twenty minutes without letting it boil; then move it to the side of the fire, and mix in four tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar, one of finely-chopped orange peel, one-half saltspoonful of salt, and the well-beaten yolks of five eggs. Butter a baking-sheet, and, when the custard is well mixed, spread it over about one inch in thickness. When cold, cut it into equal-sized pieces, dip them in beaten egg and then in finely-grated breadcrumbs, and fry them in butter till a golden brown. Drain the fritters, dust some sugar over, put them on a folded napkin, or an ornamental dish-paper on a hot dish, and serve.
This is a fried-custard fritter: a very stiff flour-thickened custard, chilled solid, cut into pieces, breaded and fried. The batter is far heavier than a pastry cream, so plan on a sturdy pan and a firm arm.
- The hinge: never let it boilA pound of flour cooking in a quart of milk with whole eggs wants to catch and scorch. Keep the heat moderate and stir constantly for the full twenty minutes so the flour loses its raw taste, but hold it below a simmer or the eggs will curdle into threads.
- MeasuresOne pound of flour is about 3 1/2 cups; a quart of milk is 4 cups. A saltspoonful is usually reckoned at 1/4 teaspoon, so half is about 1/8 teaspoon. "Powdered sugar" in nineteenth-century usage generally meant finely ground sugar rather than modern cornstarch-laden confectioners' sugar, though either will dissolve here.
- Adding the second set of yolksMove the pan off direct heat before the five yolks go in, as directed, and work quickly. The residual heat cooks them; direct heat will scramble them.
- Orange peelUse only the coloured zest, chopped or grated very fine, with no white pith. One tablespoon is roughly the zest of a large orange.
- Spreading and chillingA rimmed half-sheet pan lined with buttered parchment is easier than a bare buttered sheet. One inch thick means you will fill only part of a large pan. Chill at least four hours, preferably overnight; a warm centre will burst in the fat.
- Cutting and breadingSquares or diamonds of about 1 1/2 inches hold together best. Egg-wash and crumb them, and if you have time, chill the breaded pieces again for half an hour so the coating sets.
- Frying in butterWhole butter browns and burns before the fritters colour. Clarified butter, or butter with a neutral oil added, held around 350F, gives the golden brown wanted here.
- YieldThe full quantity makes a large batch, several dozen fritters depending on how thick you spread it and how large you cut. It halves without trouble.
Fried custard of this kind is an old European sweet, best known in Italy as crema fritta and in France as crème frite, and it turns up in nineteenth-century English and American cookbooks as "fried cream" or "custard fritters." The technique belongs to the same family as the flour-bound cream used for croquettes: cook the starch and egg until stiff enough to slice cold, then bread and fry it, so that a spoonful of custard can be handled like a piece of meat. Oscar Tschirky, the Waldorf's celebrated maitre d'hotel, published his book in 1896, and it is tempting to read both the scale of the batch and the finishing instruction as marks of a hotel kitchen: fritters drained, dusted with sugar and set on a folded napkin or a cut paper doily, a presentation often associated with anything fried that had to reach the dining room without a grease stain.