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Fried Squashes
Mrs. F. M. Cragin.
Cut the squash into thin slices, and sprinkle it with salt; let it stand a few moments; then beat two eggs, and dip the squash into the egg; then fry it brown in butter.
Four lines and no quantities beyond the eggs, which is typical of contributor recipes in charity cookbooks. The technique is sound; a few things go unsaid.
- Which squashNineteenth-century American recipes of this kind mean summer squash — crookneck, pattypan or a young marrow — not winter squash, which is too dense to fry raw in slices. Zucchini or yellow squash stands in exactly.
- Slice thicknessAbout a quarter inch. Thinner slices collapse in the pan once salted; thicker ones stay raw inside before the egg coating browns.
- The salting is the hinge"A few moments" is the weak point of the instruction. Give it 20-30 minutes so the salt actually draws water out, then blot the slices thoroughly dry. Wet squash will not hold egg and will steam rather than brown.
- Egg alone as coatingTwo eggs coat roughly one medium squash. Egg on its own gives a thin, slightly ragged crust; a dip in flour before the egg helps it grip.
- Butter and heatButter over the several minutes this takes will brown and then burn. Clarified butter, or butter with a spoonful of neutral oil, holds a medium-high pan without scorching.
- SeasoningThe salt in the recipe is drawing salt, most of which is blotted away. Season again after frying, with pepper.
- YieldOne medium summer squash and two eggs makes a side dish for two to three. Fry in batches in a single layer; crowding the pan is what turns this soggy.
The Home Cook Book was compiled in Chicago in the mid-1870s from recipes donated by local women, and is generally traced as the earliest of the American charitable community cookbooks — sold to raise money for the Home for the Friendless. The format explains the recipe's brevity: Mrs. Cragin was writing for other experienced cooks, not for beginners, and quantities were assumed knowledge. Summer squash itself is an American native, grown from New England to the Gulf and eaten young; because it does not store, it appears in books of this period fried, stewed or boiled and mashed with butter. Frying in egg was one way to make a bland, watery vegetable substantial enough to carry a meal.