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Lemon Fritters
After Marion Harland.
Beat up the whipped and strained yolks of five eggs with one-half a cup of powdered sugar; add the grated peel of half a lemon, one teaspoon of mingled nutmeg and cinnamon, a little salt, and one-half a cup of cream; then the whites of the eggs, and then two heaping cups of prepared flour; work all together quickly and lightly into a soft paste, just stiff enough to roll out; pass the rolling-pin over it until it be about three-quarters of an inch thick; cut into small circular cakes with a tumbler or cake-cutter, and fry in hot lard. They ought to puff up like crullers. Drain on clean hot paper, and eat warm with a sauce made of the juice of two lemons and the grated peel of one, one cup of powdered sugar, one glass of wine, and the whites of two eggs beaten stiff.
A rolled and cut fried dough rather than a batter fritter, closer to a spiced doughnut than to anything spooned into fat. Two points decide whether it works: the dough must stay soft, and the fat must be hot enough to puff it.
- Prepared flourThis means flour already mixed with leavening and salt, the nineteenth-century equivalent of self-rising flour. Two heaping cups of self-rising flour will do, or substitute 2 cups all-purpose flour with 3 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt sifted through it, and omit the additional salt.
- Powdered sugarIn this period the term usually meant granulated sugar ground fine, not the cornstarch-blended confectioners' sugar sold today. Superfine or caster sugar is the closer match, in the dough and in the sauce.
- "Whipped and strained yolks"Beat the yolks until pale and thick, then push them through a fine sieve to catch bits of membrane and any clinging white. It is a texture step, not a food-safety one, and modern cooks can skip the straining if the yolks are clean.
- Fat temperatureLard at 365-370F. Cooler than that and a three-quarter-inch round soaks fat before it can rise; much hotter and the outside colours while the crumb stays raw. A neutral oil with a high smoke point works identically.
- Size and thicknessThree-quarters of an inch is thick for fried dough, so keep the diameter small, about 2 inches, and expect roughly 4 minutes total, turning once. A tumbler rim is still the easiest cutter. Yield is around 18 to 24.
- Draining"Clean hot paper" was unprinted paper warmed by the stove, so the fritters would not cool and steam. Paper towels on a rack in a 200F oven achieve the same thing.
- The wine in the sauceA "glass" of wine in household books of this era is usually reckoned at about 2 fluid ounces, a quarter cup, though usage was not fixed. Sherry, Madeira or another fortified wine suits the lemon and sugar better than table wine.
- Raw whites in the sauceThe sauce is never cooked, and its beaten whites carry a real salmonella risk with shell eggs. Use pasteurized egg whites if you want the foam, or serve the fritters with lemon syrup and sugar instead.
- SpicingOne teaspoon of mixed nutmeg and cinnamon in two cups of flour is assertive by modern standards but characteristic of the period. Reduce by half if you want the lemon to lead.
The Home Cook Book was compiled in Chicago in the mid-1870s from contributions by local women, with proceeds going to a charitable home, and its pages are full of borrowings openly credited to the cookbook authorities of the day. "After Marion Harland" points to Mary Virginia Terhune, who wrote under the name Marion Harland and whose Common Sense in the Household (1871) was one of the best-selling American domestic manuals of the century; adapting her recipes and saying so was a mark of respectability rather than a lapse. The dish itself sits in the wide family of fried sweet doughs that included crullers, olykoeks and doughnuts, all of which depended on a household able to keep a kettle of lard hot and clear. The eggy uncooked wine-and-lemon sauce belongs to the same tradition as hard sauce and foamy sauce, standard accompaniments for puddings and fritters before refrigeration made cold custards and creams easy.