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Batter for Fritters
Place half pound sifted flour in a large bowl; add two tablespoons olive oil, half teaspoon salt, one tablespoon powdered sugar, three egg yolks, half gill cold water and a gill cold milk; also a teaspoon vanilla essence. Briskly stir with a wooden spoon for five minutes. Just before serving beat the white of the three eggs, add to the batter and gently mix for one minute; then it will be ready for use. (The same quantity of butter can be substituted for oil if preferred.)
A sweet frying batter meant for fruit fritters — apple rings, banana, pineapple, or dried fruit soaked in spirits. The measurements are Edwardian but they convert cleanly.
- GillsA gill is 4 fl oz in US measure (half a cup) but 5 fl oz in imperial measure. Read as US, half a gill of water is 1/4 cup (60 ml) and a gill of milk is 1/2 cup (120 ml); read as imperial, roughly 70 ml and 140 ml. Either gives a workable batter.
- Half pound flourAbout 1 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour, or 225 g. Weigh it if you can; the batter should coat a spoon thickly and fall in a slow ribbon.
- Powdered sugarIn books of this vintage "powdered" usually means finely ground granulated sugar, not modern confectioners' sugar with its cornstarch. Either dissolves here, so it makes little practical difference.
- The hinge: the whites go in lastThe recipe has you stir the base briskly for five minutes, then beat and fold in the whites only just before serving. The whites are what make it puff, and folded-in whites lose lift the longer they sit, so mix for the stated minute and fry without delay.
- Rest before the whitesThe recipe does not say so, but the base batter benefits from 30 minutes' rest at room temperature before you beat the whites. It hydrates the flour and relaxes the stirring.
- Butter instead of oilIf you take the substitution, melt the butter and let it cool to lukewarm before adding, or it will begin to cook the yolks.
- Frying temperatureNo fat temperature is given. Fry at 350-375F (175-190C); below that the batter absorbs oil, above it the outside colors before the fruit inside is hot.
- YieldThe recipe gives no yield. Half a pound of flour with about 180 ml of liquid makes a generous quantity of batter, enough for several apples' worth of rings. Drain on a rack rather than paper so the underside stays crisp, and dust with sugar at the table.