Fritters

donna

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Forum Host
Joined
May 12, 2010
Location
Now Florida but always a Kentuckian
What are Fritters? A fritter is a name applied to a wide variety of fried foods. Plain fritters are deep fried cakes of chou paste or a yeast dough. Other fritters have bits of meat, seafood, vegetables or fruit coated with a batter and deep fried.

In Britain fish and chips are accompanied with a "fritter", which is a slice of potato, a pineapple ring, an apple ring or mushy peas fried in batter.

In the United States, fritters are small cakes made with a primary ingredient that is mixed with an egg and milk batter and either pan fried or deep fried. Favorite fritters are corn fritters, apple fritters and even zucchini fritters. Clam cakes and crab cakes are also a variety of fritter.

I guess my favorites are corn fritters and apple fritters.
 
I am hanging in there. I am far from well. I just wanted to come on forum and read the threads and post some. I think this going to take a while to get over and get my strength back.
 
Apple Fritters

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/4 cups sour milk
2 tablespoons melted butter
3 medium sized tart apples, chopped

Sift the dry ingredients together. Add the sour milk, beaten eggs and the melted butter.

Fold in the chopped apples and drop by spoonfuls into hot fat (375 degrees). Turn, browning on both sides like doughnuts, until a fork inserted in the fritter comes out clean.

Drain on brown paper and keep warm on a platter until all fried. Serve with plenty of real maple syrup.

Makes about two dozen.

In those days, there no fat thermometer to check how hot fat was. The old time method always works. Drop a 0ne inch cube of bread in the fat. It its brown in one minute, the fat is right (approximately 350 degrees to 375 degrees).

Recipe from: "Early American Recipes", Traditional Recipes from New England Kitchens., By Heloise Frost.
 
Another popular fritter of the time in especially New England area was Clam Fritters.

Clam Fritters

1 pint clams, shucked
1/2 cup clam juice
2 eggs
1/2 cup rolled cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar
salt and pepper

Drain the clams, saving the juice. Pinch out the bellies and discard them; then chop the remainder of the clams. Sift the flour, baking powder, sugar, and seasoning over the cracker crumbs and mix in.

Add beaten eggs and clam juice to the clams, then add the crumbs and mix well. Let the mixture stand together for a few minutes to moisten the crumbs. Add a bit more clam juice if needed.

Drop large spoonfuls into a skillet with hot fat. Flatten the fritter if the batter is thick. Cook golden brown on both sides.

From: "Early American Recipes", by Heloise Frost.
 
When writing about fritters, have to post the southern favorite, Corn Fritters.

Corn Fritters

1 cup grated uncooked corn
1 egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
dash freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoons fresh finely chopped or 1/2 teaspoon dried fresh basil
2 tablespoons butter or shortening
powdered sugar
syrup

Thoroughly mix corn, egg, salt, sugar, pepper, flour and basil in a bowl. Heat the butter or shortening in a heavy skillet. Drop the corn mixture into the hot fat. Fry on each side, until golden brown. Tasty with powdered sugar or syrup.

Recipe: one from my Granny.
 
For all of us who like eggplant, here is an eggplant fritter recipe to try. It is from The Historic Foodie, 19th century food.

Eggplant Fritters

Pare and split open a large eggplant, boil until tender, remove all the seeds possible, and mix with two tablespoons of flour, an egg, salt and pepper, and a small onion, finely chopped; drop into spoonfuls of boiling lard, and fry brown.
 
I haven't made apple fritters in years. I have forgotten how good they are! I will have to make a batch and try them with maple syrup. The recipe I used called for powdered sugar.
 
My mom makes Cod fritters, she is Jamaican and
apparently they cook with Cod alot for breakfast.
They call it Saltfish, but it's Cod. It's the best thing in the world.

My dad said my grandfather liked codfish in the mornings for breakfast. He was born in Kentucky but the family was South Carolina - I wouldn't doubt it was picked up from the Caribbean people.
 
Potato Cakes or Fritters

4 cups mashed potatoes, seasoned with salt and pepper
2 eggs beaten
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1/2 cup all purpose flour
shortening for frying
1/2 teaspoon chopped onions or onion salt

In a large mixing bowl, combine potatoes, beaten eggs, and parsley. Stir in onion salt or onion. Form into patties and dredge in flour. Melt shortening in heavy skillet and fry potatoes until golden brown on each side.
 
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