French Fritter Batter (French Cook), No. 1.

Put a heaping cupful of flour into a bowl; add two yolks of eggs, a table-spoonful of olive oil, which is better than melted butter, and one or two table-spoonfuls of brandy, wine, or lemon-juice.[E] Stir it well, adding, little by little, water enough to give it the thickness of ordinary batter. This may be used at once; but it is better to put it away for a day, or even for a week. At the moment of cooking, stir in well the whites of two eggs beaten to a very stiff froth.

Fritter Batter (No. 2).

Ingredients: One pint of milk, three eggs, a little salt, one pint of flour. It can be made with or without a tea-spoonful of baking-powder.

Beat the eggs well; add part of the milk and salt, then the flour and milk alternately, beating it all quickly, and cooking it immediately, dropping it by the spoonful into boiling-hot lard. The fritters are improved by using prepared flour, Horsford’s or Hecker’s being especially good.

Pine-apple, Apple Preserve, or Peach Fritters.

Add a pint or less of any of these fruits, cut into small pieces, to either of the above receipts. When done, sprinkle sugar over the tops.

Oyster or Clam Fritters (No. 1).

Chop, not too fine, twenty-five of either clams or oysters (bearded or not), and mix them in the fritter batter of either of the above receipts.

Clam Fritters (No. 2).

Strain one pint of clams, saving the juice; add to this juice sufficient water to make one pint; mix into it one egg, well beaten, and sufficient prepared flour to make a light batter, also the clams chopped, and some salt. Drop by the spoonful into boiling-hot lard.

Kentish Fritters (Mrs. Acton).

Beat up the whites of three eggs and the yolks of six, with half a pound of flour, a cupful of milk, and a large tea-spoonful of yeast. Put the mixture into a jar, and set it near the stove until the next day; then add to the batter two large apples chopped. Drop this by the spoonful into boiling lard. Sprinkle over sugar.

Fried Cream (CrÊme Frite).

Every one should try this receipt: It will surprise many to know how soft cream could be enveloped in the crust, while it is an exceedingly good dish for a dinner course, or for lunch or tea. When the pudding is hard, it can be rolled in the egg and bread-crumbs. The moment the egg touches the hot lard it hardens and secures the pudding, which softens to a creamy substance very delicious.

Ingredients: One pint of milk, five ounces of sugar (little more than half a cupful), butter the size of a hickory-nut, yolks of three eggs, two table-spoonfuls of corn starch, and one table-spoonful of flour (a generous half cupful altogether), stick of cinnamon one inch long, one half tea-spoonful of vanilla.

Put the cinnamon into the milk, and when it is just about to boil stir in the sugar, and the corn starch and flour, the two latter rubbed smooth with two or three table-spoonfuls of extra cold milk; stir it over the fire for fully two minutes, to cook well the starch and flour; take it from the fire, stir in the beaten yolks of the eggs, and return it a few moments to set them; now, again taking it from the fire, remove the cinnamon, stir in the butter and vanilla, and pour it on a buttered platter until one-third of an inch high. When cold and stiff, cut the pudding into parallelograms, about three inches long and two inches wide; roll these carefully, first in sifted cracker-crumbs, then in eggs (slightly beaten and sweetened), then again in the cracker-crumbs. Dip these into boiling-hot lard (a wire basket should be used if convenient), and when of fine color take them out, and place them in the oven for four or five minutes to better soften the pudding. Sprinkle over pulverized sugar, and serve immediately.

Peach, Apricot, or Apple FrittÉrs (French Cook).

The fresh or the canned fruit may be used. If fresh, pare, core, and cut them in halves. In either case, let them remain two or three hours in brandy, rum, or wine, with plenty of sugar sprinkled over, with some grated lemon peel or zest. When they have absorbed the flavor of these surroundings, drain, and dip them into the fritter batter (No. 1). If rum is used for marinating the fruit, it should be also used in the batter. When the fritters are done and well drained, sprinkle powdered sugar over them.

Bread Fritters.

Having cut off the crust, cut the bread into any shape preferred, such as squares, circles, diamonds, etc. Let it soak in custard (milk, one or two eggs, sugar, and a flavoring of either lemon-zest, or vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, rose-water, brandy, or wine). When well soaked (not enough, however, to break into pieces), roll it first in bread crumbs, then in beaten egg (sweetened and flavored), and again in bread or cracker crumbs, and fry in boiling lard. Serve the fritters sprinkled with powdered sugar, with or without a sweet sauce.

Pork Fritters (see page 164).

Corn Fritters.

Ingredients: The corn cut from seven ears, one pint of milk, one egg beaten, salt, prepared flour enough to make a light batter. Drop by the table-spoonful into boiling-hot lard.

Apple Fritters.

Pare some fine apples, and with an apple-corer cut out the core from the centre of each; now cut them across in slices, about one-third of an inch thick, having the round opening in the centre; dip these in either fritter batter No. 1 or No. 2; fry in boiling lard; sprinkle over sugar, and serve in a circle, one overlapping the other, with or without a sweet sauce in the centre.

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