HFF 5.4: First Fruits

The Challenge: First Fruits

The Recipe: Apple Fritters from the Royal Baker and Pastry Cook

The Date/Year and Region: New York, 1902

How Did You Make It: I started by pealing and cutting up the singular apple [at 1/4 scale, because I'm still leery of fritters]. I cut it into quarters as directed, but then decided to divide thre of them into smaller slices, since I personally don't like chunky apple in pastries. I set the apples to soak in 1/4 cup of sweet white wine (moscato) with 2 Tablespoons of sugar, and some grated nutmeg (replacing the nutmeg extract).  I let these soak for about an hour, then melted some lard on the stove top while I made up the "plain fritter batter" right above the apple fritter recipe. This is the same one I used for the filet of eggs, and again used it on a half-scale. I mixed together 1/2 cup flour, 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/8 teaspoon salt; then beat together 1 egg with 1/2 cup milk; and finally mixed the wet and dry ingredients, stirring to make a smooth batter. I then dipped the apple slices in the batter, and fried them in the lard. I sprinkled granulated sugar over the fritters before eating them.

Time to Complete: About 5 minutes to prep the apples, an hour to soak them (should have been 4), and then another 5-10 minutes mixing up the batter while the lard heated up. Approximately 20 minutes to cook.

Total Cost: All ingredients were on hand, so I didn't tally the cost.

How Successful Was It?: Better than I feared, but not really worth the work. The thinner slices cooked all the way through, and were alright. The quarter-apple was still hard in the center, which I do not like in my apple pastries (pie apple should be thinly sliced, not left in thick cubes!). I ate several of the fritters, but the egg-flavor of the batter was still quite strong, which made these a little weird at times with the sugar/fruit/nutmeg flavors. I didn't really taste the wine, but that might have been because I didn't soak the apple slices as long as I should have.

How Accurate Is It?: I didn't source an era-appropriate wine or heritage apple to use, and already noted my substitutions with the fresh ground nutmeg instead of extract, and slicing the apples thinner. Also, I probably I just need to find someone who can teach me how to make fritters.

Apple Fritters: Not Worth the Effort