Tasty fritters, sweet, as well as savoury, can be made with vegetables, and fruit ; fish, both fresh, and cooked ; remains of cold meats, pounded cheese, and lastly, by batter, pure, and unassisted, in the form of " beignets souffles,'' ^"c. As the main point in this kind of frying consists in providing a bath of fat for the thing-to-be-cooked, it 196 CULINARY JOTTINGS FOR MADRAS. is essential that we should choose a deep, rather than a broad and shallow vessel, for the operation. The ordinary frying-pan sold at hard-ware shops is of no use what- ever for this branch of the cook's work. The pan you want should look like a stew-pan with double handles, and its sides cut down half-way ; its diameter need not exceed eight or nine inches. It may be as heavy as you like, for it must, of necessity, be kept steady over the fire when in use. A handle like that of an o»/eZ(?^^e-pan is therefore unnecessary, for you never require to shake a/nVz^re-pan. Opinions differ as to the best frying medium. The great Careme advocated the use of the fat skimmed from the surface of the pot-au-feu after having been carefully strained through muslin. Clarified suet, for which I give directions in ray chapter on pastry, is favorably regarded by GoufFe. Butter is hardly to be recommended for this kind of frying as it heats very quickly and is apt to burn. Oil is, of coui'se, an excellent medium, but it is difficult to get good out in India, and too expensive. Lard (imported) may be used, but I do not like it even in England for it always adheres to a certain extent to the thing fried. Good Indian ghee made at home, or procured fresh and then clarified as recommended for suet, is by no means to be despised j that sold on the Neilgherries is, as a rule, excellent. Besides your pan, for delicate fritter work there is nothing more useful than the wire frying-basket, — a cheap thing enough, and not hard to make. Pi^ovided with this utensil, which may be described as an open-ioorlc, draining- pan, slightly smaller in diameter than the y>iV?e re-pan, the whole process of working may be thus described : — 1. — Make your batter, to begin with, according to one of the receipts hereafter given, and place it in its bowl on one side, covered up from flies, dust, &c. FRITTERS. 197 2. — Prepare your fish, meat, vegetable, frnit, or what- ever you are going to cook, and arrange the pieces on a flat dish, on a table handy, with the bowl of batter next to it. 3. — Take your /niJ?tre-pan, see that it is thoroughly clean, and dry. 4. — Set it on the griddle rest, over a good bright charcoal fire, and empty the fat, or whatever you use as a frying medium, into it bountifully. 5. — When melted, the fat ought to be quite two inches deep. 6. — Determine if the fat be hot enough by throwing a sippet of bread into it : if the sippet fizzes, and produces large air bubbles, the fritter bath is ready. 7. — Now, dip your morsel-to-be-fried into the batter, which should be of sufiicient consistency to coat it nicely ; plunge the frying-basket into the fat, and slide the fritter into it. 8. — The fritter must be covered by the fat, not partly in, and partly out of it. Fan the fire now vigorously. 9. — Let it frizzle, and when of a rich golden tint, lift up the basket, and hold it a moment or two over the pan so that its contents may drain.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Tasty fritters, sweet, as well as savoury, can be made with vegetables, and fruit ; fish, both fresh, and cooked ; remains of cold meats, pounded cheese, and lastly, by batter, pure, and unassisted, in the form of " beignets souffles,'' ^"c. As the main point in this kind of frying consists in providing a bath of fat for the thing-to-be-cooked, it is essential that we should choose a deep, rather than a broad and shallow vessel, for the operation. The ordinary frying-pan sold at hard-ware shops is of no use whatever for this branch of the cook's work. The pan you want should look like a stew-pan with double handles, and its sides cut down half-way ; its diameter need not exceed eight or nine inches. It may be as heavy as you like, for it must, of necessity, be kept steady over the fire when in use. A handle like that of an omelette-pan is therefore unnecessary, for you never require to shake friture-pan. Opinions differ as to the best frying medium. The great Careme advocated the use of the fat skimmed from the surface of the pot-au-feu after having been carefully strained through muslin. Clarified suet, for which I give directions in ray chapter on pastry, is favorably regarded by GoufFe. Butter is hardly to be recommended for this kind of frying as it heats very quickly and is apt to burn. Oil is, of course, an excellent medium, but it is difficult to get good out in India, and too expensive. Lard (imported) may be used, but I do not like it even in England for it always adheres to a certain extent to the thing fried. Good Indian ghee made at home, or procured fresh and then clarified as recommended for suet, is by no means to be despised j that sold on the Neilgherries is, as a rule, excellent. Besides your pan, for delicate fritter work there is nothing more useful than the wire frying-basket, — a cheap thing enough, and not hard to make. Pi^ovided with this utensil, which may be described as an open-ioorlc, drainingpan, slightly smaller in diameter than the friture-pan, the whole process of working may be thus described : — 1. — Make your batter, to begin with, according to one of the receipts hereafter given, and place it in its bowl on one side, covered up from flies, dust, &c. FRITTERS. 197 2. — Prepare your fish, meat, vegetable, frnit, or whatever you are going to cook, and arrange the pieces on a flat dish, on a table handy, with the bowl of batter next to it. 3. — Take your friture-pan, see that it is thoroughly clean, and dry. 4. — Set it on the griddle rest, over a good bright charcoal fire, and empty the fat, or whatever you use as a frying medium, into it bountifully. 5. — When melted, the fat ought to be quite two inches deep. 6. — Determine if the fat be hot enough by throwing a sippet of bread into it : if the sippet fizzes, and produces large air bubbles, the fritter bath is ready. 7. — Now, dip your morsel-to-be-fried into the batter, which should be of sufiicient consistency to coat it nicely ; plunge the frying-basket into the fat, and slide the fritter into it. 8. — The fritter must be covered by the fat, not partly in, and partly out of it. Fan the fire now vigorously. 9. — Let it frizzle, and when of a rich golden tint, lift up the basket, and hold it a moment or two over the pan so that its contents may drain.

Culinary jottings