Frying Batter

Ingredients

• a quarter of a pound of flour
• a pinch of salt
• two tablespoonfuls of pure salad oil
• one gill of lukewarm water
• the whites of two eggs

Method

1. 1

   Mix flour and salt smoothly with salad oil.

2. 2

   Gradually stir in lukewarm water and beat well.

3. 3

   Let stand, then stir in whisked egg whites before using.

Nutrition per serving

As published

This recipe was extracted from The girl's own cookery book (1882) by Phillis Browne, page 60. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

frying batter, and fry. 5th. Beat an egg lightly, lay the fish in it, brush it all over with egg, then stick a fork into the head of the fish and lift it out, lay it on bread-crumbs, shake crumbs over it to cover it entirely, lift it out once more with a fork, and press the crumbs on gently with the flat side of a knife, and fry. When egg and bread-crumbs are used, the fish may be prepared some time before it is to be fried. Perhaps you are inclined to say. Why not turn the fish with our fingers ? Why is it necessary that we should use a fork or skewer ? Because, after the fish has been egged it must not be handled. If it is, the egg will be taken off in places, and this will prevent the crumbs adhering to the fish. It is desirable, also, that the crumbs should be pressed on with a knife, otherwise they also may drop otf and spoil the look of the fish. The fish is now ready, and when the fat also is ready for it, it may be laid in the hot fat, which should be deep enough to cover it. I daresay you remember that I said that the fat was hot enough when a light blue film came from it. Yet even in this there is room for the exercise of judgment and experience. Large fish, which need to be cooked through, should not have the fat so hot as small fish, which require very little cooking. The rule, therefore, is, the smaller the fish the hotter the fat. Whitebait, which are the smallest of all fish, need fat so hot that it seems to be almost on the point of 94 The Girl’s Own Cookay .Book. burning. A good-sized sole, on the other hand, should be cooked in fat from which the blue film rises only. Very large flat fish are seldom cooked whole, however. They are usually filleted, and this process was described at our last lesson. Filleted fish and small fish should be put into the fat in a frying basket. I know cpiite well what some of my readers are think- ing as they read this : “ It is all veiy well for you, who have just been to see the frying kettle at the fish-shop, two feet square and six or eight inches deep, to speak of how fish should be fried. But we have no pan of this size. Small pieces of fish we might fry in an iron sauce- pan, but for large fish, such as soles, we have to use the frying-pan, and what can we do with it?” I do not suppose you have such a pan, and it is quite certain that if you have not got it you cannot use it, and also that you must manage with the utensils you have at your command. If you have a sole to fry, and do not possess a pan large enough or deep enough to contain fat which will cover the fish entirely, you must use the frj’ing- pan, and cook first one side of the fish and then the other. The frying will not be so easily done in this case, but it can be done for all that. Tiiere is this consolation attend- ing it : it is very usually done thus. For one person who has a large frying kettle there are hundreds who have nothing but a frying-pan, and many of the latter can fry fish very well too. The only thing that we have to re- member under these circumstances is to have at any rate a good depth of fat, as much as we can get and find room ‘ for, and to have it hot. Then we lay our fish in, and j when one side is cooked we turn the fish skilfully over to ' the other side. This is the awkward part of the business. Stick a strong fork into the fish near the head and turn it that way ; do not attempt to do so with the slice. When , the fish is done, drain it, put it between two folds of kitchen I paper to free it from grease (all fried things should be laid 1 on kitchen paper before they are served) ; then lay it on « a dish covered with a napkin or with a fish paper, and it is ready. “ When the fish is done 1” But how are we to know when it is done ? How long will it take to fry ? That must depend upon its size and thickness. A moderate- Ho7v to Cook Fish. 95 sized sole, for example, would be done in about seven minutes, a very large sole would require fifteen minutes ; fillets of fish would be done in about a minute. There is one thing to be said : it is only while you are new to the business that you will have any doubt on this point. A little experience will enable you to tell at once when the fish is cooked. Till you gain this experience you will do no harm if you test the fish — that is, stick a knife into the thickest part as soon as it colours, and take a peep to see how things are progressing. When the flesh leaves the bone easily, the fish is cooked. It ought to look moist, not dry, otherwise it is over-cooked. It is well to re- member that fish is much more frequently over-cooked than under-cooked. It is an e.xcellent plan to have some finely-sifted bread raspings at hand, and to sprinkle a pinch over the place where the knife was stuck in, and any other weak parts there may be, at the last moment, when the fish is dished ready for the table, just as artists give one or two finishing touches to their pictures after they are hung on the walls of the Academy. A little while ago I said that frying batter was an excel- lent coating for fish that was to be fried. This batter is made as follows ; — Frying Baiter. — Put a quarter of a pound of flour and a pinch of salt into a bowl, and mix it very smoothly with two tablespoonfuls of pure salad oil. Stir in gradually one gill of lukewarm water, and beat well and briskly. Let the batter stand for a while, then ten minutes before it is wanted stir lightly into it the whites of two eggs

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.