Fritters are served as a vegetable or a sweet, for a lunch, dinner,
or supper, according to the ingredients used in making them. Whether
sweet or plain, the foundation batter is much the same, and, with
some additions, the first receipt given in this chapter can be used
for many kinds of fritters. By the use of Royal Baking Powder a fine
fritter batter may be stirred up in a moment, and a meal which it may
be thought necessary to extend, perhaps because of unexpected guests,
can be embellished by the addition of a delicate and tasty dish.
A fritter batter which is to be used as a medium for whole or sliced
fruit should be quite thin, as it is to serve as a cover for the
fruit. When chopped fruits or vegetables are stirred in, or the batter
is to be used plain, it should be thick enough to retain its shape
when dropped by spoonfuls into the frying-kettle. The fat should be
deep enough to cover the fritters, and it should be smoking hot when
used. Each fritter will at first sink to the bottom of the kettle;
then, as the heat starts the baking powder into action and the dough
begins to swell, it will rise to the surface, and should be gently
turned, the turning to be repeated until the fritter is finely
colored. Most fritters are done within five minutes, the time needed
to cook them being determined by one which should be cooked as a
tester.
The very word “waffles” brings to our minds a host of pleasant
recollections. The only drawback, in the old days, was that they
must be started so long before they were ready for the irons, for
home-made yeast took time to raise the batter to the requisite degree
of lightness. Now, by the use of Royal Baking Powder, they can be
prepared in five minutes. They are better than of old, too, for there
is no yeasty taste to them; they are light, tender, and toothsome,
and, what is most important, entirely digestible and wholesome.
=Plain Fritter Batter.=—1 cup flour, ½ teaspoon Royal Baking Powder, ¼
teaspoon salt, 2 eggs, 1 cup milk. Sift dry ingredients together; add
beaten eggs and milk; beat till smooth.
=Apple Fritters.=—4 large sound apples, peeled, cored, and cut each
into 4 slices, ½ gill wine, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon extract
nutmeg. Place slices of apples in bowl with sugar, wine, and extract;
cover with plate; set aside to steep two hours, then dip each slice in
plain fritter batter, fry to light brown in plenty of lard made hot
for the purpose; serve with sugar.
=Fruit Fritters.=—Any kind of fruit may be made into fritters, as
directed for apple fritters. Whole canned fruits, drained from syrup,
may also be used. Apples and other fruits may also be prepared,
coarsely chopped, stirred into a plain fritter batter, and dropped by
small spoonfuls into smoking hot fat, finishing as already directed.
=Banana Fritters.=—Peel bananas, cut in lengthwise slices. Let them
steep an hour with sugar and lemon juice, dip in fritter batter, and
fry as directed for apple fritters.
=Corn Fritters.=—To 1 pint scraped corn add ½ cup milk, ½ cup flour, 1
tablespoon melted butter, 2 beaten eggs, 1 teaspoon salt, ⅓ teaspoon
pepper, 1 teaspoon Royal Baking Powder. Beat well, and fry in small
spoonfuls as directed.
=Clam Fritters.=—Wash and dry 25 good-sized clams or 2 strings
soft-shell clams, discarding black part. Chop fine. Make a plain
fritter batter, using the clam liquor (or that and milk) in place of
milk. Stir in the chopped clams, season well with salt and pepper, and
fry as directed.
=Oyster Fritters.=—Substitute oysters for clams as in above receipt.
=Pineapple Fritters.=—Sprinkle half-inch slices of fresh pineapple
with sugar and sherry; let stand 1 hour. Dip each into plain fritter
batter, drop into deep kettle of smoking hot fat, fry brown. Drain on
paper and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
=Strawberry Fritters.=—Crush and sieve fresh berries to make 1 cup
pulp. Add 3 beaten eggs, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 cup flour mixed with 1
teaspoon Royal Baking Powder and enough more flour to make thick drop
batter. Fry in deep kettle of smoking hot fat, and serve with plenty
of mashed berries.
=Meat Fritters.=—Cut cold cooked meat in slices or fingers and dip in
batter; or chop and stir into the batter, seasoned with salt, pepper,
and herbs or chopped onion, as desired. Fry as directed.
=Rice Fritters.=—1 cup rice, 1 pint milk, 3 eggs, 1 tablespoon sugar,
2 tablespoons butter. Boil rice in milk until soft and all the milk is
absorbed, then remove, add yolks of eggs, sugar, and butter; when cold
add whites, whipped to dry froth; drop in spoonfuls in plenty of lard,
made hot for the purpose; fry them deep buff color. Serve with cream,
wine or lemon sauce.
=Hominy Fritters.=—To 1 pint hot boiled hominy add 2 beaten eggs, ½
teaspoon salt, dash of pepper, ½ cup milk. When cool add flour to make
a thin drop batter, and 1 teaspoon Royal Baking Powder. Beat and drop
in hot fat by small spoonfuls.
=Waffles.=—Sift together 1 quart flour, ⅓ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon
sugar, 2 teaspoons Royal Baking Powder. Rub in ⅓ cup butter. Add 3
eggs, whites and yolks beaten separately, and sufficient milk to make
a thin batter. Cook in hot greased waffle-irons.
=Waffles, 2.=—1 quart milk, 2 teaspoons Royal Baking Powder mixed with
3 cups flour, 1 cup melted butter, ½ teaspoon salt, whites and yolks 6
eggs, more flour to make thin batter. Bake at once.
=German Waffles.=—1 quart flour, ½ teaspoon salt, 3 tablespoons
sugar, 2 large teaspoons Royal Baking Powder, 2 tablespoons lard,
rind of 1 lemon, grated, 1 teaspoon extract cinnamon, 4 eggs, and 1
pint thin cream. Sift together flour, sugar, salt, and powder; rub in
lard cold; add beaten eggs, lemon rind, extract, and milk. Mix into
smooth, rather thick batter. Bake in hot waffle-iron, serve with sugar
flavored with extract of lemon.
=Soft Waffles.=—1 quart flour, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, 2
teaspoons Royal Baking Powder, 1 large tablespoon butter, 2 eggs,
1½ pints milk. Sift together flour, salt, sugar, and powder; rub in
butter cold; add beaten eggs and milk; mix into smooth, consistent
batter that will run easily and limpid from mouth of pitcher. Have
waffle-iron hot and carefully greased each time; fill ⅔, close it up;
when brown turn over. Sift sugar on them, serve hot.
=Rice Waffles.=—Into a batter as directed for soft waffles stir 1 cup
of rice, free from lumps; cook as directed in same receipt.
=Virginia Waffles.=—Cook ½ cup white Indian corn meal in 1½ cups
boiling water 30 minutes, adding 1½ teaspoons salt. Add 1½ cups milk,
2 tablespoons sugar, 2 tablespoons melted butter, 2 cups flour mixed
with 2 heaping teaspoons Royal Baking Powder, and 2 eggs, whites and
yolks beaten separately. Cook in hot, well-greased waffle-iron.
=Jolly-Boys.=—Mix and sift together 3 cups rye meal, 1 cup flour, ½
cup Indian corn meal, ¼ teaspoon powdered cinnamon, ½ teaspoon salt, 2
teaspoons Royal Baking Powder, and 2 tablespoons sugar. Add 1 beaten
egg, 2 tablespoons molasses, and sufficient cold water to make a thick
batter. Drop by small spoonfuls in a kettle of smoking hot fat, and
cook till brown.
[Illustration: (Decorative Design)]
Griddle Cakes, Etc.
The griddle cake as made to-day with Royal Baking Powder is another
article of food which has taken high rank upon the American table.
The heavy, sour, grease-soaked, indigestible griddle cake of old is,
where modern methods are employed, a thing of the past. The properly
made griddle cake is a delicious food, healthful, appetizing, and
nutritious.
Raising the griddle cake with yeast is altogether obsolete with expert
cooks. Mixtures of soda, saleratus, sour milk, buttermilk, etc., are
likewise not permissible. Royal Baking Powder has altogether redeemed
the griddle cake. It makes the cake light, tender, digestible, and its
preparation and baking are the work of a moment only.
Royal Baking Powder, plain, sweet milk, flour, and a little salt make
a food fit for a feast. What so simple, so easily prepared? Eggs are
altogether unessential.
The batter must be thin, the cakes made small and not too thick,—about
a good ⅛ inch thick when baked,—browned, and neatly turned. The
griddle must be merely rubbed with grease, not grease-soaked. This
is highly important. Take a thick piece of salt pork on a fork, or a
lump of suet in a piece of cheese-cloth, and rub lightly over the hot
griddle and pour the batter on immediately.
Remember that buckwheat is one of the most difficult flours to
lighten. Where it enters into combination with other materials this
fact must be recognized and a somewhat larger proportion of Royal
Baking Powder allowed. Made in the manner directed in these receipts
buckwheat cakes can be safely and profusely eaten by every one.
=Royal Wheat Cakes.=—This is the best plain hot griddle cake without
eggs. The cakes will be light, tender, and healthful. 1 quart flour,
3 teaspoons Royal Baking Powder, ½ teaspoon salt. Sift well together
and add sweet milk to make into a soft batter. Bake immediately on hot
griddle. Should be full ⅛ inch thick when baked. Smother with butter
and maple syrup or honey.
=Griddle Cakes with Eggs.=—3 cups flour, 2 teaspoons Royal Baking
Powder, 1 teaspoon salt. Mix well together, add 2 well-beaten eggs and
sufficient sweet milk to make a thin drop batter. Bake at once on a
hot, well-greased griddle. Make them thin.
=Graham Griddle Cakes.=—1 pint Graham flour, ½ pint Indian corn meal,
½ pint flour, 1 heaping teaspoon brown sugar, ½ teaspoon salt, 2
teaspoons Royal Baking Powder, 1 egg, ½ pint each of milk and water.
Sift together Graham flour, corn meal, flour, sugar, salt, and powder.
Add beaten egg, milk, and water. Mix together into a smooth batter.
Heat griddle _hot_, pour batter into cakes as large as a tea saucer.
Bake brown on one side, carefully turn and brown other side. Pile one
on the other, serve very hot, with sugar, milk, cream, or maple syrup.
=Rye Griddle Cakes.=—1 pint rye flour, ½ pint Graham flour, ½ pint
flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, ½ teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons Royal Baking
Powder, 1 egg, 1 pint milk. Sift together rye flour, Graham flour,
sugar, salt, and baking powder, add beaten egg and milk, mix into
smooth batter. Bake deep brown color on hot griddle.
=Geneva Griddle Cakes.=—1½ pints flour, 4 tablespoons sugar, ½
teaspoon salt, 1½ teaspoons Royal Baking Powder, 2 tablespoons butter,
4 eggs, nearly ½ pint milk. Rub butter and sugar to white, light
cream; add yolks of eggs, 1 at a time. Sift flour, salt, and powder
together; add to butter, etc., with milk and egg whites whipped to dry
froth; mix together into a smooth batter. Bake in small cakes; as soon
as brown, turn and brown the other side. Have buttered baking-tin;
fast as browned, lay them on it, and spread raspberry jam over them;
then bake more, which lay on others already done. Repeat this until
you have used jam twice, then bake another batch, which use to cover
them. Sift sugar plentifully over them, place in a moderate oven to
finish cooking.
=Three-Egg Griddle Cakes.=—3 cups milk, 2 heaping cups flour, ½
teaspoon salt, 3 eggs, 2 teaspoons Royal Baking Powder. Mix as for
plain griddle cakes, adding whites and yolks of eggs beaten separately.
=Huckleberry Griddle Cakes.=-½ pint huckleberries, 1½ pints flour,
1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 2 teaspoons Royal Baking
Powder, 2 eggs, 1 pint milk. Sift together flour, sugar, salt, and
powder; add beaten eggs, milk, and huckleberries (washed and picked
over). Mix into batter that will run from pitcher in thick, continuous
stream. Have griddle hot enough to form crust soon as batter touches
it. In order to confine juice of berries, turn quickly, so as to form
crust on other side; turn once more on each side to complete baking.
Blackberry or raspberry griddle cakes in same manner.
=Rice Griddle Cakes.=—2 cups cold boiled rice, 1 pint flour, 1
teaspoon sugar, ½ teaspoon salt, 1½ teaspoons Royal Baking Powder, 1
egg, little more than ½ pint milk. Sift together flour, sugar, salt,
and powder; add rice free from lumps, diluted with beaten egg and
milk; mix into smooth batter. Have griddle well-heated, bake nice
brown, not too thick; serve with maple syrup.
=Crushed Wheat Griddle Cakes.=—1 cup crushed wheat, 1½ pints flour,
1 teaspoon brown sugar, ½ teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons Royal Baking
Powder, 1 egg, 1 pint milk. Boil 1 cup crushed wheat in ¾ pint of
water 1 hour, then dilute with beaten egg and milk. Sift together
flour, sugar, salt, and powder; add to crushed wheat preparation
when quite cold; mix into smooth batter. Bake on hot griddle; brown
delicately on both sides; serve with hygienic cream sauce.
=Corn Meal Griddle Cakes.=—2 cups corn meal, 1 cup flour, ½ teaspoon
salt, 1 tablespoon molasses, 2 teaspoons Royal Baking Powder, milk or
milk and water to mix to thin batter. Bake as already directed.
=Indian Griddle Cakes.=-⅔ quart corn meal, ⅓ quart flour, 1 teaspoon
brown sugar, ½ teaspoon salt, 2 heaping teaspoons Royal Baking Powder,
2 eggs, 1 pint milk. Sift together corn meal, flour, salt, sugar, and
powder, add beaten eggs and milk, mix into a smooth batter. Bake on
very hot griddle to a nice brown. Serve with molasses or maple syrup.
=Royal Buckwheats.=—This is the most delicious of all the griddle
cakes. It has been against buckwheat cakes when made from yeast or
risen overnight that it was difficult to make them light and sweet,
and that disagreeable effects followed their eating. It is found
that by the use of the Royal Baking Powder to raise the batter these
objections have been entirely overcome, and that buckwheat cakes
are made a most delicious food, light, sweet, tender, and perfectly
wholesome, that can be eaten by any one without the slightest
digestive inconvenience. 2 cups pure buckwheat (do not use the
so-called “prepared” or “self-raising” flours), 1 cup wheat flour,
2 tablespoons Royal Baking Powder, ½ teaspoon salt, all sifted well
together. Mix with sweet milk into thin batter, and bake at once on a
hot griddle.
=Buckwheat Cakes.=—To 1½ pints pure buckwheat flour (never use
prepared or self-raising flour) add ¼ pint each wheat flour and Indian
meal, 3 heaping teaspoons Royal Baking Powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 1
tablespoon brown sugar or molasses. Sift well together, in dry state,
buckwheat, Indian meal, wheat flour, and baking powder, then add
remainder; when ready to bake add 1 pint water or sufficient to form
smooth batter that will run in a stream (not too thin) from pitcher;
make griddle hot and cakes as large as a saucer. When surface is
covered with air-holes it is time to turn cakes over; take off when
sufficiently browned.
=Bread Cakes.=-½ pound bread, 1 pint flour, 1 teaspoon brown sugar, ½
teaspoon salt, 1½ teaspoons Royal Baking Powder, ¾ pint milk, 1 egg.
Put bread, free from crust, to steep in warm water. When thoroughly
soaked, wring dry in a towel; dilute with beaten egg and milk. Sift
together flour, sugar, salt, and powder, add to prepared bread, mix
together into a smooth batter. Bake on well-heated griddle. Serve with
sugar and cream.
=Wheat (or Flannel) Cakes.=—1½ pints flour, 1 tablespoon brown sugar,
1 teaspoon salt, 2 heaping teaspoons Royal Baking Powder, 2 eggs,
1½ pints milk. Sift together flour, sugar, salt, and powder; add
beaten eggs and milk, mix into smooth batter that will run in rather
continuous stream from pitcher. Bake on good hot griddle rich brown
color, in cakes large as tea saucers. Serve with maple syrup.
=Hominy Griddle Cakes.=—Proceed as directed for rice griddle cakes;
serve with maple syrup.
=Pancakes.=—1 pint flour, 6 eggs, 1 saltspoon salt, 1 teaspoon Royal
Baking Powder, and milk to make a thin batter. Add the baking powder
to the flour, beat the whites and yolks of eggs separately; add the
yolks, salt, 2 cups milk, then the whites and the flour alternately
with milk, until the batter is of right consistency. Run 1 teaspoon
lard over the bottom of a hot frying-pan, pour in a large ladleful of
batter, and fry quickly. Roll pancake up like a sheet of paper, lay
upon a hot dish, put in more lard, and fry another pancake. Keep hot
over boiling water. Send ½ dozen to table at a time. Serve with sauce,
jelly, or preserves.
=English Pancakes.=—1 pint milk, 2 eggs, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 cup
flour, 1 teaspoon Royal Baking Powder, 1 cup cream, pinch salt. Sift
flour, salt, and powder together; add to it eggs beaten with sugar and
diluted with milk and cream; mix into thin batter. Have small round
frying-pan; melt little butter in it; pour about ½ cup batter in it,
turn pan round, that batter may cover the pan, put on hot fire; turn
it and brown other side. Butter each and roll it up; sprinkle with
powdered sugar.
=French Pancakes.=—Proceed as directed for English pancakes; when all
are done, spread each with any kind of preserves, roll up, sift over
plenty sugar, glaze with red-hot poker.