Food on the Deck: 18th Century Apple Raisin Fritters

Lil. Getting ready to make the apple fritters. They’re about as simple as can be: flour, apples, raisins (optional), hard cider. Make a paste-like batter that holds the fruit and fry to perfection.

I have been thinking about food. Probably everyone has been thinking more about food and cooking it during these unsettled times. What is new for me though is I am actually cooking more. I doubt I’ll ever truly be good at cooking. I doubt I’ll take anywhere near as much pleassure from it as some do. However, I will admit that when I have made a successful meal I get a surge of joy especially if it was something I was feeding to other people. Those other people likely only will appear in certain restricted circumstances. Greater numbers, though still small, when camping. One other, likley that will be all, when cooking on the deck as I do here. In both cases my attention seems to focus on possible foods I could take on a camping trip or even backpacking trip. The former is more likely to be a car camping excursion. Given these conditions the food I will make is apt to be simpler fare. That doesn’t mean less tasty just fewer ingredients and less complicated cooking. Sometimes that means I can delve into the past for ideas based on the idea that 200 and more years ago people were less likely to create complex recipes except for special occasions and certainly only rarely if they’re less well off. Looking at frontier cooking, cooking for travellers, and the like can be a source of inspiration. That is how I came across this Apple Fritter recipe idea from Townsend’s Savoring the Past blog. I probably came pretty close to the recipe except for the fact that I pan-fried my fritters instead of deep frying them.

Ken. The apple fritters are done and it is time to eat. Photo by Lil.

Ingredients and Notes

• 1 Large apple
• 2 cups (about) flour
• 12 ounces (about) hard cider
• 2 fistfuls of raisins (wish I had used more)
• Sprinkled salt on fritters when done cooking them
• Enough oil to cover pan for frying.

This actually ended up serving 2 people. I expect an efficient cook can prep and cook this in 20 minutes. I took a bit longer. I’m not sure how many calories though I expect it would be around 1,100 for the whole recipe with the flour accounting for about 900 calories.I’m not sure how many raisins are in two handfuls. The alcohol would cook off so not contribute to the calorie count (I think).

Recipe

1. Dice the apple into small pieces. Remember to core and de-seed it (though I wasn’t that careful with the latter one time I did this recipe and it was fine).
2. In a bowl add flour and slowly mix in the hard cider (you could also use a brown ale or just water). Your goal is to create a paste-like batter.
3. After making the batter mix in the apple dices and raisins. Get everything well coated
4. Heat your frying pan with oil to a good frying temperature. Sizzling.
5. Using a soup spoon or a bit bigger drop modest-sized (heaping spoonful) globs of mixed batter into the pan. Tap them down to flatten them a bit.
6. Fry until they begin to brown nicely. Probably about 4 minutes but it could vary.
7. Flip the fritters and continue to cook them for a similar amount of time or until the appear golden brown on both sides.
8. Take them out of the pan and salt them to taste.

We found that they do absorb oil as they cook so if you make more than one batch (we did 2 in a 10-inch pan) you may need to replenish the oil coating like we did. We used just enough oil to coat the pan.

https://youtu.be/h7KHyVPuXcg