Medieval Apple or Pear Fritters

Medieval Apple or Pear Fritters

Ingredients

Fruit:

• 2 to 3 large apples or hard pears

Batter:

• 220 g (8 ounces) of plain flour


• ½ teaspoon of salt


• 1 tablespoon of dried yeast


• 1 large egg


• ½ pint of cheap ale or beer
• Oil for deep frying
  

  (we used groundnut oil)

Method:

• Put the beer in a saucepan and heat until lukewarm.
• 
  Cook's Note: Or place in a plastic container and heat it in the microwave.

• Put about a quarter of the beer into a mixing bowl and add the yeast.
• Leave for ten to fifteen minutes until the yeast is dissolved and the mixture becomes cloudy.
• Stir enthusiastically for a minute or two.
• Add all the other ingredients and whisk thoroughly until the mixture is smooth.

• Cook's note: We used a hand blender to get the mixture really smooth. It was a lot less work than a whisk!

Above pic: Fruit segments

• Leave the mixture in a warm place so the yeast can work.

• Cook's note: The mix should double in size in about an hour.

• Peel the apples and/or pears. Core the fruit, then cut into chunky wedges or segments.

• Cook's note: The correct segment size is learnt by trial and error. You know you have the right size when your finished fritters are cooked right through by the time the batter starts to burn. If they are still a little underdone in the middle, then cut the wedges smaller next time.

• Heat your oil in a deep saucepan or a deep fat fryer. It is ready when a drop of batter dripped into the oil turns brown and returns to the surface almost immediately.

• Cook's Note: The oil will be very hot and dangerous if not handled with due care and attention. Do not leave unattended or in easy access of children. Keep fire prevention equipment to hand when cooking with hot oil.

• Dip a segment of apple or pear in the batter mixture. Swirl it around until every part is covered.
• Very carefully lower your batter-coated fruit into the hot oil.

• Cook's note: If you burn yourself, immediately remove the oil from the heat, and run the effected skin under cold water for 10 minutes. If serious, seek medical advice.

• Turn the fritter over as it begins to brown to make sure both sides are evenly cooked.
• The fritter is cooked when it has turned golden brown

Above pic: The finished fritters

Method continued:

• Remove the cooked fritter carefully. Use a utensil with holes in it to allow the oil to drain out.
• Drain fritter thoroughly on a piece of kitchen roll
• Place on a clean plate and sprinkle with lemon juice and castor sugar.



• Cook's Note: The fritter can be eaten with fingers or a small fork. Beware of burning your mouth. The fruit stays very hot and the batter is not an indicator of the internal temperature.

Extra notes:

• The original recipe called for saffron. We tried this but didn't feel that it added much to the overall look or taste of the dish. If you want to put it back in then just go ahead!


• For another medieval taste, try making cinnamon sugar. Push three or four cinnamon sticks into a jar full of sugar and leave there until the sugar has absorbed both the aroma and flavour.


• The same batter can be used to make delicious savoury pancakes filled with cheese and ham or crepes filled with pureed fruit or cooked apple or pear.

History:

By the end of the Middle Ages it was customary to end a meal with a sweet or sugary dish. Puddings included dishes of various dried and fresh fruits, either covered in boiled sugar syrup or served as a puree. Spices such as cinnamon were often incorporated into the syrup or puree to add a distinctive flavour.

As a warm alternative, fritters and crepes were common fare. The fritters were usually served with extra sugar to sprinkle as desired or sweet custard. The custard would generally be made from almond milk out. and eggs.

Original English recipe dating from around 1430 for the "Fretoure"

"Take whete floure, Ale est, Safroun, & Salt, & bete alle to-gederys as þikke as þou schuldyst make oþer bature in fleyssche tyme; & þan take fayre Applys, & kut hem in maner of Fretourys, & wete hem in þe bature vp on downne, & frye hem in fayre Oyle, & caste hem in a dyssche; & caste Sugre þer-on, & serue forth."

Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery Books

Austin, Thomas, edition.
Early English Text Society, Oxford University Press, London, 1964

Below pic: Dipping fruit in the batter