FRITTERS, CROQUETTES, DUMPLINGS AND CRULLERS RECIPES

FRITTERS, CROQUETTES, DUMPLINGS AND CRULLERS

When cooking any article to be immersed in fat use about this proportion: 2 pounds of sweet lard to 1 of suet, which had been previously tried out. It is cheaper, also more wholesome, to use part suet than to use all lard. Save all pieces of left-over fat, either raw or cooked, from steaks, roasts, bacon or ham. Cut all up into small pieces and place in a pan in the oven until tried out, or put in a double boiler and stand over boiling water until fat is tried out. Strain and stand aside to be used as drippings. To clarify this fat, pour boiling water over, let cook a short time, strain and stand away in a cool place, when a cake of solid fat will form on top, which may be readily removed and used as drippings, or it may be added to the kettle of fat used for deep frying. Always strain fat carefully after frying croquettes, fritters, etc. Should the frying fat become dark add to the can of soap fat the economical housewife is saving. Return the clear-strained fat to the cook pot, cover carefully, stand aside in a cool place, and the strained fat may be used times without number for frying. The housewife will find it very little trouble to fry fritters, croquettes, etc., in deep fat, if the fat is always strained immediately after using, and returned to the cook pot, kept especially for this purpose. Stand on the hot range when required and the fat will heat in a few minutes, and if the fat is the right temperature, food cooked in it should not be at all greasy. When the housewife is planning to fry fritters or croquettes she should, if possible, crumb the articles to be fried several hours before frying, and stand aside to become perfectly cold. When the fat for frying is so hot a blue smoke arises, drop in the fritters or croquettes, one at a time, in order not to chill the fat or plunge a frying basket, containing only a couple of fritters at a time, in the hot fat, as too many placed in the fat at one time lowers the temperature too quickly and causes the fritters to be greasy and soggy. To test the fat before dropping in the fritters, if a small piece of bread is dropped in the fat and browns in about one minute the fat is the right temperature for frying fritters, and fritters fried at the correct temperature should be a rich brown and not at all greasy. When removing fritters from hot fat place on coarse brown paper to absorb any remaining fat. Fritters composed of vegetables, or oysters, should be served on a platter garnished with parsley, and fritters composed of fruit, should have pulverized sugar sifted over them liberally. Should a small piece of bread brown in the fat while you count twenty, fat is the correct temperature for frying croquettes, but is too hot for frying crullers or any food not previously cooked.  Some links in this article are affiliate links from which we may receive a tiny commission at no additional cost to you should you visit a merchant via our link and subsequently make a purchase.

KARTOFFLE BALLA (POTATO BALLS)

Boil until tender, 8 medium-sized (not pared) potatoes; when quite cold remove parings and grate them; fry one finely-chopped onion in a little butter until a yellow-brown; add this, also 1 egg, to the potatoes, season with salt and pepper and add flour enough to mold into balls; use only flour enough to hold the mixture together. The chopped onion may be omitted, and instead, brown small, dice-like pieces of bread in a little butter, shape dumplings into balls the size of walnuts, place a teaspoonful of the browned bread crumbs in the centre of each and add also a little chopped parsley. Drop the dumplings in salted boiling water and cook uncovered from 15 to 20 minutes. When dumplings rise to the top they should be cooked sufficiently, when remove from kettle with a skimmer to a platter; cut dumplings in half and strew over them bread crumbs, browned in butter.

"BOOVA SHENKEL"

For this excellent "Pennsylvania German" dish, which I am positive has never before been published, take 2½ pounds of stewing meat (beef preferred), season with salt and pepper and cook slowly several hours until tender.

For the filling for the circles of dough, take 12 medium-sized white potatoes, pared and thinly sliced, steamed until tender; then add seasoning to taste of salt and pepper, 2 tablespoonfuls of butter, 2 tablespoonfuls of finely-minced parsley and 1 finely-chopped onion (small); lastly, add 3 eggs, lightly beaten together, to the mixture. Allow this to stand while the pastry is being prepared in the following manner:

Pastry—Sift into a bowl 2½ cups of flour, 2 teaspoonfuls of baking powder and ½ teaspoonful of salt, 1 generous teaspoonful of lard and 1 of butter. Cut through the flour, mix with water into a dough as for pie crust. Roll thin, cut into about ten circles, and spread some of the mixture on each circle of dough. Press two opposite edges together like small, three-cornered turnover pies; drop these on to the hot meat and broth in the cook pot, closely covered. Cook slowly from 20 to 30 minutes. Before serving the "Boova Shenkel" pour over the following:

Cut slices of stale bread into dice and brown in a pan containing 1 large tablespoonful of butter and a couple tablespoonfuls of fat (which had been skimmed from top of broth before "Boova Shenkel" had been put in cook pot), add about ½ cup of milk to diced, browned bread; when hot, pour over the "Boova Shenkel" and serve with the meat on a large platter.

RICE BALLS WITH CHEESE

Place 2 cups of cold, boiled rice, well drained, in a bowl and add ½ cup of grated cheese, a little salt, ¼ cup flour and the stiffly-beaten white of one egg. Mix all together and mold into balls about the size of a small egg, with a little of the flour; then roll them in fine, dried bread crumbs, and stand away until perfectly cold. When preparing for lunch, beat the yolk of the egg with a little milk, dip the rice balls into this, then into fine, dried bread crumbs, drop in deep fat and fry a golden brown. Drain on brown paper and serve, garnished with parsley.

"KARTOFFLE KLOSE"

One quart of cold, boiled, skinned potatoes, grated. (Boil without paring the day before they are to be used, if possible.) Put into a frying pan 1 tablespoonful of butter, 1 finely-minced onion (small onion), and fry until a light brown. Remove from fire and mix with this: 2 heaped tablespoonfuls flour, 1 tablespoonful of finely-cut parsley, 2 eggs (whites beaten separately), and 2 slices of bread, cut fine. Add grated potatoes and bread crumbs, alternately, mixing together lightly with a fork; add the other ingredients, season well with salt and pepper, form into round balls the size of a walnut and drop into a stew-pan of boiling, salted water, containing a teaspoon of butter. Do not cover the stew-pan while they are cooking. As soon as the dumplings rise to the top, skim one out and cut in half to see if it is cooked through. They should take from 15 to 20 minutes to cook. Skim out of the boiling water on a platter. Cut each dumpling in half, pour over them bread crumbs browned in a pan containing a little lard and butter, and serve. The onion may be omitted and only finely-chopped parsley used, if desired, or use both. Or place the halved dumplings in pan containing a little lard and butter and chopped onion (if the latter is liked), and brown on each side, then serve.

RICE CROQUETTES (AND LEMON SAUCE)

Boil 1 cup of well-washed rice in 6 or 8 cups of rapidly-boiling water, until tender. The rice, when cooked and drained, should fill 3 cups. Prepare a cream sauce of 1 pint of milk, 3 heaping tablespoonfuls of flour and 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 egg yolks. Stir in 3 cups of flaky, cooked rice, while rice is still hot. When the mixture has cooled, mold into small cone shapes with the hands, stand aside until perfectly cold. Dip the croquettes into the whites of eggs, then roll them in fine, dried bread crumbs and fry in deep fat. If a cube of bread browns in the fat in a little longer time than a half minute, the fat is the right temperature. Eighteen croquettes were made from this quantity of rice.

Lemon Sauce—To serve with rice croquettes, cream together ½ cup of sugar, 1 tablespoonful of butter, 1 egg, 2 cups of boiling water was added and all cooked together until the mixture thickened. When cooled slightly add the juice and grated rind of one lemon. Serve in a separate bowl, and pass with the croquettes.

CORN OYSTERS

Slice off tips of kernels from cobs of corn and scrape down corn-pulp from cobb with a knife. To 1 pint of pulp add 2 eggs, 2 heaping tablespoonfuls of flour, ½ teaspoonful of salt and a pinch of cayenne pepper and of black pepper; add the 2 yolks of eggs, then stir in lightly the stiffly-beaten white of eggs and flour. Fry in only enough butter to prevent them sticking to the pan. Drop into pan by spoonfuls size of an ordinary fried oyster, brown on both sides and serve hot.

BANANA FRITTERS

From one banana was made 4 fritters. The banana was halved, cut lengthwise and then cut cross-wise. The batter will do for all fruits, clams, corn or oysters. Make a sauce of the liquor, mixed with same quantity of milk, with a tablespoon of butter added, chopped parsley and flour to thicken. When making oyster or clam fritters use same rule as for fruit fritters, using clam juice and milk instead of all milk.

For the "fritter batter," sift together 1 pint of flour, 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder and a pinch of salt. Stir slowly into it a pint of milk, then the well-beaten yolks of 3 eggs, and, lastly, the stiffly-beaten whites of eggs. Beat hard for a few minutes and fry at once in smoking hot fat. Orange sections make delicious fritters, or halves of fresh or canned peaches may be used.

Allow the bananas to stand one-quarter hour in a dish containing a small quantity of lemon juice and sugar before putting them in the batter. Lay the slices of bananas or sections of orange in the batter, then take up a tablespoonful of the batter with one slice of banana for each fritter, drop into hot fat one at a time, and fry a golden brown. Sift pulverized sugar over and serve hot. If a small piece of bread browns in one minute in the fat it is the right temperature to fry any previously uncooked food.

PARSNIP FRITTERS

Scrape and boil 5 or 6 parsnips in salted water until tender and drain. If old parsnips, cut out the centre, as it is tough and woody. Mash parsnips fine, add 1 egg yolk (white beaten separately), and added last a little salt, 1 large tablespoonful flour, ¼ teaspoonful baking powder, mold into small cakes, dredge with flour, and fry quickly to a golden brown in a tablespoonful of butter and one of drippings. Serve at once.

AUNT SARAH'S "SCHNITZ AND KNOPF"

This is an old-fashioned "Pennsylvania German" favorite. The end of a ham bone, containing a very little meat, was placed in a large kettle with a small quantity of water, with "Schnitz," or sliced, sweet, dried apples, which had been dried without removing the parings. When the apples were cooked tender in the ham broth; dumplings, composed of the following, were lightly dropped on top of the apples and broth and cooked, closely covered, from 15 to 20 minutes. Do not uncover kettle the first ten minutes. When dumplings have cooked place them with the "Schnitz" on a large platter, and serve at once.

A VERY OLD RECIPE FOR DUMPLINGS, OR "KNOPF"

One and one-half quarts of flour was sifted with 2½ tablespoonfuls of Royal baking powder, 1 teaspoonful of butter was cut through the flour in small bits, 1 egg was beaten and enough milk or water added to the egg to mix the flour into quite a soft dough. Sometimes instead of molding the dough into balls large spoonfuls were placed over the apples. Aunt Sarah had used this recipe for many years. This is a very old recipe, and from it was made a larger quantity than ordinary housekeepers usually require. Half the quantity, about 1½ pints of flour to 1¼ tablespoonfuls of baking powder, mixed according to the directions given in the first part of recipe, would be about the correct proportions for a family of ordinary size.

Aunt Sarah frequently substituted sour cherries and a teaspoonful of butter was added instead of ham and "Schnitz." Dumplings prepared from this recipe may be dropped on stewed chicken and broth and cooked or steamed, make an excellent pot-pie. Should there be more dough mixed than required for dumplings, place a panful in the oven and bake as biscuits. More baking powder is required when dough is steamed or boiled than when baked in the oven.

"KARTOFFLE KUKLEIN" (POTATO FRITTERS OR BOOFERS)

Place in a bowl 2 cups grated, pared, raw potatoes; drain off any liquid formed, then add 1 small onion, also grated; large egg or 2 small eggs, salt and pepper, 1 tablespoonful chopped parsley, ¼ teaspoonful baking powder (good measure), and a couple tablespoonfuls of flour to thicken just enough to make the fritters hold together; then drop by spoonfuls in deep, hot fat, and fry a rich brown. The fritters form into odd shapes a trifle larger than a fried oyster, when dropped in the fat.

Should the fritter batter separate when dropped in the fat, add more flour, but if too much flour is added they are not as good as when a lesser quantity is used. Drain the fritters on brown paper and garnish the platter upon which they are served with parsley. Mary's Uncle was very fond of these fritters. He preferred them to fried oysters, and always called them "potato boofers." I would not answer for the wholesomeness of these fritters. In fact, I do not think any fried food particularly wholesome.

A FEW GERMAN BEER 🍺 RECIPES

 

Granolabrau  

Category Pale Ale

Recipe Type All Grain

Fermentables

 6 lbs 6-row cracked pale malt

1 lbs white or brown rice

1 lbs yellow corn grits or flaked maize

6 oz flaked barley

4 oz oatmeal

1.5 lbs clover or orange blossom honey

 

Other

 4 oz millet

 

Yeast Wyeast German ale yeast (#1007)  

Procedure Cook rice, grits, oatmeal and millet together in plenty of water for 3 hours to gelatinize. The result should be a mushy, gummy mess.

Mash malt, barley and gelatinized grains in moderately hard water at 150F for 1-1/2 hours. Raise to 168F to deactivate enzymes. Sparge with hot water (168F) to collect 250+ degrees of extract (e.g., 6 gallons at S.G. 1.042).

Boil 1-1/2 hours, adding all but 1/2 ounce of hops after 1 hour, honey towards end of boil. Chill wort and add cold water to bring S.G. to 1.050. Pitch with working starter. Dry-hop with reserved hops in hopping bag. Primary fermentation takes 5-7 days. Wyeast 1007 will require 3-4 weeks in secondary fermenter to settle out. Bottle, then age 2 months. Drink and enjoy!

Weizen? Why Not?  

Category Wheat Beer

Recipe Type Extract

Fermentables

 6 lb Williams wheat extract

1 lb crystal malt

.5 lb toasted barley

1 lb honey

 

Hops

 2 oz Cascades hops (boil)

.5 oz Cascades hops (finish)

 

Yeast 1 package Wyeast wheat yeast

Procedure Make a 2-quart starter before brewing. Steep crystal and toasted barley in 4 gallons water for 40 minutes (use grain bags to make this easier). Add extract, honey and bittering hops. Boil wort for 1 hour. Remove from heat. Add finishing hops and steep 2 minutes. Chill and pitch yeast. After 3 days, rack to secondary. Bottle after 8 days.

Alt

Category German Ale

Recipe Type All Grain

Grains and hops used should be German.

 

Fermentables

 8 lbs pilsner malt (or 6 pounds light

4 oz 10L crystal malt

4 oz 60L crystal malt

4 oz 120L crystal malt (assumes 75% extraction

 

Hops

 6 oz German hops (Hallertauer

 

Yeast Wyeast #1338 or #1007  

Procedure Cold condition in secondary.

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