SC - Apple Fritters, For submission to the Chronus Draconum

[Mordonna22 at aol.com]

>From Mordonna’s Kitchen 

    Here is a wonderfully tasty dish to enliven the usually bland, dull fare 
of the
upcoming Lenten season.
    From Take a Thousand Eggs or More: a colleciton of 15th century recipes :b
y Cindy Renfrew: a translation of medieval recipes from Harleian MS. 279, 
Harleian MS 4016, and extracts of Ashmole MS. 1439, Laud MS.553, and Douce 
MS. 55 from Two Fifteenth Century Cookery Books  edited by Thomas Austin 

Harleian MS. 4016
133 Lente ffrutours.  Take goode floure, Ale yeest, Saffron, and salt, and 
bete al to-gidre as thick as o(th)er maner frutours of fflesh: and (th)en 
take appels, and pare hem, and kut hem in maner of ffrutours, and wete hem in 
(th)e batur vp and downe, and fry hem in oyle, and cast hem in a dissh, and 
cast sugur (th)eron ynowe, and serue hem forth hote.

Lenten Fritters.  Take good flour, ale yeast, saffron, and salt, and beat all 
together as thick as other manner fritters of flesh : and then take apples, 
and pare them, and cut them in manner of fritters, and wet them in the 
batter, up and down, and fry them in oil, and cast them in a dish, and cast 
sugar thereon enough, and serve them forth hot.

My adaptation:

Apple Fritters for Lent
4 medium size apples 2 cups plain flour
8 ounces ale
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
a pinch of saffron
2 Tbs. boiling water
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup confectioners sugar

Peel and core apples and cut into thin round slices.
Heat ale in a small pan until warm but not hot (body temperature).
Add the yeast to the ale.
Add the saffron to the boiling water.
Add the saffron mix to the ale.
Add the salt to the flour, then stir in the ale mix until it forms a batter 
thick enough to cling to the apples.
Allow the batter to rest 20 minutes.
Heat the oil until a drop of batter sizzles and rises to the top when added.
Dip the apple slices into the batter and drop into the oil a few at a time.  
Cook until golden brown.  
Drain briefly on  brown paper 
Place sugar in a bag, add cooked fritters a few at a time and shake to coat.
Serve hot..

Notes:  I prefer a good multi-purpose apple such as Gala to the imore insipid 
eating apples like Red Delicious. 
While modern confectioners sugar contains corn starch, it can be substituted 
for the very fine sugar often used in dishes like this.


Mordonna The Cook is a late fifteenth century Irish Cook. She can both read 
and write and has studied cooking all her life.  She is the alter ego of Anne 
DuBosc, a fourteenth French Noblewoman who can neither read nor write and 
never learned to cook.
Pat Griffin has been cooking in the SCA for four years and (almost) five 
Estrellas.
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