Deep Fryimg (was Re: SC - organ meats)
Robin Carroll-Mann
harper at idt.net
Mon Apr 24 19:29:55 PDT 2000
And it came to pass on 24 Apr 00,, that LrdRas at aol.com wrote:
> But lard was used in abundance for frying until vegetable oils became
> common in the middle of the 20th century. The lack of vegetable oils in
> large amounts before that time would not have been a factor in determining
> whether deep frying was common or not.
There's a recipe in de Nola for "pomelos" (a relative of grapefruit) which
are actually sweet cheese fritters. It says, in part:
"and when everything is incorporated and kneaded take a very clean
casserole, and cast into it a good quantity of sweet pork fat or fine
sweet oil, and when the pork grease or oil boils, make some balls from
said dough, like toy balls or round oranges, and cast them into the
casserole in such a manner that the ball goes floating in the casserole"
(In this context, "sweet oil" would be good-quality olive oil, I think.)
Most of the period fried-food recipes I've seen call for pan-frying.
Perhaps the significant factor is not the availability of oil, but ease of
technique?
Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)
mka Robin Carroll-Mann
harper at idt.net
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