a.k.a. Des bignets de pommes a la Bavarre.
“Pare and quarter some large pippins, lay them to soak in brandy, fine sugar, cinnamon and lemon-peel, and toss them often. Your dinner being almost ready, dry them in a cloth, tumble about well in fine flour, and fry them all very tender in hogs lard ; dish them up, and sift plenty of fine sugar over them, colour nicely with a salamander, and send them up.”
William Verral, A Complete System of Cookery (1759)
A nice, simple recipe today. Sliced appled soaked in spiced brandy, coated in flour and fried up in, er… pork fat? Butter would do just as nicely, I’m sure. Although having said that, if you’d just fried up some good bacon and had some fat left in the pan… now there’s an idea.
Mr Verral suggests finishing them by browning them with a salamander – which in this context would be a long-handled iron implement heated in the fire and then held to the apple slices to scorch them a little – but you could always give them a quick blast under a hot grill, or use a kitchen blow-torch, to the same effect.
Serve hot with a proper vanilla ice-cream or cider apple sorbet, I reckon. But what about you? How would you like your Apple Fritters a la Bavarre? As always, if you have a go at making them (especially if you use a salamander!) then please do let me know, either via the comments below, or by sending photos and notes by email.