Recipes

Strawberry Fritters

Date

July 28, 2021

Learn about this recipe from our Historic Foodways staff, then try it at home.

This French recipe works well with any fruit.

Learn how we make this recipe in our kitchens based on the 18th-century description below, then use our 21st-century translation to try the recipe at home!

Watch How It's Made

Strawberry Fritters

18th Century

Make a paste with some flour, a spoonfull of brandy, half a glass of white wine, the whites of two eggs beat and green lemon shred fine. Mix it well, neither too thick nor too thin. It should rope in falling from a spoon. Dip some large strawberrys in to it, fry them and glaze them with a salamander

— Menon. “French Family Cook”

21st Century

Ingredients

1 lb. all-purpose flour
5-8 oz. of white wine
2 large eggs
2 Tbsp. brandy
zest of two lemons (approximately 2 tsp.)
2 lb. strawberries
1 cup of sugar
1 lb. of lard or peanut oil

Instructions

Make a batter with the first four ingredients. Add the lemon zest. The batter is right when it resembles a medium pancake batter and can make a rope or a figure eight in the bowl as it drips from a spoon.
Dunk the strawberries in the batter and then set them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. When the pan is full, put it in the refrigerator for about an hour.
Melt the lard in a frying pan. When the lard has reached 360 degrees on a thermometer, fry the strawberries in the hot fat.
Fry them a nice brown, then dust them with sugar.
Put the sugared strawberries under a broiler for a minute or two to melt the sugar.