Does anyone make their own potato fritters?

[wmrcomputers]

If so, how do YOU do YOURS?

Plenty of recipe's online, but just wanted to hear from anyone who has their own method.

I quite fancy trying some beer battered ones!

(Random post for gone 11pm, eh?)

 

[Glam]

Oooooh,perhaps we could start up a cookery thread? Unless there's one already??

 

[Gramaisc]

Oooooh,perhaps we could start up a cookery thread? Unless there's one already??

basil has a Food... thread..

 

[Glam]

Oooooh,perhaps we could start up a cookery thread? Unless there's one already??

basil has a Food... thread..

Ah! Yes,I've bunged me bit on there before..... me mother was a natural blonde,that's my excuse and i'm sticking to it! x

 

[Nicedave]

Excellent forum, good management,Hope you have good luck every day, every day fun...
[URLs removed]

Yes .well .........doesnt help in the quest for the perfect fritter

 

[Tinkerbell]

S/he has written the same post in 3 random threads.

 

[Tinkerbell]

Oooooh,perhaps we could start up a cookery thread? Unless there's one already??

Agreed x

Ref the potatoe fritters, I get a cheese grater, grate the raw potatoes and just fry them (slowly) in a pan. You can make them as thick or as thin as you want lol

Lovely x

 

[Admin]

Excellent forum, good management,Hope you have good luck every day, every day fun...

Yes .well .........doesnt help in the quest for the perfect fritter

Twas but a spammer. They are gone now.

Oooooh,perhaps we could start up a cookery thread? Unless there's one already??

There is indeed! Please direct yourselves here, and get posting your favourite recipes in The Cookery Thread!

 

[wmrcomputers]

That link doesn't work for me Admin

 

[Admin]

That link doesn't work for me Admin

Apologies; it's sorted now.

The Cookery Thread.

 

[flossietoo]

By fritter, do you mean the kind that is deep fried - I assume so, if you are going to use beer batter. If so, you can make a batter using the following ingredients:
1 3/4 cups self-raising flour
1 good pinch of salt
a generous amount of ground black pepper
1/2 tsp paprika (optional)
1 cup beer
100 ml water (approx)

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Then make a well in the middle and add the beer and water. Mix well then let stand for an hour until it froths up. All you have to do then is dip sliced potatoes into the batter and deep fry. Keep the slices in a bowl of water until you are ready to dip, so they don't go brown. I've used cauliflower, sweet potato and mushrooms, too. I've also done curried ones (a bit like pakora) by chopping the veg a bit smaller, adding some cumin and putting some curry powder in the batter.

For potato cakes you basically mash potatoes then add stuff like leeks, spice, onion etc, a bit of flour and some beaten egg - then shallow fry.

Alternatively, go for a rosti-style thing of grated potato shaped into patties and shallow fry.

 

[wmrcomputers]

Will give your recipe a try and let you know how it goes.Thanks flossie!

 

[flossietoo]

I'm quite envious - on a diet at the moment, so such food is out of the question. Two large potatoes should give you about 20 slices. When you remove them from the soaking water, the dryer you can get them, the better. I usually pat them dry in a clean tea towel and then shake them with a bit of flour before dipping in the batter. The oil, obviously needs to be really hot. I don't know how it works with a deep fat fryer as we don't have one (we like to pretend that we don't eat fried food) and so dice with death using a big saucepan and a metal slotted spoon. You need to put them in a few at a time and sort of swish them around a bit so that they cook through and go properly brown all over. Then remove and put onto paper towels to make them less greasy. The teacher in my Indian cookery class always said to use sparkling mineral water in batter because she said it made it lighter - I suppose you get the same effect here with the beer.

 

[Gramaisc]

 

[wmrcomputers]

A question flossietoo - have you ever tried adding an egg to your batter mix? And if so, what's the difference in taste / cooking effects etc.?

I've been looking at the recipe's available through google, and essentially most of them are just flour and beer, maybe a pinch of salt & pepper. However some say to also add an egg yolk, some say add just an egg white, and others say a whole egg.

When I think batter, I think pancakes / yorkshire puds etc... and everything like that I've ever made includes an egg somewhere along the way.

 

[wmrcomputers]

The teacher in my Indian cookery class always said to use sparkling mineral water in batter because she said it made it lighter - I suppose you get the same effect here with the beer.

From what I've read up, it's the yeast in the beer which makes the batter light and crispy rather than the "fizz". Most recipes also suggest leaving it for up to an hour to stand before use, until the batter goes "really frothy"

 

[age'd parent]

The teacher in my Indian cookery class always said to use sparkling mineral water in batter because she said it made it lighter - I suppose you get the same effect here with the beer.

From what I've read up, it's the yeast in the beer which makes the batter light and crispy rather than the "fizz". Most recipes also suggest leaving it for up to an hour to stand before use, until the batter goes "really frothy"

Sadly there is no yeast in most beers these days, its the fizz that provides the bubbles in the batter,
unless you have access to home brewed beer like what my missus has, then you can leave it to rise for
a while, mmm batter fritters and beer.

(Calls out "Ann how about some fritters instead of chips tonight")

 

[flossietoo]

A question flossietoo - have you ever tried adding an egg to your batter mix? And if so, what's the difference in taste / cooking effects etc.?

I've been looking at the recipe's available through google, and essentially most of them are just flour and beer, maybe a pinch of salt & pepper. However some say to also add an egg yolk, some say add just an egg white, and others say a whole egg.

When I think batter, I think pancakes / yorkshire puds etc... and everything like that I've ever made includes an egg somewhere along the way.

I haven't tried adding an egg but don't take that as any kind of advice. I'm not a 'proper' cook and as a result, tend to follow recipes fairly closely. I'll add the odd flavouring but nothing much else. I've buried too many soups to be adventurous.

 

[wmrcomputers]

Okay in the end I opted for what looked like a simple and well used recipe, which was...

250g self raising flour (sieved)
300ml lager
1 egg

Simply mix the egg into the lager, then slowly add this to the flour whisking until smooth and the consistency required (I probably used about 250 - 270ml.)

The beer batter tasted FAB! Everyone in the house liked it. However my potato was too hard, despite the fact that I even boiled the slices off in water for 5 or 6 miinutes beforehand to try and ensure they would be soft.

I think next time I will have to go for a longer pre-boil or thinner slices might do the trick.

Anyway, the batter was GRRRRREAT!

 

[Ecker]

The use of beer and lager sounds like a variation on a theme of tempura batter which uses very cold sparkling water to give a very light and crisp batter and is wonderful on fish.

Apparently very cold water is used to stop the batter absorbing too much of the oil.

The major difference between cold water and beer or lager appears to be, the cold water batter should be used as quickly as possible. I am going to try combinations of water and beers using Desire (pronounced: Deseray, couldn't find the e with an accent key combination) potatoes for a fluffy interior and crisp exterior.

If you parboil your potatoes first, after straining them, return them to the empty pan on the stove for about 40 seconds and gently move them about a bit over a low light.

And may all your doughnuts turn out looking like ........ (Copyright: Johnny Craddock)