Hot Smile! Southern Fried Apples/ Peach Fritters! 🌞

Last edited Wed Aug 6, 2025, 06:06 PM - Edit history (1)

Fried Apples



SERVES 4


Fried apples used to be a common breakfast dish, and an indispensable
accompaniment for that luxurious hog-killing-time breakfast: biscuits
stuffed with fried pork tenderloin. They still make a fine showing for
breakfast or brunch but can serve as a side dish for any pork, game, or
poultry that does not already have a sweet sauce. Needless to say, they also
make a good dessert.

In most of the traditional recipes, apple rings or wedges were fried in
bacon drippings without any kind of breading, but this is how my
grandmother used to do them.In choosing apples for frying, look for tart, firm fruit such as my
favored Arkansas Blacks, Winesaps, or Granny Smiths. There is a very
brief period in the beginning of apple season when Red and Gold Delicious
apples will work, but they must be very firm. If they don’t have a crisp snap
when you bite into them raw, they’ll only turn to mush when cooked. Leave
them for making applesauce.

Ed. Note: Please don't use delicious apples, you'll just be
short-changing yourself!

Lard, bacon drippings, clarified butter, or vegetable oil for frying
4 small, tart apples, or 2 if large
½ cup all-purpose flour
Confectioners’ sugar in a shaker
Powdered cinnamon in a shaker
1 recipe Bourbon Custard Sauce ***

1. Preheat the oven to 150°F. (or the “warm” setting) and line a rimmed
baking sheet with a wire cooling rack. Put enough lard, drippings, butter, or
oil in a skillet to completely coat the bottom by about ¼ inch.

2. Peel and cut out the stem and blossom ends of the apples, and slice them
crosswise ¼-inch thick. Spread the flour on a diner plate and have it ready
by the pan. Heat the skillet over medium-high heat until the fat is very hot,
but not smoking (about 375°F.). Roll the apple slices in the flour one at a
time, shake off the excess, and slip them into the hot fat until the pan is full
but not crowded. Fry until the bottoms are nicely browned, about 3 minutes,
turn, and fry until evenly brown, about 3 minutes more.

3. Blot on absorbent paper, transfer to the prepared baking sheet, and put in
the warm oven while you fry the remainder.

4. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and a sprinkling of cinnamon. If they’re
intended to accompany meat, omit the sugar. If you’re serving them as
dessert, film the bottoms of four dessert plates with the custard, tipping and
turning the plates until they are evenly coated. Arrange the apples on the
plates, drizzle a little more custard sauce over them, and serve at once.


*Bourbon Custard Sauce, or Southern Boiled Custard

MAKES 2 CUPS

Called, more elegantly, crème anglaise (“English cream”) by the French,
this classic sauce has long been a standard in the South, both as a dessert
sauce and as a dessert on its own. It’s also, believe it or not, served as a
holiday beverage on Christmas morning. The Southern moniker is
dangerously misleading, since custard cannot be allowed to boil, or it’ll
curdle and end up a horrific mess like watered-down, sweetened scrambled
eggs.

You needn’t confine the flavoring to bourbon (unless you are using it in
one of the recipes in this book). Boiled custard can be flavored with almost
any kind of spice or liqueur that you like.

2 cups whole milk or 1½–1¾ cups milk and ½ or ¼ cup heavy cream
⅔ cup sugar
6 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons bourbon

1. Choose a heavy-bottomed saucepan or prepare the bottom of a double
boiler with water and bring it to a simmer over medium heat. Either in the
heavy pan or top half of the double boiler bring the milk to a simmer over
direct medium heat, stirring frequently. Add the sugar and stir until it
dissolves.

2. If using a double boiler, put the pan over the simmering water in the
bottom half. If using a heavy pan, lower the heat to medium low. Take up
about ½ cup of the hot milk and slowly beat it into the egg yolks. Slowly
add the eggs to the remaining hot liquid and cook, stirring constantly, until
it coats the back of a metal spoon. It will be only lightly thickened; so don’t
overcook it. It will continue to thicken as it cools.

3. Remove the pan from the heat and stir until slightly cooled. Stir in the
bourbon and keep stirring for another minute. Pour it into a glass or ceramic
bowl and cool completely before serving. If you are making the sauce
ahead, cover and refrigerate after it cools. Serve cold or at room
temperature.

from "Greens, Beans & Sweet Georgia Peaches"
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/18341846-beans-greens-sweet-georgia-peaches

************************************************************************************

Jessica Harris’s Peach Fritters



SERVES 4 TO 6

Fellow culinary historian and Southern food lover Dr. Jessica Harris is not
actually a Southerner by birth. But while she was born and raised in New
York, her family roots go back to Virginia and, like most African
Americans, her culinary roots are solidly grounded in the South. As she
puts it, “We lived in New York, but we ate in the South.”

Dr. Harris explains that African-American cooking developed from
centuries of improvisation, which continues even today. Her peach fritters
are a prime example. When she came South to do a cooking demonstration
at Macon’s Georgia on My Plate festival, she wanted to use Georgia
products. Her solution? Her grandmother’s banana fritters, but using
Georgia peaches instead of bananas.

The recipe is also exemplary of the “fritter factor” of the African
diaspora. While deep-fat frying cannot, by any stretch of the imagination,
be called African, fritters turn up wherever there are African cooks in the
Americas—from Brazil to Nova Scotia.

4 ripe, but firm, freestone peaches (about 1 pound)
½ lemon
Peanut oil, for frying

FOR THE FRITTER BATTER:

2 large eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup cold milk
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 cup flour
Pinch baking soda
2–3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

1. Peel, halve, and pit the peaches and cut them into thin wedges (if they’re
too thick they won’t cook evenly). Put the wedges in a bowl, squeeze the
lemon juice over them, and toss to evenly coat them.

2. Put enough peanut oil in a deep skillet, enameled iron Dutch oven, or
deep fryer to come halfway up the sides (if you are using a skillet, it should
be deep enough to hold an inch of fat and still be only half-full). Turn on
the heat to medium high and heat to around 375°F. (A small spoonful of
batter should sizzle happily, but not start browning right away.)

3. While the oil is heating, put the eggs, milk, and sugar in a large mixing
bowl. Lightly beat until well mixed, then gradually beat in the flour until
the batter is smooth. Beat in the soda.

4. When the oil is hot, drop the peach wedges in the batter a few at a time,
lift them out with a fork or slotted spoon, and slip them into the oil. Fry
until golden brown, about 3 minutes, turning them halfway through the
cooking. Drain briefly on absorbent paper and transfer them to a serving
dish. Put the confectioners’ sugar in a wire sieve, dust it over the fritters,
and serve hot.

"Greens, Beans & Sweet Georgia Peaches"
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/18341846-beans-greens-sweet-georgia-peaches

MMMmmmmm tasty!