Apple Fraise.
Pare six large apples, take out the cores, cut them in slices, and fry them on both sides with butter; put them on a sieve to drain; mix half a pint of milk and two eggs, with flour, to batter, not too stiff; put in a little lemon-peel, shred very fine, and a little beaten cinnamon. Put some butter into a frying-pan, and make it hot; put in half the batter, and lay the apples on it; let it fry a little to set it; then put the remaining batter over it; fry it on one side; then turn it, and fry the other brown: put it into a dish; strew powder-sugar over it, and squeeze on it the juice of a Seville orange.
Apple Fritters.
Pare six large apples and cut out the cores; cut them in slices as thick as a half-crown piece. Mix half a pint of cream and two eggs with flour into a stiff batter, put in a glass of wine or brandy, a little lemon-peel, shred very fine, two ounces of powder-sugar: mix it well up, and then put in the apples. Have a pan of hog’s lard boiling hot; put in every slice singly as fast as you can, and fry them quick, of a fine gold colour on both sides; then take them out, and put them on a sieve to drain; lay them on a dish, and sprinkle them with sugar. For fritters be careful that the fat in which you fry them is quite sweet and clean.
Apple Jelly. No. 1.
Pare and slice pippins, or sharp apples, into a stewpan, with just as much water as will cover them; boil them as fast as possible till half the liquid is wasted; then strain them through a jelly-bag, and to every pint of juice put three quarters of a pound of sugar. Boil it again till it becomes jelly; put lemon-juice and lemon-peel to the palate. Some threads of lemon-peel should remain in the jelly.
Apple Jelly. No. 2.
Take about a half sieve of john apples, or golden pippins; pare them, and put them in a clean bright copper pan; add as much river water as will cover them; set them over a charcoal fire, turning them now and then, till they are boiled tender. Put a hair-sieve over a pan, and throw them on to drain; then put the apples in a large pan or mortar, and beat them into pulp. Put them back into the copper pan, adding about half the water that came from them; then set them on the fire, and stir them till they boil two or three minutes. Strain them into a flannel jelly-bag; it should run out quite slowly, and be thick like syrup; you should allow it six or eight hours to run or drop. Then measure the jelly into a bright copper pan, and to each pint add one pound of treble-refined sugar; put it on a slow fire till the sugar is melted; then let the fire be made up, that it may boil; keep skimming it constantly. When you hold up the skimmer near the window, or in the cool, and you perceive it hangs about half an inch, with a drop at the end, then add the juice of half a lemon, if a small quantity. Take it off the fire, and pour it into gallipots.
The apples that are supposed to have the most jelly in them in this country are the john apple. The best time to make the jelly is the autumn; the riper they get, the less jelly. If the flannel bag is quite new, it should be washed in several clean warm waters, without soap. The jelly, if well made, should appear like clear water, about the substance of currant-jelly.