Choux Fry!
Choux Fry!
Sweet fried puffs to celebrate Carnival and chase away the February doldrums
First: Thanks for all your coffee comments last week. It’s nice to know I am in good company when it comes to coffee love. The two randomly chosen winners of Mr. Espresso coffee beans are James Hoffman and Helen Free. Congratulations! I will follow up with you by email.
It’s that time again; my annual plea for you to dump a quart of oil into a pot and fry some dough.
I always feel guilty when I push a fried recipe, but really what I want to share is the occasional joy of enjoying a fried treat. It’s certainly no worse than chowing down on a bucket of wings while watching the Superbowl. And about a thousand times better, I would say.
As I wrote last February, fry season is now, in Italy and elsewhere around the globe, with Carnival celebrations in full swing and Martedi Grasso (Fat Tuesday) coming right up. Pastry shop display cases are piled high with sugar- and honey-coated ribbons of fried dough (called bugie, chiacchiere, frappe, and lots of other names), and tender, puffy spheres of castagnole, fritole, frittelle, and zeppole.
The question is: Why do people fry in February? Where does the tradition come from? According to La Cucina Italiana, the ritual has a long history, dating to ancient Rome. Sweets fried in lard were handed out to the masses during the Saturnalia, a festival honoring the god Saturn and a possible precursor to Carnival. (For more on the history of Carnival fritters, check out this post by Venice-based writer .)
There’s a prosaic reason, too: Winter was pig butchering season. The lard from the pig was rendered and used in cooking and baking. In the days before refrigeration, the lard needed to be used up before spring, when warmer temps caused it to spoil.
Let me offer a third reason: the February doldrums. Fry season is here to get us through this shortest month that is somehow also never-ending. Remember Groundhog Day? Didn’t that happen, like, two months ago? How is it still February?
Spending an afternoon frying sweets lifts me out of the doldrums. It means giving myself up to a few hours of magic. I am (truly) captivated by the transformation that takes place when you drop a dollop or strip of dough or batter into hot fat and watch as it bobs and bubbles and turns golden. Some, like the puffs pictured below, are made with pasta choux (cream puff dough) and they expand like mini blowfish as they fry.
Readers: Do you have a favorite Carnival treat?
These fritters are called Tortelli di Carnevale alla Milanese, though they also go by other names. The recipe comes from a book called I Dolci delle Cucina Regionale Italiana, by Fernanda Gosetti. Gosetti was a prolific 20th century cookbook author and, before that, the longtime creative director and recipe developer at La Cucina Italiana. Her story is interesting, from what little I’ve been able to glean: She was born in 1914 in Viadana, north of Parma, and moved to Milan in 1931 with her two sisters, Anna and Guglielma (Mina). In 1951, Anna revived a dormant La Cucina Italiana magazine, which was founded in 1929 but had stopped publishing during World War II. Mina took on administrative and photography duties, and Fernanda oversaw the creative side, developing thousands of recipes for the magazine over 18 years. She also responded to reader queries under two pseudonyms. When the magazine changed hands in 1969, Fernanda turned to writing, penning dozens of cookbooks and recipe pamphlets over a 30-year span that lasted until her death in 1999.
I Dolci, published in 1993, is a comprehensive book, at least in terms of recipes—less so on narrative content. It contains more than 1,000 recipes for pastries and baked goods from all 20 Italian regions. The chapter on fried sweets alone has more than 160. The recipe for tortelli di Carnevale alla Milanese caught my eye because it is similar to Sicilian sfince di San Giuseppe, a fried choux puff that Italian bakeries sell on March 14 to celebrate Father’s Day, and of which I am extremely fond.
Choux pastry itself carries a bit of magic. Although it is mostly associated with French pastry, it was apparently invented by Catherine de Medici’s pastry chef, who traveled with her to France from Italy, as my friend and fellow food writer
notes in her recent newsletter on the subject. It’s a sticky and dense dough—really a cross between dough and batter—made by heating water and butter, mixing in flour all at once, and then vigorously whisking in eggs. Piped or dolloped onto a baking sheet and baked in a hot oven, the dense little lumps morph into airy cream puffs. Heat from the oven creates steam that forces the dough to expand and turns it light and almost hollow inside. Here’s a better explanation. In addition to cream puffs, choux pastry is used to make éclairs, savory gougères, and the ring-shaped and praline-and-cream-filled Paris-Brest.The same expansion that takes place in the oven also happens when you fry the dough. And it’s what makes these tortelli so light, in spite of being cooked in oil.
RECIPE: Tortelli di Carnevale alla Milanese
Note that the temperature of the oil is important in determining whether your tortelli will be light and airy or dense little bombs with an uncooked center. Try to maintain a temperature between 330° F and 340° F (165° C and 171° C) to give the batter the time in needs to fully cook and expand. A deep-fry or candy thermometer helps. See last February’s newsletter about frying for more tips (and for an awesome recipe for Tuscan fried chicken).
Makes 20 to 24 tortelli
INGREDIENTS
1 cup (125 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
Scant 1/2 cup (120 g) water
1/3 cup (75 g) whole milk
3 tablespoons (40 g) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Pinch of fine salt
3 large eggs, at room temperature
Finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon (12.5 g) sugar, plus more for rolling the tortelli
1 quart (1 L) sunflower or other neutral oil for frying
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Sift the flour into a bowl and set it aside. This is a slightly tedious task, but it prevents lumps from forming in the thick batter.
2. Combine the water and milk in a medium saucepan and add the butter and salt. Set over medium heat to melt the butter; then turn it up to medium-high to bring to a boil. When it’s boiling, remove it from the heat and dump in the flour all at once, stirring the mixture vigorously with a sturdy spoon or spatula. You’ll have a stiff doughy mixture. Return the pot to the burner lower the heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring and turning the mass for a couple of minutes longer, until you can hear it sizzle. Transfer it to the bowl of a stand mixer, cover, and let it cool for about 15 minutes.
3. Fit the mixer with the whisk attachment. When the dough is just slightly warm to the touch, beat in the eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated. Start on low gear and gradually increase speed; the dough will at first separate into rough, floppy pieces, but then will come together again to form a thick, very sticky batter. Mix in the lemon zest and 1 tablespoon sugar. Cover the batter and let it rest for 15 minutes.
4. Have ready a baking sheet or platter lined with paper towels. Pour oil to a depth of 2 inches (5 cm) into a medium, high-sided saucepan or Dutch oven—I use a beat up, stained Le Creuset that I have set aside for frying. If you have a thermometer, now is a good time to use it. Set the pot over medium-high heat and bring the oil to a temperature between 330° F and 340° F (165° C to 171° C), no higher. If the oil is too hot, the tortelli will brown on the outside before they are fully cooked inside, and they won’t puff up. Use a deep-fry or candy thermometer to help monitor the temperature. The depth of the oil is also important, as the dollops of batter will expand greatly as they fry.
5. When the oil is ready, drop six dollops of batter about the size of small walnuts into the pot. I use two spoons, one to scoop up the batter and the other to round it off and scrape it into the oil. Fry the tortelli, turning them every so often with a fork or the edge of a spider or slotted spoon, for 5 to 6 minutes. It will take them this long to inflate (and, in some cases, partially split) into fully cooked, airy puffs. You will need to monitor the temperature of the oil as you fry the tortelli. I often have to turn it up or down a smidgen to keep it at that sweet spot between 330° F and 340° F (165° C and 171° C). Transfer the tortelli to the paper towel-lined baking sheet. Fry the remaining tortelli, six or so at a time, and drain them on the paper towels.
6. Roll the tortelli in a bowl of sugar while still warm, coating them all over. Enjoy them right away or at room temperature. Tortelli are best on the day they’re made, but they last all day. When I make them I set them out on a plate on the kitchen counter and by the end of the day they are always gone.
NOTE: I don’t recommend reusing the oil. Here’s how to dispose of it responsibly.
Cooking Class Update: Savory Easter Tortes
On Saturday, March 25, I will be offering my online class on Savory Easter Tortes. We will be making two traditional tortes: Pizza Rustica (with cured meats and cheese), and Torta Pasqualina (vegetarian, though not vegan).
Here is a link to find out more and to register. Class is limited to 10 participants so that everyone can get the individual attention they need to successfully make the recipes. The fee is $70, but paid newsletter subscribers get a 30% discount. The discount code can be accessed here.
Also: There are 2 spots open in the Everyday Italian Menu class on March 11. We’ll be making Chicken-Ricotta Meatballs, Orange Salad with Radicchio, Red Onion and Taggiasca Olives, and Lemon-Rosemary Cornmeal Cake with Lemon Syrup. Again, paid newsletter subscribers get a 30% discount.
Food Writers in Italy
Food writer Kathy Gunst and I are teaming up for our second Food Writing in Italy, next fall. This year’s destination is the Italian Riviera. Beautiful Liguria, the boutique tour company with whom I collaborate on my culinary tours, have put together a great five-day tour itinerary, which we will use to inspire our daily writing sessions. A couple of highlights:
We will be based in Santa Margherita Ligure, a vibrant resort town known for its colorful architecture, stunning scenery, shopping and dining.
We’ll have a private street food tour of Genoa, where we will visit ancient food shops in the city’s historic center and wander through the covered Mercato Orientale.
We’ll spend a morning in Chiavari, one of the more picturesque and lesser known towns along the Ligurian coast.
We’ll have a private cooking class and dinner at the home of a chef/sommelier, with views overlooking the hills and the Mediterranean Sea.
I’m still working on getting a page dedicated to the workshop up on my Domenica Cooks website, but if you are interested, please send me an email at domenica@domenicacooks.com, or leave a comment below.
Sunday Extra #2 coming up!
Next week’s newsletter will be the second in my Sunday Extra Series. I’ll be sharing recipes for a three-course late winter dinner menu (I’m excited about it—I love devising menus). Paid subscribers will receive the full premium newsletter in their inbox and free subscribers will receive a preview with an option to upgrade. ICYMI you can read Sunday Extra #1 here.
PICTURE ITALY: Genoa, 2018
As always, thank you for reading, subscribing, and sharing.
Alla prossima,
Domenica
I'm in Venice this weekend trying to eat Fritelle for every meal! 😂
Very interested in hearing more about the tour!