Day 133: Crullers

After a beautiful sunny day today, the weather has just turned stormy with heavy rain, thunder and lightning so my idea about using the dandelions in my lawn for a salad accompanied by a dressing from The New Galt Cook Book (1898) is far less tempting. Instead I’m going to make something deep-fried. I’ll try the Cruller recipe contributed by Mrs. Irwin. It appears in the Doughnut section of The New Galt Cook Book.

Mrs. Irwin’s recipes looks like it will make far more crullers than I want or need so I’ll cut the recipe in half. I cracked 2 medium eggs into a bowl and added 1 cup of white granulated sugar. Next I melted some butter and added 1 1/2 tablespoons. The final liquid ingredient was 1/2 cup of regular milk. I decided to start with 1 cup of flour and 1 teaspoon of baking powder in another bowl. I grated a little nutmeg and then started to add the liquid. I alternated flour and liquid and ended up using another 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour to get a dough that seemed stiff enough for crullers. I melted some lard in a pot and once it was hot I started dropping the cruller dough in by the teaspoon. I took my usual precautions in dealing with hot fat. I had to turn the cruller when they were brown on one side since they didn’t seem to want to turn over on their own. When they seemed done I pulled them out to drain and prepared to taste.

Mrs. Irwin is a challenging woman. The only Irwin household I can find in Galt in 1891 consists of William (43), Martha (20), and Mary (23). The census makes it appear that both women are married to William. Could one be his wife and the other his sister? Or are both his sisters or even his daughters? It looks like none of the three are married at all so perhaps they are all siblings especially since all were born in England. William is listed as a druggist and Mary is a milliner. I wonder if she works in the shop pictured. It’s the Wilkinson’s in Galt which had a millinery section. If William marries in the next couple of years and stays in Galt it could be his wife who is the contributor of this recipe.

These crullers are a little disappointing. The dough is delicious but the end result didn’t work for me. I might not have used enough flour in making the dough. Perhaps it needs to be stiffer. Maybe I didn’t have enough melted lard so the crullers couldn’t float well. I tried making the crullers in various sizes but was afraid to add more flour since I thought they might sink and never reappear in the fat. It looks like I should have had more flour since apparently a cruller is supposed to be twisted before frying. That’s something impossible currently. I seem to have made more like a doughnut hole (or Timbit for Canadians).

CRULLERS
Mrs. Irwin

Four eggs, two cupfuls sugar, three tablespoonfuls melted butter, one cupful sweet milk, two teaspoonfuls baking powder and a little nutmeg grated in flour enough to mix stiff. Fry in lard. Mix all together, then stir into the flour and baking powder.