Orange Knots-better than ordinary doughnuts-dainty as cake-one of the many exclusive recipes in “The Whys of Cooking.”
Learn to make doughnuts as dainty as cake
Doughnuts need not be tough, tasteless, greasy or indigestible if you mix them properly and fry them the right way in the right kind of fat.
To keep doughnuts from cracking, the dough should be mixed very soft.
To keep the dough from becoming grease-soaked, two things are necessary: The recipe must contain enough egg in proportion to the flour, and the frying fat must impart its heat instantly to the crust. Then egg and fat combine to form a coating that keeps fat our and the flavor in.
See that the frying kettle contains ample fat so that the heat will not be reduced below proper frying temperature when the cold, raw doughnuts are dropped in. Then the doughnuts will be cooked through. The fat should not smoke at frying heat, because when fat smokes it decomposes and forms an irritating, indigestible substance that is deposited on the food.
So the doughnuts will cook evenly and be fine in texture, turn them frequently after they rise to the top of the fat. They should be drained on soft paper, a process which leaves them as greaseless and dainty as cake, if the right kind of frying fat has been used.
Experienced cooks say that Crisco is the best fat for doughnuts because its qualities make it easy to carry out the above suggestions for perfect frying. Crisco does not smoke at frying heat, yet it gives up its heat instantly, so that the protecting crust is formed at once on the food being cooked. Criso cooks away ao slowly, and can be used so often that you need not hesistate to put plenty in the frying kettle. Finally, it is a dainty, greaseless, tasteless, digestible vegetable product that is used in the most delicate cakes. It does not give doughnuts that “fatty” flavor which so often spoils their taste.
Try a batch of doughnuts fried in Crisco according to these suggestions and see how really delicious doughnuts can be.
Orange Knots – a new kind of doughnut
3 tablespoonfuls Crisco
3/4 cupful of sugar
1 egg 1 yolk, beaten light
grated rind, 1 orange
1/4 teaspoonful mace
4 cupfuls sifted flour
1/2 teaspoonful salt
1 1/2 teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoonfuls soda
1/2 cup milk
Cream the Crisco, beat in the sugar, the eggs, orange rind, and mace. Sift together the dry ingredients; add the first mixture and the milk and mix to a firm dough. Cut off bits of the dough and roll with the fingers into strips the shape and length of a lead pencil, tie in a knot or shape like an 8 and fry in hot Crisco; drain on soft paper, and dredge with confectioners’ sugar.
Here are more Crisco Recipes.
