Regina Fritters

Beignets Régina (Regina fritters) teach a severe little lesson beneath all their finery: absorption and adhesion are opposites. The biscuit must drink the maraschino cream to its centre, then shed every loose drop before its coating à l’anglaise (egg and fine breadcrumbs) goes on. Soak deeply, drain patiently. That is the dish.

The source entry assumed biscuit paste and anglaise waiting among the day’s preparations, several hands to shape a service tray of half-balls, and a deep pan of frying fat held hot. Here we make eight fritters, pipe sixteen domes on parchment, and fry two at a time in a small heavy saucepan. The standing mise en place and brigade quantity are scaffolding; hollowing the biscuits, joining them around jam, soaking them thoroughly, breading them finely, and frying them hot must stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.

At the table, each fritter wears a crisp golden shell and a veil of icing sugar, while the inside remains tender with cream and holds a bright seam of apricot. Before you touch a pan, remember the one true thing: the soaked balls must be full of cream inside and merely damp outside.