I am not a food snob by any means. I am so, so grateful to eat any and all food that somebody else will make. When I go out to eat, I have no interest in spending gobs of money on fancy food – I just need something that will fill the hole in my belly. Preferably with fries or gravy, but that’s certainly no requirement.
However, there is one food that I now will only accept if it is The Right One, and that is an apple fritter. Let me give you a culinary lesson from my donut-making days: When raised donuts are made (not cake donuts), the first batch of dough is rolled out and the round donuts are cut. This is where you get plain or frosted donuts and donut holes. Then, the dough scraps are gathered and re-rolled for things like long johns, rosettes and bear claws. Since the dough has a little more flour rolled into it, this batch will be slightly tougher, but still good. After long johns & such are cut, the final scraps are gathered, chopped up and get a couple of scoops of apple stuff mixed in. These are the apple fritters. When I learned how to make donuts, my counts were all off, my donuts were wonky, and I had way too many scraps for apple fritters. (Not a bad thing, in my opinion.)
Nowadays, if you want to get apple fritters in Seward, you can get gross, greasy, over-glazed hockey pucks from Amigo’s, or passable ones from a gas station. For the gold standard, though, you drive to Lincoln and get them at Super Saver. I don’t know what they do to this dough, but it is light and fluffy like first-cut donuts, and glazed to perfection. Dang it. Why’d I tell you? You’re going to buy all the fritters now.
Dang it.
Debbie says
Thank you for making me want a fritter now that would take me 16 hours or $500 to aquire as i am NOT in seward or anywhere near Lincoln? Hmmmm, hey, I’ll just go to the apple barn right up the road here in this tourist town i live in and get one! Neener neener neener!
Brad says
Your post makes me wonder if all donut shops follow the same procedures as the one you worked in, or if places like Super Saver do something different, like using fresh dough for fritters…
Lauren's dad says
The stores around here don’t make their own fritters. Probably buy big bakery ones. Round, not varying is thickness or crispness. And above all, not nearly greasy enough, like in the olden days!