Long ago, many years before my time, every city of any size in France had its roving vendors of fried foods. These frituriers ambulants sold their hot, fragrant wares at busy street corners, setting up business near one of the bridges that trass the Seine or, on a feast day, nor too far from a church. The peddler of fritures was ingeniously equipped. Attached to a belt around his waist was a large shallow basket, un éventaire. In this basket he carried a little stand. Over bis shoulder was slung another basket, une botte, this one large and deep, to hold the food and the far. And in his band he carried a third basket to bold the réchaud, the little stove, and the pan for the cooking. When he found a likely spot, the friturier would disen-cumber himself of the baskets, unfold his stand, heat the fat on the réchaud, and commence to hawk his wares of pommes de terre frites and fritures de charcuterie, crisp fried potatoes and delectable fried-pork specialties.
When I was a young man in Paris, although that, too was many years ago. the frituriers were no longer ambulants. The frituiers and their equipment were permanently housed in street stands, and could oiler an assortment of fried funds Fish was a standard item. The French love fish, and since most of the great cities of France are located on or near rivers, fish was easily come by. Even inexpensive. common fish are good when they are freshly caught—as they were then a dozen times a day—and plunged at once into the hot fat at the frying stands. In Prance we say that our fried food stands inspired the famous fish and chips shops of England.
During my military service I was stationed for a while in Vichy. When we had a night off, we would go for dinner to one of the little restaurants along the Allier River. These were stone or brick collages with ten or twelve tables set out on a terrace which overlooked the water and the pleasant lawns and gardens on the riverbank. From the terrace we could watch the river traffic: There were always a few rowboats with soldiers and their girls and usually some Vichy fishermen going about their business. As day-light faded, strings of lights flickered along the water's edge. Even on a hot summer evening it was always cool and fresh by the water.
I can still remember the taste of the fritures de goujons. The goujon was a particularly delectable local fish, and we always had some, as well as various kinds of fried characteries and thick slices of crusty bread, all for about ten or fifteen sous. We never ordered pommes frites, which I'm sure must have been very good, because we had French-fried potatoes every day at our soldiers' mess, and they were no treat! But we drank quantities of the vins du pays at a special soldier's price of six sous a quart, and were never surprised when an irate householder, not entertained by our lusty songs as we tramped back to the barracks late at night, baptized our music with a large pitcher of cold water tossed from an upper window!
We never called the fritures “French fried” because in France there is only one sort of frying. The French sauté food in a shallow pan with just enough fat to cover the bottom, or they fry it in a deep pan filled with enough fat for the food to float. The anonymous sort of cooking which is perpetrated in a shallow pan with an inch of fat in it is never condoned in France as it is in other countries—which then deplore, as well they should, the unattractive, grease-soaked foods which they call “fried.”
Deep-fat frying is a French specialty for two very good reasons: France has been fortunate in having a constant and excellent supply of frying fat and oils—the olive oil of the South, the nut oils of Other regions, and the rendered beef and pork fats from areas where animal husbandry is the principal occupation. And Prance has never had enough fuel. When fuel is not plentiful, top-of-the-stove cookery is less extravagant than oven cookery, and what thrifty Frenchman would be foolish enough to waste precious fuel to heat an oven when the same food can be cooked so quickly in a kettle of fat … and the fat, unlike the fuel, can be used over and over again!
I think that deep-fat frying is the quickest and simplest kind of cooking, if you know how.
First, there are tricks to learn about far. There should be no problem about selecting a fat, because there are so many good kinds available on the market. The canned shortenings made from vegetable oils are a good choice. Salad oils are good, although olive oil is not usually advised, since at high temperatures it imparts its own flavor to the food cooked in it. Rendered beef fat is a good choice for meats, fish, croquettes, and the less delicate foods, but it takes time to cook the fat from the suet fibers. This rendering is a slow process, because the cooking must be done over very low heat, and it must be carefully watched to prevent scorching. Poultry far and butter are not suitable for deep frying because they scorch at such a low temperature, to say nothing of the cost of a kettle of butter! There must be enough fat, enough so that the foot! can actually be submerged and be completely surrounded with hot fat during the brief cooking process.
When the food to be fried is raw. it should be cur into pieces, not too large or too thick. Otherwise the heat cannot get to the center of the food and cook it before the outside becomes overbrown and hard. And, of course, the temperature of the fat cannot be lowered to allow longer cooking, as is done in oven cooking, because very hot fat is essential to successful deep frying. It is important to maintain the temperature of the fat. Cold food stropped into hot fat will lower the temperature twenty to twenty-five degrees, and the more quickly the temperature is raised again, the better the finished product will be.
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