Recipe: Southern Sweet Potato Fritters

Southern Sweet Potato Fritters

Happy & Healthy Cooking,

Fun-Da-Mentals Kitchen Skills

• chop :

  to cut something into small, rough pieces using a blade.

• fold :

  to gently and slowly mix a light ingredient into a heavier ingredient so as not to lose air and to keep the mixture tender, such as incorporating whipped egg whites into a cake batter or folding blueberries into pancake batter; folding is a gentler action than mixing or whisking.

• fry :

  to cook in a pan in a small amount of fat.

• separate eggs :

  to remove the egg yolk from the egg white by cracking an egg in the middle and using the shell halves, the palm of the hand, or a device to keep the egg yolk in place while the egg white falls into a separate bowl.

• slice :

  to cut into thin pieces using a sawing motion with your knife.

• whip :

  to beat food with a whisk or mixer to incorporate air and produce volume.

History of Fritters!

• Fritters are small pieces of batter or dough-covered meat, seafood, vegetables, or fruit that are deep-fried. They can be savory, like corn fritters, or sweet, like apple fritters. Fritters may also consist of deep-fried dough, without other ingredients. 
• Fritters are thought to have originated with the Ancient Romans. The word "fritter" is based on the Latin "frigere," which means "to fry." From Ancient Rome, fritters spread to Europe. Sweet and savory fritter recipes are found in European cookbooks from the 14th century.
• Apple fritters were popular in Britain in the Middle Ages and in the United States in the 18th century. Corn fritters are a classic side dish or snack of the Southern US that originated with Indigenous Americans. Hush puppies are also popular in the South and are made out of cornmeal dough. 
• ​​​​​​​National Fritters Day is December 2!
• The Indian subcontinent has the "pakora," a fritter made of vegetables, lentils, or chicken, coated with seasoned gram flour and deep-fried. They are served as an appetizer or snack. Banana fritters are also a popular snack in India.
• Tempura is a type of fritter originating in Japan in the late 16th century. Portuguese sailors and missionaries in Japan introduced the technique of coating seafood and vegetables in a light batter before deep-frying. Before that, food was fried without batter or breading. 
• In Nigeria, there are two types of fritters. "Akara" are fritters made with black-eyed peas. "Puff puffs" are fritters of deep-fried dough consisting of flour, yeast, sugar, butter, salt, eggs, and water. 
• "Peixinhos da horta" are Portuguese fritters often made with batter-coated, deep-fried green beans, bell peppers, or squash. Their name means "little fishes from the garden," for their resemblance to small pieces of colorful fish. They are the inspiration for Japanese tempura.
• Fritters are often served with a dipping sauce, like garlic aioli, ketchup, mayonnaise, sour cream, chili sauce, or soy sauce.

Let's Learn About the Southern United States!

• The southern region of the United States is also referred to as the Southern States, or just "the South." The area lies between the Western states and the Atlantic Ocean. Midwestern and Northeastern states are to its north, and Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico are to its south. 
• From west to east, the states included in the South are Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. 
• The term "Deep South" usually applies to Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina.
• Native Americans inhabited the region as early as 11,000 to 9,500 BCE. They lived on food they grew, hunted, and fished.
• Eleven Southern states seceded from the Union from 1860 to 1861 and became the Confederate States of America. Their secession and the dispute about the expansion of slavery caused the Civil War (1861-1865), the war between the North and the South. At the war's end, the Southern states returned to the Union. 
• Southern culture was influenced by indigenous peoples, immigrants from England, Spain, and France, and enslaved Africans. As a result, the area's language, food, music, architecture, and literature may include one or more of these influences.  
• The climate in the region is diverse and depends on a state's proximity to the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricanes and tornadoes are extreme types of weather seen in the South.
• Animals that are unique to the South include the nine-banded armadillo, the cottonmouth (snake), the roseate spoonbill (wading bird), and the American alligator.
• Stock car racing got its start in Southern states. NASCAR (National Association of Stock Car Racing) was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida, and Charlotte, North Carolina. 
• There are a wide variety of foods in Southern cuisine. Cajun and creole dishes originated in Louisiana. You can find Caribbean cooking influences in Florida, including Cuban, Dominican, and Puerto Rican. 
• Various types of barbecue are popular in the South, and each state has its own cooking or smoking techniques, dry rub, and BBQ sauce that make its barbecue style unique.
• Other well-known Southern dishes are Southern fried chicken, red beans and rice, fried catfish and hush puppies, and Hoppin' John, a black-eyed pea and rice dish commonly served on New Year's Day.