Artificial Oysters (1863)
Reader ratingsArtificial oysters from the Confederate Receipt Book, printed in Richmond in 1863: grated green corn fritters, fried a spoonful at a time to the size of an oyster.
- Recipe makes
- About 20 fritters, serving 4
- Prep
- Cook
- Total
Fry the fritters in batches of five or six, about 4 minutes a batch, and keep the first ones warm while the rest cook.
Artificial oysters, oval fritters of grated green corn, on a plate.
The story behind the recipe
Why are corn fritters called artificial oysters?
Artificial oysters are corn fritters, the kind American cookbooks also call corn oysters, named for their size and shape: “A tablespoonful of the batter will make the size of an oyster.” Young green corn is grated off the cob, bound with an egg and a little flour, and fried by the spoonful until light brown. The recipe follows the apple pie without apples on page 7 of the Confederate Receipt Book.
Read more about this recipe
What does the 1863 recipe ask for?
Of all the dishes on its page, this is the one where only the name is borrowed. Corn, an egg, flour and butter are all the recipe asks for.
The recipe is short and assumes a cook who knew what a fritter was. It gives “a small teacup of flour” to the pint of corn, “two or three tablespoonfuls of butter,” salt and pepper, and nothing about the fat for frying. Its last line is an afterthought about the finish: once the fritters are fried and buttered, “Cream if it can be procured is better.”
Richmond’s prices that spring, including what fresh butter cost, and the riot of April 2 are in What Was Richmond Cooking in the Year of the Bread Riot?
Making it today
Fresh sweet corn in season is closest to the book’s “young green corn.” A teacup held about four to five fluid ounces in nineteenth-century American measures, so we read “a small teacup” as half a cup of flour. The book names no frying fat; we use lard or butter.
TuneMyRecipe has Abby Fisher’s Corn Fritters (1881) (opens in a new tab) from her San Francisco cookbook of Southern recipes, printed eighteen years later. The pie printed just above these fritters is the Apple Pie without Apples (1863).
ARTIFICIAL OYSTERS.—Take young green corn, grate it in a dish; to one pint of this add one egg, well beaten, a small teacup of flour, two or three tablespoonfuls of butter, some salt and pepper, mix them all together. A tablespoonful of the batter will make the size of an oyster. Fry them light brown, and when done butter them. Cream if it can be procured is better.
Recipe makes: About 20 fritters, serving 4
Ingredients
For about 20 fritters, serving 4. Quantities are shown as written.
Quantities as written here, for about 20 fritters, serving 4.
Batter
- Grated fresh sweet corn (from 5 to 6 ears)16 fl oz
- Egg1
- All-purpose flour2 oz
- Butter, melted2 tbsp
- Salt1/2 tsp
- Black pepper1/4 tsp
To fry and finish
- Lard or butter for frying4 tbsp
- Butter to finish1 tbsp
- Heavy cream to finish (optional)2 fl oz
Measurement notes
Ingredients as written here
- 16 fl oz grated fresh sweet corn (from 5 to 6 ears)
- 1 egg
- 2 oz all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp butter, melted
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 0.25 tsp black pepper
- 4 tbsp lard or butter for frying
- 1 tbsp butter to finish
- 2 fl oz heavy cream to finish (optional)
Equipment
- Box grater
- Mixing bowl
- Large frying pan
- Thin spatula
Instructions
Grate the sweet corn off the cobs on the large holes of a box grater, so the kernels break and give up their milk, then scrape each cob with the back of a knife to get the last of the milk.
Beat the egg and stir it into the corn with the flour, melted butter, salt and black pepper to make a thick batter.
Heat half the lard or butter for frying in a large frying pan over medium heat until it sizzles when a drop of batter goes in.
Drop in tablespoonfuls of batter, leaving room between them, and flatten each one slightly into an oyster shape.
Fry for about 2 minutes on each side, until light brown and set all the way through. Lift onto a warm plate.
Fry the rest the same way, adding the rest of the frying fat as the pan runs dry.
Brush the hot fritters with the butter to finish, or spoon a little heavy cream to finish over them, and serve at once.
Nutrition
360calories per serving
- Recipe makes
- About 20 fritters, serving 4
- Servings
- 4
Estimated per serving from USDA FoodData Central values for the listed ingredients, counting all the frying fat and leaving out the optional cream.
Recipe notes
When adjusting quantities
Scales by the pint of grated corn: one egg and about half a cup of flour to each pint.
Notes
Quantities mentioned in these notes don’t change when you adjust the servings.
The fritters contain egg, so cook them until the center is set and no longer wet.
If the batter spreads too thin in the pan, stir in a spoonful more flour.
Out of season, thawed frozen corn kernels pulsed briefly in a food processor can stand in for grated fresh corn.
The fritters contain egg, wheat and milk.
Scaling changes the ingredients only; pan sizes and cooking times need their own judgment.
Sources and attribution
After the Confederate Receipt Book (Richmond: West & Johnston, 1863), Artificial Oysters
Recipe details
- Course
- Side dish
- Dish family
- Vegetables & Sides
- Region
- American
- Era
- 19th century
- Source decade
- 1860s
- Main ingredient
- Vegetables
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Occasion
- Everyday meal