Batter is a semi-liquid mixture of one or more flours combined with liquids such as water, milk or eggs used to prepare various foods. Often a leavening agent such as baking powder is included to aerate and fluff up the batter as it cooks, or the mixture may be naturally fermented for this purpose as well as to add flavour. Carbonated water or another carbonated liquid such as beer may instead be used to aerate the batter in some recipes.
The viscosity of batter may range from very "stiff" (adhering to an upturned spoon) to "thin" (similar to single cream, enough to pour or drop from a spoon and sometimes called "drop batter"). Heat is applied to the batter, usually by frying, baking or steaming, in order to cook the ingredients and to "set" the batter into a solid form. Batters may be sweet or savoury, often with either sugar or salt being added (sometimes both). Many other flavourings such as herbs, spices, fruits or vegetables may be added to the mixture.
The word batter comes from the old French word battre which means to beat,[1] as many batters require vigorous beating or whisking in their preparation.
Contents |
Watching a woman make Russian pancakes, you might think that she was calling on the spirits or extracting from the batter the philosopher’s stone.
Many well known foods start in batter form. Cakes and cupcakes are made from batter as are pancakes, waffles, crêpes and blintzes. Yorkshire pudding and hushpuppies are both made primarily from batter, and accompaniments to other dishes. Fritters, tempura and some types of donuts are all made with batters. Biscuits, some quick breads and cookies may also be made with batter.
Batter is used in some parts of the world to coat fish or vegetables before frying. Batter makes up a critical component of the British dish fish and chips for instance. Pakoras are a South Asian snack made by coating vegetables in spiced chickpea flour (gram flour) batter and deep frying them.
In Indian cuisine, dosa and idli are a type of crêpe and cake respectively, both made from a rice flour and black lentil batter. Appam are pancakes made with rice flour batter. Vadas are savory fritters made from vegetables in batter (there is water).
Beer is a popular ingredient in batters used to coat foods before frying. One reason is that a basic batter can be made from only flour, beer and some salt. The purpose of using beer is so the bubbles in the beer will add body and lightness to the batter. Depending on the type and quality of the beer it may also add color or some flavor to the batter. The practice of beer battering is popular in Australia, America, Europe, and Russia. When foods are beer battered and fried (fish, chips, onion rings), the heat generated by the frying process evaporates the alcohol.[3][4]