is a semi-liquid preparation consisting of eggs, milk, and flour in varying proportions. Lighter batters can be made by replacing some of the milk with water or beer.
One of the main uses of batter is to coat foods which are to be deep fried, either little pieces of vegetable, fish, meat, fruit to make fritters; or larger items, such as fish fillets. The texture and viscosity of the mixture is important, for it must be thick enough to adhere to the food, but not so thick that the coating becomes excessive and heavy. The batter cooks very quickly in the hot fat and forms a crisp shell around the food, preventing scorching, whilst retaining flavour and juices.
Wherever deep-frying is an important cooking method, something similar to batter will have evolved to fulfil this role, although the ingredients may differ substantially from those used in Europe. Japanese tempura recipes call for various combinations of flour, egg (or egg yolk alone), and water; Chinese deep-fried recipes for wheat flour, cornflour, and water; and the Indian pakora, a type of vegetable fritter, uses a batter of chickpea flour and water.
In the USA, the meaning of ‘batter’ extends to some thicker mixtures such as those for cake and for spoon bread (sometimes called ‘batter bread’, see corn bread).
More generally, cooked in a thin layer in the bottom of a frying pan, a batter makes pancakes or crêpes (see also fraise). Poured in a thicker layer in a large tin, and baked in the oven, it becomes Yorkshire pudding.
However, despite the fame of this last item in its savoury version, most batter puddings are sweet. One example is the French clafoutis, which contains fruit. Fruit is also an ingredient in many of the English batter puddings, of which Dorothy Hartley (1954) gives an impressive range, from medieval to modern times. Some are boiled or steamed, for example the Gotham pudding from the little town of that name in Nottingham, which incorporates slices of candied peel and, after being steamed, is to be served ‘with cowslip wine and sugar’. Another steamed batter pudding belongs to Tiverton in Devon, incorporates ginger and other spices as well as candied lemon rind, is served with butter and sugar, and ‘should be eaten at once while light and spongy’. However, many, e.g. Kentish cherry batter pudding, are baked.
Tewkesbury (or Welsh) saucer batters are small baked puddings made by quickly baking two saucerfuls of batter, putting fruit on one and inverting the other on top of it to make a lid. These ingenious snack meals, ‘ready by the time the kettle boils’ for tea, may be unique to the Tewkesbury area and other fruit-picking districts. However, their small size is echoed in small baked batter puddings made elsewhere: for example the American popover, and the Austrian Pfitzkauf (‘puff up’) which is eaten as a dessert with fruit.
See also hasty pudding.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
Hartley, Dorothy (1954), Food in England, London: Macdonald.
