Furtaies
Ladin fried spirals with lingonberry preserves
A furtaia begins as a thin stream of batter and ends as a tangle big enough to fill a plate. It is poured in widening circles into hot oil, where the lines puff and join just enough to hold together. The irregular shape is part of the pleasure: crisp edges, tender crossings, no two spirals quite alike.
In Val Badia, these fritters belong to Ladin cooking, though related spirals answer to other names across the Dolomites. Milk, eggs, flour, a little butter, and grappa make a batter that is barely sweet; the finish does the balancing. Powdered sugar softens the tartness of the red-berry preserves.
The preserve to seek is lingonberry, the small Alpine mirtillo rosso. Its brisk acidity cuts through the hot pastry.
Ingredients
For the batter
- 200 gall-purpose flour
- 250 ml(1 cup)whole milk
- 2large eggs, separated
- 30 g(2 tbsp)unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 20 ml(4 tsp)grappa
- ¼ tspfine salt
For frying and serving
- about 1 liter(1 quart)neutral frying oil, such as peanut oil
- 150 glingonberry preserves (mirtilli rossi; see note)
- powdered sugar, for dusting
Kitchen notes
- Lingonberry preserves
- The Alpine mirtilli rossi served with furtaies are lingonberries (Vaccinium vitis-idaea), also sold as Preiselbeeren, not American cranberries or blueberry jam. Look for lingonberry preserves in a well-stocked grocery or European specialty market.
- Grappa
- Use an ordinary unaged grappa in the batter. Its small measure is traditional here; it should not make the finished fritter taste strongly alcoholic.
Method
Make the batter
- Whisk the flour and salt with the milk until smooth. Whisk in the yolks, melted butter, and grappa. Let stand 15 minutes. Beat the whites to soft peaks, then fold them into the batter in two additions. It should flow from a spoon in a continuous ribbon; if it will not flow through the funnel, loosen with a tablespoon of milk.
Heat the oil
- Pour 2–3 cm (about 1 inch) of oil into a wide, deep skillet, leaving ample headroom. Heat to 350°F (175°C). Set a wire rack over a tray. Have a funnel with an opening about 8–10 mm (⅓–⅜ inch) ready, covering its spout with a finger before filling; a squeeze bottle with a similarly wide nozzle also works.
Fry the spirals
- Pour roughly one quarter of the batter through the funnel into the oil, moving from the center outward in loose, overlapping circles to make a spiral about 18–20 cm (7–8 inches) across. Keep the batter line continuous where possible. Fry until the underside is deep golden, about 1–2 minutes, then turn carefully with two slotted utensils and brown the other side, about 1 minute more. Let the oil return to 350°F (175°C) between spirals. Drain briefly on the rack.
Serve hot
- Dust each furtaia generously with powdered sugar and serve immediately with a spoonful of lingonberry preserves alongside. Do not stack the spirals while hot; steam softens their crisp edges.