fritter n : small quantity of fried batter containing fruit or meat or vegetables v : spend frivolously and unwisely; "Fritter away one's inheritance" [syn: frivol away, dissipate, shoot, fritter away, fool, fool away]

English

Pronunciation

• (UK): /ˈfrɪtə/, /"frIt@/
• (US): , /ˈfrɪtɚ/, /"frIt@`/

  Rhymes: -ɪtə(r)

Noun

1. A dish made by deep-frying food coated in batter.

Derived terms

• apple fritter
• corn fritter
• French fritter
• fritter batter
• fritterware
• oyster fritter
• rice fritter
• spam fritter

Verb

1. (often with about or around) To occupy oneself idly or without clear purpose, to tinker with an unimportant part of a project, to dally, sometimes as a form of procrastination.

   I was supposed to do work, but I frittered around all afternoon.

   He can't figure out how to finish the paper he's writing, so he's resorted to frittering with the fonts.

Derived terms

• fritter away
• frittered
• fritterer
• frittering

See also

• tempura

A fritter is any kind of food coated in batter and deep fried. The word comes from the Latin *frīctūra ("frying") by way of Old French and Middle English. It can refer to a dessert, a side dish or a main course food.

In British fish and chip shops, the fish and chips can be accompanied by fritters, which means a food item (such as a slice of potato, a pineapple ring, an apple ring or some mushy peas) fried in batter. Hence: potato fritter, pineapple fritter, apple fritter, pea fritter, etc.

Small cakes made with a primary ingredient, mixed with batter and fried, are found in many American cuisines. "Corn fritters" and "apple fritters" are well known, although the American apple fritter is unlike the British one. The creator of the American apple fritter is Don Limbocker, a baker from Salem, Oregon. Fritters may use regular flour, cornmeal, or a mix. New England clam cakes and Maryland Boardwalk-style crab cakes are essentially varieties of fritter.

In most Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia, it is common for a variety of fritters (such as yam, sweet potato and banana) to be fried by the roadside in a large wok and sold as snacks. Fritters are extremely popular road side snacks all over South Asia and are commonly referred to as Pakora (Pakoda) or Bhajia in local parlance.

There is some debate as to how to properly classify a fritter. Some consider it a doughnut, while others consider it to belong, more generally, to the pastry family.

See also

• Croquette
• Fried dough foods

apple fritter, beignet, beignet aux pommes, bismarck, blow, cast away, consume, cruller, dissipate, doughnut, fastnacht, fool away, friedcake, fritter away, idle away, misspend, olykoek, raised doughnut, sinker, squander, throw away, twister, waste