Pineapple Fritters “à la Favorite”

Beignets d’Ananas à la Favorite teach the discipline of setting a rich coating before it meets hot fat. The pineapple is juicy, the frangipane is soft with butter, and the fryer has no patience for either. One true thing decides the dish: the cream must be cold and firm enough to remain around the fruit, or it melts into the oil before the batter can protect it.

The original entry assumed a pastry station with prepared cream, broad cold trays, a fryer always ready, and a fierce oven for the final glaze. Your honest equivalents are a compact batch of crème frangipane, a tray that fits the freezer, a deep saucepan of neutral oil, and the concentrated top heat of the broiler. I’ve scaled the dish to eight half-discs for four people. The long holding trays were brigade scaffolding and go; the kirsch maceration, pistachio frangipane, complete chilling, thin batter, frying, and icing-sugar glaze are the dish and stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.

When they’re right, the fritters arrive butter-gold and faintly lacquered, with warm pineapple beneath a crisp shell and a pale seam of pistachio cream between them. Dry the macerated fruit thoroughly, then give the coated pieces their full cold set. Do not approach the fryer until the frangipane holds without slumping.