Climbing up the tops'ls

[sovay]

So the part where the blasting bass music and the strobe lights of a ride on the midway gave me a migraine was not good. Everything else about the Topsfield Fair, however, including the parts where I petted a goat, held a newly hatched chick, watched a women's lumberjacking demonstration, watched a piglet race, drank almost nothing but hot spiced cider, ate a plate of pierogi and stuffed cabbage, petted the calmest and softest rabbit I have ever met, ate a cider donut, was encouraged to buy a milk goat, and rode three other midway rides and a Ferris wheel that did not contribute to the migraine, was pretty fantastic.

(The operator of the Seven Seas saw that I was wearing earplugs and commented on them. I explained that I handle loud noise badly, especially loud machine noise, but I really like rides. He said apologetically that he didn't think I was going to like his ride: it was pretty loud. I said I was still looking forward to it; earlier derspatchel and I had been appreciating his use of Dropkick Murphys' "I'm Shipping Up to Boston." So he looked dubiously at the both of us, but when the ride started, the music that kicked in was the steel-toed skirling stomp of that very song. It played all the way through. Rob sang along the entire time. I just went round and round, temporarily free of the normal bindings of gravity, and grinned.)

Comments

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Whereas I have never heard of cider donuts, and would like to know more...

[weirdquark]

Cider donuts are probably a New England thing? Or at least a 'place that has orchards' thing. I grew up with them, but my town had an apple orchard that made its own cider and sold donuts which I think came in plain and cinnamon-sugar. They're different in taste and feel from non-cider donuts though it's been long enough since I've had either than I don't know how to describe them. Heavier? Denser? Wiki says they're cake donuts and being more like a cake than a pastry sounds right to me. I find most donuts to be too sweet for me (mostly because it's hard to get them not coated in sugar) and cider donuts are less so, even when they have cinnamon and sugar on them, maybe because the cider gives it a little bit of a tang that cuts the sweetness.

[sovay]

Cider donuts are probably a New England thing? Or at least a 'place that has orchards' thing.

Agreed. (See reply to gwynnega below, written before I'd seen the rest of this thread.) I associate them with the northeastern U.S., but I'm perfectly willing to believe other apple-harvesting areas have evolved or imported the tradition. I'd love to know if they exist in the UK.

They're different in taste and feel from non-cider donuts though it's been long enough since I've had either than I don't know how to describe them. Heavier? Denser?

They're cake donuts, which means they're not yeast-raised, so they are densier and chewier; they're not fluffy. I really like the texture. If you eat them right, you can almost peel them, layer by layer. The deep-fried outside comes off first.

I find most donuts to be too sweet for me (mostly because it's hard to get them not coated in sugar)

Ordering plain cake donuts has always served me really well. They're much closer to crullers than the default glazed yeast donut, but they're not totally breadlike. (What kind of donuts do you get in Texas, anyway? Are there regional variations? The Boston area is currently going through an artisanal donut boom, about which I have mixed feelings.)

and cider donuts are less so, even when they have cinnamon and sugar on them, maybe because the cider gives it a little bit of a tang that cuts the sweetness.

Man, now I wish I had more cider donuts.

[weirdquark]

Texas does a lot of kolache; there's a lot of German and Czech mixing with the Mexican influences around. But for actual donuts, there are family owned places with their own recipes but I don't know about regional variations other than the fact that you can get a donut at some places which is about the same size as a dozen normal sized donuts. I've not actually gone out looking for donuts though, so there may be more than the unsurprising "everything is bigger in Texas" kind.

[sovay]

Texas does a lot of kolache; there's a lot of German and Czech mixing with the Mexican influences around.

Cool. I had no idea.

I don't know about regional variations other than the fact that you can get a donut at some places which is about the same size as a dozen normal sized donuts.

You know, considering the size of donuts these days, that's megalithic. Wow.

[weirdquark]

Yup.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

They sound wonderful, and I wish I had known to look out for them when we were in Boston last month.

In England we have ordinary doughnuts with applesauce instead of jam filling, and they are good, but this sounds special...

[sovay]

They sound wonderful, and I wish I had known to look out for them when we were in Boston last month.

I'm afraid you will just have to come back!

In England we have ordinary doughnuts with applesauce instead of jam filling, and they are good, but this sounds special...

They're probably my favorite kind of donut after the sugar-powdered lemon-filled of my childhood; they are best hot and I was lucky enough growing up that Wilson Farm made them fresh during the fall months and sold them with hot cider. I would definitely try a donut with applesauce inside, though.

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

The Yankee Magazine recipe (http://www.yankeemagazine.com/recipe/vermont-apple-cider-doughnuts) looks right---although note, you can concentrate the cider to syrup more than their instructions suggest. Smitten Kitchen (http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2009/10/apple-cider-doughnuts/#at) is so reliable, I think that would be a better one to try out.

You need to use fresh cider (apple juice) and cook it down to a syrup if you cannot get boiled cider. (This is Temperance cider, not the fermented kind.) It approaches maple syrup in viscosity and it is dark.

I can't recommend any recipe for oven-baked doughnuts. They don't steam inside the way deep-fried ones do, crisp outside and light inside, and the texture is off, to my thinking.

Urgh, I have boiled cider and now I am thinking about these...