Fritter

Seamus Mullen, chef/owner of New York's Tertulia, shared this recipe exclusively with Epicurious. These croquettes put a Thanksgiving spin on a dish from Tertulia's Spanish menu. In addition to using leftover turkey meat, Mullen's recipe also takes care of any extra mashed potatoes and stuffing, and he suggests serving the croquettes with leftover gravy or cranberry sauce. "Don't worry about being too precise with amounts," insists the chef. "The beauty in cooking leftovers is improvisation."

"Don't worry if the fritters seem a little flimsy—they hold together and flip easily during cooking," Bemis says.

Squeeze out as much liquid from the zucchini as possible.

Using the best and freshest crabmeat you can get your hands on makes all the difference in these lightly battered and totally delicious fritters from La Petite Grocery, a new-school NOLA bistro.

Smoked and fresh fish join forces in this much-appreciated update to the often-maligned gefilte fish. To get the job done faster, use two skillets.

This fun Brazilian street food is traditionally formed into the shape of a drumstick to represent the main filling ingredient: chicken. In fact, coxinha (pronounced co-SHEEN-ya) means "little chicken drumsticks" in Portuguese. We like to make them extra mini for snacking.

Hanukkah is the celebration of ritual oil that miraculously lasted for eight days instead of one, which is why oil factors prominently during the holiday. While latkes (potato pancakes pan-fried in oil) are traditional—and we've never met a latke we didn't love—why not end the meal this year with apple fritters that are as tender and delicate as cake doughnuts? Drizzled with an orange glaze, they echo the flavors of the winter season. Editor's Note: This recipe is part of Gourmet's Modern Menu for A Hanukkah Feast. Menu also includes Salmon with Potato "Scales" and Swiss Chard with Horseradish .

Russets are ideal for latkes. Their high starch content means you won't need flour to bind the pancakes. The result? More potato, and a crunchy (not cakey) texture.

This recipe works best with medium to large oysters. Have your fishmonger shuck them for you.

If you believe that frying makes everything taste better, get the oil ready, because after popping one of these hush puppies into your mouth, you’ll quickly need countless more. Creole mustard, a Louisiana specialty, may not be readily available at your local market, but you can substitute whole-grain Dijon mustard. Having a deep-fry thermometer will make the frying process easier, as oil that’s not hot enough will lead to greasy and soggy fritters. And to keep the oil temperature from dropping too much, cook the hush puppies in small batches as directed.

Made with shredded beets and carrots, these pancakes are substantial enough to be a vegetarian main course but mild enough to play second fiddle to roast chicken or pork. Pull out the food processor to shred the carrots and beets in minutes. Or pick up a bag of shredded carrots from your supermarket to save time. Luscious crème fraîche can take the place of the sour cream garnish, if desired, and both can be dressed up with chopped fresh chives or dill.

Love crab cakes but want a change? These salmon cakes take fewer than 30 minutes to prepare. The recipe calls for pita pieces as a filler, but many Epicurious members subbed 3/4 cup panko flakes for a lighter cake. The salmon cakes also make a clever fish taco when crumbled and served with jalapeños, corn, and the yogurt sauce.

These addictive little fritters can be made in bite-size pieces perfect for cocktail parties, or slightly larger for plated appetizers. Their texture and flavor are reminiscent of hush puppies. Here the fritters are pan fried, but they can also be cooked in a deep-fryer at 375°F for about 3 minutes, turning them over halfway through cooking, until browned.

Editor's note: This recipe is part of a special Thanksgiving menu created by chefs Allison Vines-Rushing and Slade Rushing of MiLa restaurant in New Orleans. While traditional beignets are on the must-have list of every New Orleans tourist, we personally think flavor-wise they can be a bit one note. This version, however, is sweet and savory with a spicy dipping sauce. The addition on coconut and shrimp honor the Carribean persuasions of New Orleans cuisine.

Our dad makes these every year on Hanukkah. And he makes a huge mess. He puts newspapers on the floor, uses every burner, and the whole house smells bad for a week. But they are super delicious and we had to include them in our book. We make them almost every weekend. We had our dad test the recipe.

On one of my first trips to India, at a bus stop in Poona, there was a street stand where the vendor was roasting potatoes over charcoal, chopping them, and tossing them with curry spices and crispy onions. He served the mixture wrapped in a piece of newspaper. It was amazing, and it inspired this dish.
There are so many curry spice mixtures from around the world. This recipe employs one of the most common. You can use either yams or sweet potatoes in this recipe.

Korean pickled cabbage, a.k.a. kimchi, provides the spice in these savory fritters, while soaked raw mung beans hold the flourless pancakes together. They're great with or without the dipping sauce and pickled pears.

Think of this dessert as sweet, crunchy rice pudding–filled ravioli. It is composed of many elements, none of which are difficult to make and all of which, apart from the frying, can be prepared in advance. But you need to plan ahead and make the various elements in stages. To make the sauce, look for quality, plump raisins, such as flame raisins, a moist and flavorful variety that we find at our local farmers’ markets. We use cannoli dough in this recipe, which gets really crisp and blistered after it’s fried. We run the dough through a pasta sheeter, but if you don’t have one, you can roll the dough thin using a rolling pin on a lightly dusted surface. You will need a 3-inch square cookie cutter (preferably fluted) to make these.