The English philosopher John Locke wrote of his travels in France in the late 17th century and provided a detailed description of the foods he ate, including one of our favorites: funnel cakes that he ate near Lyon in 1676:
"Take 1/4 lb.fine wheat flower...water...to make a liquid batter; the whites of 4 eggs, sugar & rose water or anything else to season it. Take butter, melt it in a skillet and be soe hot that it smoakes, & into this butter over the fire let some of this batter, about 2 or 3 spoonfuls, run out of a tunnell (funnel) with 3 holes or little pipes set at a distance one from an other, whose hollow is almost as big as that of a small goose quill. The tunnell must be let in to the end of a stick soe that when the batter is in, let run into the batter, it may be shaked up & down soe that the streams of batter falling crosse one an other, may make a kind of lace or net. When it is a little boiled in the butter, with an iron hook turn it & soe let it boile on the other side, & then draw it out on a rolling pin and it will be something like a wafer, but it is presently boiled & has a very pleasant taste."
Or you can do like we do: get a box of mix, add some water, stir with a paddle attached to an electric drill or an industiral potato masher (thanks Dean) until the batter has the consistency of Alex Rodriguez in a clutch situation. Pour it into a small pitcher and then pour about 1/6th of the contents into hot, hot, hot oil. Contain it in a ring and when one side looks like it's been fried enough, flip it over with tongs and do the other side. Remove from the oil (letting it drain for a couple of seconds), plate and then sprinkle with confectioner's sugar.
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