Homemade Fritos (1918)

• 1 cup yellow or white cornmeal, stone-ground if possible
• 1 cup boiling water
• 4 tbspns butter, melted
• 1/2 tspn salt
• Vegetable oil for frying

Stir cornmeal gradually into the water, and when perfectly smooth, add butter and salt. 

Spread dough evenly on an inverted, buttered 9-x-14-inch baking pan, no more than 1/8-inch thick. Bake at 350 degrees about 30 minutes. 

Immediately cut into strips about 1/2-inch by 3-inches, and remove them carefully to a rack with a spatula. Heat vegetable oil 2-inches deep in a skillet until hot but not smoking. Add strips a few at a time, and cook until crisp. 

Remove with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Salt to taste. Makes about 30 strips.

"Fritos is both a trademark and a common name for thin corn pone cut in strips and fried. The name and use as a finger-food snack or scoop for guacamole or hot chili suggest its MexAmerican origins, but the corn crisp was everywhere in American corn-pone cooking."

More "Lost" Fritos Recipes

Classic Fritos Meat Loaf (1955)

Scalloped Potatoes with Fritos (1955)

(Origin - "I Hear America Singing - The Cooks and Recipes of American Regional Cuisine" by Betty Fussell, published by Penguin Books, 1986.)