Sage Mice

Tobi, the WOOFER from Switzerland, cooked a few new and interesting things when he was here. On the last evening, he made Sage Mice by dipping individual leaves of sage into beer batter and frying them in oil, like pancakes. The shape of the leaf forms like a mouse and the stem is the tail. The flavour is mild enough for children. We used a heavy iron “cornbread” skillet. I showed Tobi how to reduce oil, by putting it in, swirling it around in the bottom of the skillet, then draining out as much as possible in a cup kept on the stove for this purpose. Repeat as necessary with each new batch. Tobi made the batter with only beer and flour, whisking it together to make the right consistency. My son, Oz, also makes the beer batter, but he uses eggs. When I went online to look up beer batter, there were several. Here is one with eggs and one without eggs. Take your pick.

Beer Batter from Fisherman’s Express. Alaska Seafoods.
Ingredients
One 12 oz. can light beer. 1 1/2 cups flour. 1/2 tsp. Salt. 1 tsp paprika. Pour the beer into a large bowl. Sift the flour, salt and paprika into the beer, whisking until the batter is light and frothy. (The batter may be used immediately or stored in the refrigerators for up to 1 weeks, but be sure to whisk it occasionally). Heat oil in a frying pan. Just before it reaches 375F, quickly dip the leaf and drop them into hot skillet. When they are brown on one side, less than l minute, turn and brown on the other side. Drain on paper towels. Serve immediately.

Beer Batter from Marlie’s Creative Universe
Ingredients: one egg, l tsp. Sugar. 1/2 cup of beer. 1 tsp. Oil. 1/4 tsp salt and 2/3C. + flour. Mix all ingredients together. Check for consistency, adding more flour or beer, to get the consistency you want. (This recipe says do not fry too hot. This is probably because the egg will cause it to brown quickly. When I first moved to Newfoundland, a neighbor showed me how to make a batter very much like for fish and chips. )

September/ 2006
Organic Farm