From the Editor's Archives: Crackerflitters A Breakfast Tradition

My mom is not a cook. Nor was her mom. But she does have a few dishes that were passed down to her, that became part of our family traditions. One is Goetta, an old German dish made from ground pork and pinhead oatmeal—an item only available in Cincinnati, to my knowledge. But the one I treasure the most, and make the most, is her cracker flitters, which, in short, are fried soggy saltines. At first blush, they sound bizarre, and they are, unless you grew up on them, as my 4 sisters and I did. 

According to my mom, it's a dish from the Depression, when you made do with everything, even stale crackers—Zestas to be exact, Mom being a brand name kind of gal. You soak 2 sleeves in water, squeeze them dry and mix with an egg and some vanilla. That’s it. As my saltines are usually stale (the kids always neglect to wrap them up), the recipe translates perfectly to today. Don’t skimp on the shortening in attempts to “lighten” them—they need to be nice and crispy. And don't be tempted to add another egg. That makes them cakey. They should be crispy with lots of holes where you tamped them down with a spoon and the shortening did its work.

Sam (my son) and I made these for a Relish magazine shoot which was done at Mark Boughton's studio.