Potato pancakes or potato pancakes are a traditional, well-known dish of good German and Austrian cuisine. Every grandmother, mother, or housewife can easily and cheaply make potato pancakes themselves. Grated potatoes are mixed with other ingredients and baked in hot fat in the form of patties.
This meatless housewife-style dish is eaten with different ingredients, often sweet, depending on the region, especially at Christmas markets, and is also suitable for parties.
Ingredients for 6 servings
- 850 g floury or semi-hard potatoes
- 4 eggs
- 1-pint salt
- 200 grams of flour
- 1 pinch of baking powder
- 1 pinch nutmeg
- 1 pinch pepper
- 400ml milk
- 4 tablespoons fat for baking
- 1 onion
Preparation of the potato pancakes
First, the potatoes are peeled and grated. The resulting potato water is removed; if necessary, you can also put the rubbing compound through a hair sieve. Then add eggs, salt, nutmeg, flour, baking powder, and milk and mix well. In the meantime, heat 3 tablespoons of fat (beef fat, lard, or oil) in a cast-iron pan over medium heat and fry small pancakes in it.
1 to 2 tablespoons of potato mixture are sufficient per potato pancake so that three to four potato pancakes fit in a pan with a diameter of 25 cm. When the edges begin to turn golden brown, the fritters must be turned with a spatula to cook on the other side.
Useful additional knowledge about potato pancakes
- The rubbing mass must be processed immediately so that it does not discolor. Scoop off the resulting potato water with a soup ladle.
- In grandmother’s cookbook, the potato pancakes are fried in a cast-iron pan with only lard to make them even tastier.
- In the past, the pan was rubbed with bacon rind.
- Adding onion to the frying fat gives the potato pancakes an inimitable flavor.
- A paper towel on the plate soaks up excess fat.
- Depending on the region, fritters are eaten with apple sauce, black bread, sauerkraut, soup, beans, or even salmon and horseradish.
- At parties, potato pancakes are an unbeatable hit.
- You can then bake the potato pancakes in the waffle iron so that it goes faster.
- Experiment with the following ingredients: rolled oats, diced bacon, buttermilk or quark, garlic, marjoram, paprika, or fresh garden herbs.
- The potato pancakes should definitely be served hot. Of course, they taste best right out of the pan.
