Chef Klaus
Ähzezupp (Kölsche Erbsensuppe)
The Cologne pea pot earns its depth from soaked peas and cured pork bone, simmered slowly until the soup thickens itself and the meat falls clean from the knuckle.
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Pillekuchen
Created by
Bergisches Land takes the small Reibekuchen and makes it supper: one pan-wide potato cake, smoky with ham, crisp at the rim, soft enough in the middle to cut in wedges.
Side Dishes
German
Weeknight
Comfort Food
Budget Friendly
20 min
Active Time
25 min cook•45 min total
Yield4 servings as a side
Pillekuchen belongs to the Bergisches Land, around Wuppertal, Solingen, and Remscheid, where a cellar potato and a heel of smoked ham can carry a weeknight table. It isn't feast cooking, and it doesn't need to be. This is Hausmannskost, home cooking that feeds people without fuss, especially in the colder months when the larder is doing its work.
The region matters. In Köln they fry Reibekuchen small and crisp, often three to a plate with Apfelmus, apple sauce. In the Bergisches Land the same idea grows into one pan-wide cake, with ham or Speck in the batter, cut into wedges like something you mean to share. North and south will call cousins of it Kartoffelpuffer or Reiberdatschi, but this one sits on the Rhenish edge. Im Norden anders, im Süden anders.
The one move that decides it is this: squeeze the grated potato, then give the starch back. The liquid makes the pancake steam and slump; the white starch settled at the bottom of the bowl is what binds it without turning it into paste. Throw that starch away and you'll chase the batter with flour, and then you've made a dull cake. Weggeworfen wird nichts.
Keep the pan at a steady medium heat. Too hot, and the outside browns before the raw potato in the middle cooks. Too low, and the cake drinks fat and goes limp. Runter mit der Temperatur when the edge darkens too fast, leave it alone until a crust forms, then turn it with a plate. Don't toss it like a show-off. This is dinner, not circus work.
Pillekuchen is a later potato dish of the Bergisches Land, a region named for the old Counts and Duchy of Berg, not simply for hills. The potato became a German staple only after the eighteenth century; Frederick II's Prussian Kartoffelbefehl of 1756 is the famous dated marker, though the Bergisches Land did not become Prussian until the Congress of Vienna in 1815. By the nineteenth century, potato cakes of this kind suited the working kitchens of the Wupper towns, where cheap potatoes, smoked trim, and a hot pan made a full plate.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
floury potatoes
Quantity
1kg
peeled
medium onion
Quantity
1
peeled
large eggs
Quantity
2
smoked ham or Speck
Quantity
80g
diced small
plain flour
Quantity
40g
fine salt
Quantity
1 teaspoon, plus more to finish
black pepper
Quantity
to taste
freshly ground
nutmeg
Quantity
1 pinch
freshly grated
clarified butter, lard, or neutral oil
Quantity
3 tablespoons
divided
apple sauce (optional)
Quantity
to serve
Rübenkraut, German sugar beet syrup (optional)
Quantity
to serve
chives (optional)
Quantity
a small handful
snipped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| floury potatoespeeled | 1kg |
| medium onionpeeled | 1 |
| large eggs | 2 |
| smoked ham or Speckdiced small | 80g |
| plain flour | 40g |
| fine salt | 1 teaspoon, plus more to finish |
| black pepperfreshly ground | to taste |
| nutmegfreshly grated | 1 pinch |
| clarified butter, lard, or neutral oildivided | 3 tablespoons |
| apple sauce (optional) | to serve |
| Rübenkraut, German sugar beet syrup (optional) | to serve |
| chives (optional)snipped | a small handful |
Equipment Needed
- •Box grater or food processor with coarse grating disk
- •Clean tea towel
- •24 to 26cm heavy skillet
- •Flat plate or lid for turning
- •Wide spatula
Instructions
- 1
Grate and squeeze
Grate the potatoes and onion on the coarse side of a box grater, or use the coarse grating disk of a food processor. Gather the mixture in a clean tea towel and squeeze it hard over a bowl. The water has to come out because wet potato steams in the pan instead of browning.
Work quickly once the potatoes are grated. Raw potato darkens in the air, and the onion helps flavour the batter but won't save it if you let it sit around. - 2
Keep the starch
Let the squeezed liquid stand for 5 minutes, then pour off the brown water carefully and keep the white starch settled at the bottom. Scrape that starch back into the grated potatoes. It is the potato's own binder, and it holds the pancake cleaner than extra flour.
- 3
Mix the batter
Add the eggs, flour, diced ham, salt, pepper, and nutmeg to the potatoes and mix just until the batter clings together. Stop there. Overmixing bruises more starch out of the potato, and the cake turns heavy instead of crisp at the edge.
- 4
Heat the pan
Heat a 24 to 26cm heavy skillet over medium heat with half the fat. Drop in one shred of potato; it should sizzle steadily, not spit hard. Too fierce a pan burns the outside before the centre cooks, and too cool a pan gives you a greasy pancake.
- 5
Fry the first side
Spread half the batter into the pan in an even cake about 1.5cm thick and press the edge tidy with a spatula. Leave it alone for 8 to 10 minutes, until the rim is deep gold and the underside has formed a real crust. Move it too early and it tears, because the crust is the hinge that holds the whole thing together.
- 6
Turn with a plate
Slide the pancake onto a flat plate, put the pan over the plate, and invert them together so the raw side lands back in the pan. Use a cloth and keep your wrists steady. This is a Bergisch Pillekuchen, not a crêpe, and a plate is the right tool.
- 7
Finish and cut
Cook the second side for 7 to 8 minutes, until the centre feels set when pressed and the outside is crisp and brown. Repeat with the remaining fat and batter. Cut each Pillekuchen into wedges, finish with a little salt while the surface is still glossy, and serve with apple sauce, Rübenkraut, or a sharp green salad. Schön ist, was schmeckt.
Chef Tips
- •Use floury potatoes, the kind sold as mehligkochend. Waxy potatoes hold their shape too well and keep more water, so the cake fights you in the pan.
- •Dice the ham or Speck small. Big pieces tear the pancake when you turn it, while small dice seasons the batter evenly and browns at the edges.
- •Keep the first pancake smaller if you're nervous. A 22cm cake turns more easily than a full pan-wide one, and a beginner who gets the turn right once learns the dish.
- •Rübenkraut belongs here if you like the sweet edge. It is sugar beet syrup from the larder, dark and sharp-sweet, and it makes sense against smoked ham and fried potato.
Advance Preparation
- •Dice the ham and peel the onion ahead, but grate the potatoes only when you're ready to fry. Raw grated potato weeps and greys as it stands, and the batter loses its clean texture.
- •Cooked Pillekuchen reheats best in a dry skillet over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes per side. The oven works too, but the microwave softens the crust, and that is where half the pleasure sits.
- •If serving apple sauce, make it a day ahead from tart apples with a little water and sugar. Let it stay a little sharp, because the pancake already brings the fat.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 260g)
Calories
375 calories
Total Fat
15 g
Saturated Fat
5 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
9 g
Cholesterol
120 mg
Sodium
1050 mg
Total Carbohydrates
50 g
Dietary Fiber
4 g
Sugars
3 g
Protein
13 g
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