Reiberdatschi

Reiberdatschi belong to Altbayern, the old Bavarian kitchen, and they sit wherever potatoes sit well: beside sauerkraut, with smoked pork, under a spoon of apple sauce, or alone on a weeknight when the cupboard looks poor and still feeds you. In Franconia they call them Baggers; in the Rhineland you meet Reibekuchen at markets with Apfelmus, apple sauce, or Rübenkraut, sugar beet syrup. Same hand, different region. Im Norden anders, im Süden anders.

The technique is not the grating. It's the squeezing. Raw potato carries more water than it admits, and if that water stays in the bowl, the pancake steams soft before it can brown. Squeeze it dry, let the starch settle in the potato water, then put that starch back. That's the binder you already paid for. Weggeworfen wird nichts.

Fry them small and flat in Butterschmalz, clarified butter, because whole butter burns before the edges crisp. Don't crowd the pan. A crowded pan drops the heat and gives you pale potato mats, not Reiberdatschi. Salt the mixture late and fry straight away, because salt pulls more water out of the potato while you stand there admiring yourself.

Serve them from the pan as they come. Crisp food waits for no one. Schön ist, was schmeckt.