Rievkooche mit Rübenkraut

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Box grater or food processor with coarse grating disc
• •Clean kitchen towel
• •Heavy skillet, 28cm
• •Cooling rack

Instructions

1. 1

   Grate the potatoes

   Grate the potatoes and onion on the coarse side of a box grater into a bowl. The onion goes in with the potato because its juice helps slow browning, and the coarse grate gives you ragged edges that fry crisp instead of turning into paste.

2. 2

   Wring them dry

   Tip the grated mixture into a clean kitchen towel and squeeze hard over a bowl until the potato feels damp, not wet. Let the liquid stand for 5 minutes, then pour off the brown water and keep the white starch settled at the bottom. That starch goes back in because it binds the pancake; the water stays out because it would steam the pan soft.

   Do not rinse the grated potato. You would wash away the starch you need, then wonder why the pancakes fall apart.
3. 3

   Mix the batter

   Return the dry potato and onion to the bowl with the saved starch, eggs, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Mix with a fork until the potato is just coated. If the bowl looks wet after a minute, spoon off the loose liquid; a wet batter makes a soft pancake, and that is not the dish.

4. 4

   Heat the fat

   Put a heavy skillet over medium-high heat and add enough lard, clarified butter, or oil to cover the base by about 5mm. The fat is ready when a shred of potato sizzles at once and turns pale gold in under a minute. Too cool and the potato drinks grease; too hot and the outside burns before the centre cooks.

5. 5

   Fry thin pancakes

   Drop heaped spoonfuls of batter into the fat and press each one thin, about 1cm. Fry 3 to 4 minutes per side until the edges are crisp and deep golden and the middle no longer looks raw. Do not crowd the pan, because crowded pancakes lower the heat and start steaming each other. Runter mit der Temperatur only if the edges brown before the centre sets.

6. 6

   Salt and serve

   Lift the pancakes onto a rack or paper towels and salt them while the surface is still glossy with fat, because the salt clings now and wakes up the potato. Serve at once with Rübenkraut spooned alongside or lightly streaked over the edge. Sweet against salt. Schön ist, was schmeckt.

Chef Tips

• •Use floury potatoes, the kind that fall apart when boiled. Waxy potatoes hold their shape too well and give you a rubbery pancake.
• •A box grater gives the best home texture. A food processor is allowed for a weeknight, but use the coarse grating disc and squeeze the potatoes just as hard.
• •Keep finished pancakes on a rack in a 90C oven while you fry the rest. A plate traps moisture underneath and softens the first batch before the last one is done.
• •Rübenkraut is dark sugar-beet syrup, not molasses. It should taste earthy, bitter-sweet, and deep, not burnt.

Advance Preparation

• •Grate and fry the same day. Raw grated potato throws water and darkens as it sits, and the batter loses the clean potato taste.
• •Leftovers reheat best on a rack in a 200C oven for 8 to 10 minutes. A microwave makes them limp, which is a punishment no potato earned.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 310g)