Potato pancakes are Frying consisting of grated or ground potato, matzo meal or flour and a binding ingredient such as egg or apple sauce, often flavored with grated garlic or onion and . They may be topped with a variety of condiments, ranging from the savory (such as sour cream or cottage cheese), to the sweet (such as apple sauce or sugar), or they may be served plain. The dish is sometimes made from to make pancake-shaped .
In different cultures
Potato pancakes are associated with various
, including
Irish cuisine (as
boxty),
German cuisine and
Austrian cuisine (as
Kartoffelpuffer,
Reibekuchen,
Reiberdatschi,
Erdäpfelpuffer and
Erdäpfellaibchen),
Dutch cuisine (as
aardappelpannenkoek,
reifkoeken,
reifjes), Belarusian (as дранікі
draniki), Bulgarian (as
patatnik),
Czech cuisine (as
bramborák, cmunda or
vošouch), Hungarian (as
tócsni, lapcsánka and other names), Jewish (as
latka, ,
[Comprehensive Yiddish–English Dictionary, 359] levivah, plural לביבות
levivot),
Latvian cuisine (as
kartupeļu pankūkas), Lithuanian (as
bulviniai blynai), Luxembourg (
Gromperekichelcher),
Polish cuisine (as
placki ziemniaczane),
Romanian cuisine (as
tocini or
tocinei), Russian (as драники
draniki),
Slovak cuisine (as
zemiakové placky), Ukrainian (as деруни
deruny),
Italian language (frittelle di patate) and any cuisine that has adopted similar dishes. In Spain they are called
tortillitas de patatas; in Mexico in some areas they are called
tortitas de papa or
camaron, and are only prepared in some regions for Lent or meatless Fridays.
It is the national dish of Belarus, Ukraine, Russia and Slovakia. In German cuisine, potato pancakes are eaten either salty (as a side dish) or sweet with apple sauce,
Swedish raggmunkar, potatisplättar, rårakor and potatisbullar
There are four Swedish versions of potato pancakes.
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Raggmunkar are prepared with a pancake batter of wheat flour, milk and egg, into which shredded raw potatoes are added. They are fried in butter and look like crêpes (i.e. thin pancakes).
[ Köket: Grundrecept på raggmunk (Swedish only) Linked 2019-02-14]
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Potatisplättar are also made of pancake batter and shredded potatoes, but the potatoes are cooked before they are shredded.
[ Köket: Potatisplättar (Swedish only) Linked 2019-02-14]
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Rårakor are a variant more akin to hash browns and rösti, i.e. shredded raw potatoes formed as thin pancakes, but without any batter, which are fried in butter. They can be served as a fancy starter with sour creme, red onion and Kalix Löjrom.
[ Köket: Råraka, grundrecept (Swedish only) Linked 2019-02-14]
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Potatisbullar are rather thick pancake-like patties of mashed potatoes and eggs, which are turned in breadcrumbs and then fried in butter. Can be bought ready-made in Sweden.
[ Hemmets Journal: Potatisbullar (Swedish only) Linked 2019-02-14]
All four variants are traditionally served with fried bacon and lingonberry jam.
British potato cakes
Potato cakes are common in the
United Kingdom. In the North-East of England (particularly County Durham), there is a dish known as "tattie fish" because the pancake resembles a deep-fried piece of fish. The pancake consists of flour, eggs, shredded potatoes and onions. Some people add
tomato or
cheese to the mix.
The British also brought potato pancakes to former colonies such as Zimbabwe, where they are an affordable dish still eaten today.
Irish boxty
A form of potato pancake known as
boxty () is a popular traditional dish in most of
Ireland, particularly north
Connacht and southern
Ulster. It is made similarly to the British type, with more starch and often with
buttermilk and
baking soda. It has a smooth, grained consistency.
Jewish latke
Latkes (לאַטקע, sometimes spelled
latka) are potato pancakes that
Ashkenazi Jews have prepared as part of the
Hanukkah festival
since the mid-1800s,
when a series of crop failures in Poland and Ukraine led to mass planting of potatoes, which were easy and cheap to grow. The potato dish is based on an older variant made with cheese instead of potatoes that goes back to at least the Middle Ages.
Latkes need not necessarily be made from potatoes. Prior to the introduction of the potato to the Old World, latkes were and in some places still are made from a variety of other vegetables, cheeses, legumes, or starches, depending on the available local ingredients and foods of the various places where Jews lived.[Rachael Ray, Quick Potato and Carrot Latkes, The Food Network, December 20, 2008.][Philip and Karen Selwyn, Potato-carrot-onion Latkes, rec.food.cuisine.jewish archives, Oct. 11, 1998, 1:00 AM.] Daily variations on a simple potato latke might include zucchini, sweet onion and gruyere (for French onion flavor) and some variations made with sweet potatoes.
The word latke itself is derived (via Yiddish) from the East Slavic word ladka, oladka, a diminutive from Oladyi]] (оладья), "small pancake". The word (לביבה), the Hebrew name for latke, refers in the Book of Samuel to a dumpling made from kneaded dough, as part of the story of Amnon and Tamar.[Altyntsev A. V., "The Concept of Love in Ashkenazim of Udmurtia and Tatarstan", Nauka Udmurtii. 2013. No. 4 (66), p. 131. (Алтынцев А. В., "Чувство любви в понимании евреев-ашкенази Удмуртии и Татарстана" . Наука Удмуртии. 2013. №4. С. 131: Комментарии ).]
Korean gamja-jeon
Gamja-jeon () is a
Korean pancake made by pan-frying in oil the mixture of grated potato and potato starch. It can be made without additional ingredients, but is sometimes mixed with onion, chilli and perilla leaf. Generally, it is seasoned with a small amount of salt and served with soy sauce.
Polish placki ziemniaczane
Potato pancakes, literally translated in
Polish language as
placki ziemniaczane, are often served in Poland topped with meat sauce, pork crisps or
goulash, as well as
sour cream,
apple sauce, mushroom sauce,
[Krzysztof Kucharski, "Nie wszyscy pewnie wiedzą.." (Not everybody knows). Gazeta Wrocławska, Poland, 2008-08-22. ] and cottage or sheep's
cheese or even fruit syrup.
Placki ziemniaczane was a staple food in 17th-century Polish monasteries according to a written recipe from Stoczek Warmiński with one onion, two eggs and a spoonful of wheat flour per each kilogram of potatoes, served only with salt and pepper.
In the 19th century,
[Krzysztof Kucharski, "Nie wszyscy pewnie wiedzą.." str. 3 (Not everybody knows, p. 3). Gazeta Wrocławska, Poland, 2008-08-22. ] especially in times of economic difficulty during the foreign partitions, potato pancakes often replaced missing bread among the peasants. The lower-quality crops given to field laborers were sometimes turned by them quickly into pancakes to improve taste and prolong freshness.
[ Different recipes for "placki ziemniaczane" at Onet.pl ] Also, their popularity is closely associated with the historic presence of one of the largest Jewish communities in the world flourishing in Poland.
The largest potato pancake (possibly in the world), measuring 2 meters and 2 centimeters, was made during the annual two-day celebrations of Święto Plinzy (Plinza festival) in Rzechta, Poland. The tongue-in-cheek games in Rzechta include the throwing of bad potato pancake, with the record of 29 meters.
Brigand's pancake
A derived dish consists of thick goulash laid on a potato pancake. It has origins in or near the
Tatra mountains, on either the Polish or the Slovak side. The dish bears a variety of names:
-
placek zbójnicki (brigand's) — most common
-
placek cygański (gypsy's)
-
placek węgierski (Hungarian) — despite being unknown in Hungary; but goulash (the topping) itself comes from Hungary
-
jadło drwali (lumberjacks' food)
-
placek góralski (mountainmen's)
Czech bramborák
A Czech potato pancake is called
bramborák (from
brambor, potato) and it is made of grated potatoes with egg, breadcrumbs or flour and seasoning (salt, pepper, most importantly garlic and
marjoram; sometimes ground, cracked or whole
caraway seeds) and is served as it is. Some regional versions blend in dough,
sauerkraut or sliced smoked meat. The same potato dough is used also as the coating of fried pork chops called
kaplický řízek. It is sometimes
deep frying.
Iranian
In
Iranian cuisine, (, 'potato ') is made with shredded potatoes, eggs, onion, saffron, sometimes garlic chives and sometimes cinnamon. Frequently, potato kuku is cooked as smaller patties, but it is also cooked in a larger pancake-style or baked.
This dish has been compared to the
latke, rösti and tortilla Española (
Spanish omelette).
See also
-
, a town in Ukraine that hosts an annual potato pancake festival
External links
