Recipes

Potato Pancakes

submitted by:

Jennifer Robbins

When I was little, one of my favorite foods was my Grandma Niederst’s potato pancakes. She taught me how to make them once I was a teenager and I’ve been making them ever since. I’m finally able to make them as good as I remember. Makes 8 pancakes.

Ingredients

  • 2 large potatoes
  • 1 small or 1/2 large yellow onion
  • 2 eggs
  • approx. 4 tablespoons flour
  • 1/2 t. kosher salt
  • fresh ground pepper to taste
  • oil or shortening for frying

Instructions

  1. Grate the potatoes using the larger grater size. Gather half the grated potato and place it in a measure of cheesecloth. Squeeze out as much of the water as you can and place dry grated potato in a medium bowl. Repeat with second half of grated potato. It’s important to get as much moisture out as possible.
  2. Grate the onion into the bowl with the potato and mix it in well. Add the eggs, flour, salt and pepper. Stir it all together until the eggs and flour are well incorporated.
  3. Heat a skillet (cast iron if you have it) until it is very hot. Make a decision about how healthy you want these to be… the less healthy they are, the better they will taste. They’ll cook fine with just a little bit of vegetable oil in the pan, but they won’t get that golden crunchy texture. The best results come with using plenty of Crisco (yes, trans-fats and all) at a medium high temperature. It’s your call.
  4. Once the oil or shortening is very hot, spread out dollops of potato and flatten them into pancakes. Allow each side to cook a good long time, undisturbed, until they turn a nice deep golden brown with crispy edges. Flip and brown the other side. Remove the cooked pancakes to a plate lined with paper towels to absorb the excess oil. I usually end up making 2 batches of 4 pancakes each.
  5. Serve with plenty of applesauce and sour cream!