Kartoffelpuffer

Ingredients

Batter

• 1 kgfloury potatoes
• 1onion
• 2eggs
• 3 tbspplain flour
• 1 tspsalt
• nutmeg

To fry

• oil or clarified butter

To serve

• apple sauce
• sugar
• or smoked salmon and sour cream

Directions

1. Grate the potatoes and the onion together on the coarse side of a grater.
2. Grate the onion in with the potato from the start. Its acid slows the browning, and potato grated alone goes grey within minutes.
3. Tip the gratings into a cloth and wring them out hard over a bowl.
4. Wring them genuinely dry. Water left in the mixture steams in the pan and the pancakes come out pale and floppy rather than crisp.
5. Let the squeezed liquid stand for a few minutes, then pour off the water and keep the white starch settled at the bottom.
6. Scrape that starch back into the potato. It is what binds the mixture, and reclaiming it means less flour and a cleaner potato taste.
7. Mix in the eggs, flour, salt and a grating of nutmeg.
8. Use the mixture at once rather than letting it stand.
9. Heat a generous depth of oil in a heavy pan, more than for an ordinary pancake.
10. They want to half-fry rather than dry-fry. A mean film of oil gives leathery pancakes.
11. Drop spoonfuls into the hot oil and flatten each into a thin round with the back of the spoon.
12. Thin is the whole thing. A thick kartoffelpuffer is raw and gluey in the middle, and it should be no more than about 5 mm.
13. Fry for 3 to 4 minutes a side, until deep golden brown and crisp at the edges.
14. Drain them on a rack rather than on paper, which traps steam and softens the undersides.
15. Serve immediately, with apple sauce or sugar for the sweet version, or smoked salmon and sour cream for the savoury one.
16. They are sold from stalls at Christmas markets across Germany, three to a paper plate with a spoonful of apple sauce.

Technique

• Sweet with apple sauce is the market standard and it surprises people expecting something savoury.
• They are called Reibekuchen in the Rhineland and Reiberdatschi in Bavaria, and the naming is regional.
• They do not keep and are eaten within minutes of leaving the pan.

Substitutions

• Clarified butter for a richer flavour.
• Matzo meal in place of flour, as in latkes.

Variations

• With smoked salmon and horseradish cream.
• With Rübenkraut, sugar beet syrup, which is the Rhineland way.
• Latkes, the closely related Jewish version fried for Hanukkah.

History

Grated potato pancakes, mixed with egg and onion and fried until crisp, documented across Germany for many generations as a common dish, typically served with apple sauce or sour cream, with regional variations found across different parts of the country under various related names including Reibekuchen and Reibeplätzchen. Its reliance on potato as the central ingredient reflects the vegetable’s deep importance across German cooking more broadly, since the potato became a staple crop across German-speaking Central Europe from the 1700s onward following its earlier introduction from the Americas, eventually displacing other staple grains in much everyday German cooking. Kartoffelpuffer remains a popular dish across Germany, particularly associated with regional Christmas markets and street food stalls during colder months.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kartoffelpuffer?

Kartoffelpuffer is a street food from Germany: crisp potato pancakes with applesauce at Christmas markets. Grated potato pancakes, mixed with egg and onion and fried until crisp, documented across Germany for many generations as a common dish, typically served with apple sauce or sour cream, with regional variations found across different parts of the country under various related names including Reibekuchen and Reibeplätzchen. Its reliance on potato as the central ingredient reflects the vegetable’s deep importance across German cooking more broadly, since the potato became a staple crop across German-speaking Central Europe from the 1700s onward following its earlier introduction from the Americas, eventually displacing other staple grains in much everyday German cooking. Kartoffelpuffer remains a popular dish across Germany, particularly associated with regional Christmas markets and street food stalls during colder months.

How long does Kartoffelpuffer take to make?

Kartoffelpuffer takes 20 min of preparation and 25 min of cooking. The recipe makes about 12. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Kartoffelpuffer?

Yes, within limits. Clarified butter for a richer flavour. Matzo meal in place of flour, as in latkes.

What is the most important thing to get right in Kartoffelpuffer?

Wring them genuinely dry. Water left in the mixture steams in the pan and the pancakes come out pale and floppy rather than crisp.