Tiroler Gröstl

Ingredients

The potatoes

• 800 gwaxy potatoes
• boiled in their skins
• cooled completely
• ideally the day before
• then peeled and sliced thickly

The meat

• 250 gSpeck
• the Tyrolean cured bacon
• or streaky bacon, diced
• or 300 g leftover cooked beef
• or roast pork, diced

The rest

• 2 tablespoonslard
• or butter, or oil
• 2onions, sliced
• 1 teaspooncaraway seeds
• or to taste
• salt and black pepper
• 1 teaspoondried marjoram
• optional

To finish

• 4eggs
• butter, for frying them
• a handful of chives or parsley
• chopped

To serve

• a green salad
• or a cucumber salad
• in the pan it was cooked in

Directions

1. Boil them the day before if you can. Boil them in their skins. Use waxy potatoes. Boil them until just tender. Do not overcook them.
2. Peel them warm if you can. Or peel them cold, which is harder. Slice them thickly. About half a centimetre. Cut it into small dice or short strips. Use whole seeds rather than ground. Add them to the hot fat with the onions.
3. Use a wide heavy pan. This dish is about browning. Use the widest pan you have. Cook in two batches if it is small. Give it about five minutes. Add the sliced onions. Add the caraway. Cook them for about eight minutes. They should soften and colour. Lift the Speck and onions out. Set them aside. The potatoes need the pan to themselves.
4. Add more fat if the pan is dry. Add the sliced potatoes. Spread them in a single layer. Do not stir them for several minutes. Let one side brown before turning. Give them five minutes on the first side. Turn them and give them five more.
5. Repeat until they are well browned. That takes about fifteen minutes in total. Turn them gently to limit it. Return the Speck and onions. Add the leftover meat if using. Toss everything together. Give it three or four minutes. Season with salt and plenty of black pepper. Add marjoram if you like. Taste it. Rub it between your palms as you add it.
6. Fry them separately in butter. A separately fried egg has a crisp edge and a soft yolk. Heat butter in a small pan. Crack the eggs in. Cook them until the whites are set.
7. Keep the yolks soft. A soft yolk is not fully cooked. Cook them through for anyone vulnerable. Serve it in the pan it was cooked in. Lay the fried eggs on top. Scatter chives or parsley. Serving in the pan keeps it hot. Use a heatproof mat. It keeps two days refrigerated without the eggs. Add fresh eggs when you reheat.

Technique

• The potatoes must be cooked, cooled and firm — boiled in their skins the day before and refrigerated overnight if you can. Freshly boiled potatoes are soft and wet, break apart in the pan and drink fat; cold ones hold their shape and crisp.
• Do not stir the potatoes for the first five minutes, and give each side that long. Undisturbed contact is what browns them, and constant stirring gives pale soft potatoes. This is the step people rush, and properly browned potatoes are the whole dish.
• Use waxy potatoes sliced thickly, about half a centimetre. Floury potatoes collapse into mash and thin slices break up.
• Lift the Speck and onions out before the potatoes go in. The potatoes need the pan to themselves and direct contact with it.
• Use the widest heavy pan you have and cook in two batches if it is small. A crowded pan steams instead of browning.
• Judge whether you need added fat. Speck renders a good deal of its own.
• Fry the eggs separately in butter. Cracked into the Gröstl they cook unevenly; separately they get a crisp edge and a soft yolk, which is the point.
• A soft yolk is not fully cooked and carries a small salmonella risk. Cook them through for anyone pregnant, very young, elderly or immunocompromised.
• Taste before salting. Speck is salty and often needs no salt added at all.
• Caraway is not cumin, though the names are confused in several languages and they taste entirely different. Use whole seeds, added to the hot fat with the onions.
• Add marjoram near the end and rub it between your palms. Long cooking drives its aroma off.
• Some potatoes will break up and that is fine — broken edges crisp well. Turn them gently to limit it.
• This is a leftovers dish by origin: yesterday’s boiled potatoes and yesterday’s roast meat. Speck alone, leftover beef alone, or both together are all proper.
• Serve it in the pan it was cooked in, on a heatproof mat. It keeps the dish hot and it is how it is done.

Substitutions

• Streaky bacon or pancetta replace Speck, without quite the same flavour.
• Leftover roast beef or pork replaces or joins the Speck, and is arguably the original version.
• Lard, butter or oil all serve as the cooking fat; lard is traditional.
• Marjoram is optional; caraway is the defining spice.
• A vegetarian version with mushrooms in place of the meat works by the same method.
• The eggs can be scrambled through instead of fried on top, though the fried egg is standard.

Variations

• Bauerngröstl uses more leftover meat and is the farmhouse version.
• Gröstl made with blood sausage is eaten in some parts of the Tyrol.
• Bratkartoffeln in Germany is the plainer fried potato relative.
• Rösti in Switzerland uses grated rather than sliced potato.
• Kaiserschmarrn is the sweet frying pan dish of the same region.
• Knödel, the bread dumplings, are the other great Tyrolean staple.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tiroler Gröstl?

Tiroler Gröstl is a main from Austria: frying pan of potatoes, bacon, onion topped with fried egg.

How long does Tiroler Gröstl take to make?

Tiroler Gröstl takes 15 minutes of preparation and 30 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 4. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Tiroler Gröstl?

Yes, within limits. Streaky bacon or pancetta replace Speck, without quite the same flavour. Leftover roast beef or pork replaces or joins the Speck, and is arguably the original version. Lard, butter or oil all serve as the cooking fat; lard is traditional. Marjoram is optional; caraway is the defining spice. A vegetarian version with mushrooms in place of the meat works by the same method. The eggs can be scrambled through instead of fried on top, though the fried egg is standard.

What is the most important thing to get right in Tiroler Gröstl?

Boil them the day before if you can. Boil them in their skins. Use waxy potatoes. Boil them until just tender. Do not overcook them.