How to make Potato Rosti
Authentic Swiss/German recipe for rosti cakes….
Rosti cakes and I go back a long way. It all began with a similar version called reibekuchen which was a bit of a speciality from my mother’s home town in Germany. These little beauties also known as kartoffelpuffer are very similar to the Swiss rosti but with one distinct difference.
Reibekuchen means grated cake in the Queen’s English and like rosti they are grated potatoes made into cakes and fried. The main difference is that they are made from raw and not par-boiled potatoes. Where my mum comes from reibekuchen is usually served with an apple compote and makes for a brilliant street food on a winter’s day. I digress, but only slightly….
So that was my childhood potato cake experience, me watching mum in the kitchen making her favourite son potato cakes….forward fifteen years and the boy is in another kitchen with another German except this one doesn’t look at me like only a mother does. No, this one looks at me like I’ve set fire to his genitals as I give a masterclass in buggering up six rosti pans in the middle of a 150 cover dinner service. Cooking rostis to order in a busy restaurant is no fun at the best of times, throw in a foreign country and three senior chefs shouting at you in three languages and the molehill soon becomes a mountain.
I cooked myslf a rosti at home the other day and as I watched the edges begin to brown I thought about how I suffered for them. I flipped the cake over in the pan to cook the other side. It didn’t break apart and had I an audience I’d have looked quite cool. But here’s the thing about professional cookery, no one knows what I went through just to be able to confidently flip some grated potato in a frying pan. Looking back I’m not entirely sure it’s such an achievement which made all of those bollockings worthwhile, it’s not like I graduated from Harvard at the end of it.
So my rosti was nothing more than some peeled and par-boiled potatoes which I left to cool before grating on a large mesh grater. The potatoes were generously seasoned, on went a non stick frying pan, in went oil and butter, around it swirled and in went the potato. The secret to cooking rosti is to leave it alone. Spread the potato across the pan until you have an even shape, remember it must cook evenly. Swirl the pan a little to keep the potato free and allow the butter to distribute itself amongst the layers. Keep the heat moderate and even. As the potato cooks it will firm up and bind together. Take the pan from the heat, place a suitably large plate on top of the rosti and turn the pan upside down so the browned side is facing upwards. Return the pan to the heat, add more oil and butter and slide the rosti back into the pan to cook the other side. Patience is a virtue, your rosti should be crisp and not greasy.
What you do with it is up to you; bacon, eggs, spinach, ragout, whatever really. Just enjoy it and think of me and how I suffered for it!
Potato Rosti
Miles,
I’m sure no one’s rosti will compare to yours…. the Harvard academics can keep their, well their academicky things, but your rosti will live on forever
I admit I’ve never grated raw potato and fried it in this way but I sense it could turn out to be one of my subjects should I attempt it…. and I intend to. If mine are not crispy and evenly cooked and look exactly like yours, I’ll weep (I don’t take failure well)
The apple accompaniment sounds chop-smackingly good so that’s what I’ll start with. On the other hand should this task beat me, a rosti looks just about the right size for a self supporting bird feeder, either way it’s got to be a winner…. them what likes bubble & squeak would surely like this too.
Cid
p.s. Miles, perhaps you could start putting phonetics into your posts so people like me can call a rosti a reibekuchen if we want to… think twice about asking for a kartoffelpuffer in my town though, heaven knows what you’d get!
January 12, 2010 @ 10:04 pm
So, its essentially a giant latke without an egg binder and spring onions instead of onions . . . I grew up eating latkes with applesauce. Wonderful thing about latkes is that they are a great base for whatever flavor - sweet, spicy or savory - you wish them to be.
Great food, nice post . . . truly sorry for your suffering. On the lighter side, remember what Peter Cook said about suffering in the original Bedazzled: “Job was a looney!”
Lastly, excuse me, but, “HEY!” to both you and Cid about picking on Harvard academics . . .
Laura
January 13, 2010 @ 3:18 am
Miles,
We’re on the same wavelength with potatoes. I made “hash browns” the other day, with green chile and cheese. It’s about the same thing as your creation, but much easier for those of us who can’t flip the cake without destroying its integrity. I’m not good at “swirling pans” and doing all those fancy chef moves. But I did like your story of learning the moves. I also made twice baked potatoes recently and then blended the leftovers the next night for a wonderful hearty potato soup (which will be featured in on the menu at the soup kitchen).
By the way, Miles, I discovered something interesting about star anise. Somewhere along the way, you were my inspiration to buy star anise and cardamom and my little spice grinder. I used some star anise in a Chinese 5-spice mix that I made the other night and this morning (yes, it’s 4:45 AM over here) I get an email from one of my “natural and alternative” healthcare newsletters with a little blurb about star anise and its medicinal properties. It was the original substance used to create the Tamiflu medication (it’s the one used for the flu). So all you man-flu sufferers – make sure you eat plenty of star anise.
Have a good day (or evening) everyone!
Melissa
January 13, 2010 @ 11:48 am
Miles,
Sorry to hear that you had such a tough time with the Rosti. You have my empathy cooking them in a restaurant. As you know it is a firm favourite of the Swiss people. I was always told that they used it for leftover potatoes or that the potatoes should at least be cooked the day before grating them. Personally, I have never done too well with them either, my preference being Reibekuchen.
My mother always served them on a side plate to a bowl of soup.
Reibekuchen or Kartoffelpuffer are very simply finely grated raw potatoes with an onion, salt and an egg to bind. They are then fried by the spoon full in hot oil and flattened out to get them evenly brown and crisp.
Cid, all very simple
Anne
January 13, 2010 @ 12:02 pm
Laura,
Sad tale…… both Miles and I applied for places at Harvard years ago…. whilst acknowledging our own highly individual talents (Miles was only 14 and didn’t know his rosti from his kartoffelpuffer) they said ‘thank you kindly but our washing-up department is currently fully staffed’
Lucky for us that Lincolnshire’s branch of the British Rail mobile tea trolley service could see our potential…. neither of us has ever looked back (and who could blame us, what a nightmare)
Cid
January 13, 2010 @ 3:56 pm
Cid,
Call them what you like, I’ve called them a few things in my time and I don’t mean kartoffelpuffer
Miles
January 13, 2010 @ 7:39 pm
Laura,
I didn’t pick on you Harvard types..far from it. Wish I had graduated from there, I wouldn’t be writing about potato cakes that’s for sure, I’d have been sat in the restaurant scoffing them instead
Miles
January 13, 2010 @ 7:45 pm
Anne,
Hope the readers have a go at this, thanks for the tip.
Miles
January 13, 2010 @ 7:47 pm
Harvard’s loss to not choose talented and witty folks like you and Cid . . .
And . . .you might still be writing about rosti (or Asiatic lions) had you gone there . . .
January 13, 2010 @ 8:05 pm
Ahhh, the flip. I make mine smaller for this very reason. I use 2 kinds of potatoes (Idaho and Yukon Gold), and let them sit grated in a china cap for at least an hour. Grated onions, a touch of matza meal for binding and ready to go. Served here with chunky applesauce, creme fraiche and caviar, or smoked salmon. Looks delicious Miles.
Dave
January 19, 2010 @ 1:04 pm
Dave,
That sounds nice, I do make smaller ones for the restaurant and trim them up with a cutter, I just had to learn the hard way!
Miles
January 19, 2010 @ 6:11 pm
HI - I have been trying to duplicate my grandma’s swiss potatoes for years. She was english worked in a swiss hotel and married a german when she got to the states. So they maybe some combination of everything. She would start them (i think) like the Rosti - But she wouldnt cake them, the cast iron frying pan would be filled to the rim with little shards some bigger pieces but all pieces that were both crispy and fluffy. ( How she did that I will never know ). They took a ton of fat and what felt like hours to cook? any Suggestions would be most helpful miss Gram and her cooking..
August 6, 2010 @ 5:13 am
Lisa,
Welcome to the site and thanks for a lovely comment. To be honest the way I describe them being cooked in the post is the way I was taught when I worked in Switzerland and Germany and each time by a Swiss chef.
The secret is in getting a moderate heat to cook the potato slowly and evenly, all too often the rosti is crisp on the outside but uncooked in the middle.
Kind regards
Miles
August 6, 2010 @ 2:32 pm