Mini-Oktoberfest: German Potato Pancakes (RECIPE)

I got this recipe from my friend, E, who had gotten it from All Recipes. This was the first time I had ever attempted to make potato pancakes, and I experienced some trial and error. I will definately make them again, because they were very tasty, but I will do some tweaking or (ahem) "process improvements" the next time around. See my commentary, in italics, for more info. The picture to the left shows the first tate cake after I removed it from the pan to drain.


German Potato Pancakes

2 eggs
2 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
6 medium potatoes, peeled and shredded
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup vegetable oil

In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. Mix in the potatoes and onion. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. In batches, drop heaping tablespoons of the potato mixture into the skillet. Press to flatten. Cook about 3 minutes on each side, until browned and crisp. Drain on paper towels.

Note on potato quantity: My potatoes were of varying size, mainly because I was using some taters that were past their prime and needed to have larger sections around the eyes cut off while I was peeling them. This meant that I used more than 6 actual taters in making this recipe. Because of that, when I mixed the taters with the rest of the ingredients, it didn't really look how I thought it should in terms of the texture - I thought the other ingredients should basically make a "batter" that would hold the shreds together, and that wasn't really the case. I decided to double the batter ingredients and that seemed to help a lot.

Note on forming the tater cakes: When they say "heaping tablespoon", they really mean it. Use a measuring spoon type of tablespoon, rather than a serving spoon type of tablespoon. Bigger tater cakes are much more difficult to flip, and they take a lot longer to cook. Also, because it took me a little while to get thru making all these tater cakes, a lot of liquid came out of the potato mixture while it sat. As I scooped up the mixture, I used the back of a fork to press out as much liquid as possible before I dropped it into the oil.

Note on the quantity of oil: I ended up using a lot more than 1/4 cup of oil. This was partly due to the fact that I used my largest skillet, and 1/4 cup did not even cover the bottom of it. However, the tater cakes also seemed to absorb a significant amount of the oil, so I found myself adding a little bit more oil to the pan before I reloaded the pan with more tater cakes.

Note on cooking: Many of my tater cakes needed more than 3 minutes per side. My recommendation would be to cook them on the first side until they are done enough to hold together. They should be golden brown on that side by that time. If you go by the 3 minute rule, they might not be cooked enough and they probably won't hold together well enough to be flipped over.

Additional note: My husband mentioned, and I agree, that there are tater cakes that are more like mashed taters formed into cakes instead of using the shredded taters. This may be a personal preference or texture issue. I'm not sure which version is more "authentic", but I plan on researching it out of curiosity. I might consider trying the mashed tater version, or even a "hybrid" version, just to see which we like better.

One last note: Serve these with a dollop of sour cream on top for maximum yumminess.