Perfect Potato Pancakes

It's not like I haven't made potato pancakes in the past. And I most certainly grew up with them; it was quite common to see advertisements in the daily newspaper for potato pancake sales, benefiting some organization or another.

But of all the times Matt or I have made them, they've never quite turned out right. Not crispy enough on the outside, or too crispy, or the insides were under-done, or well, just not what we were looking for.

A few weeks ago, I got (yet another!) new cookbook, Brunch: 100 Recipes From Five Points Restaurant, and I was completely taken in.

It's filled with good, hearty, brunch foods, and even if I didn't care to eat it myself, I found myself thinking of excuses to make many of the recipes.

Their recipe for Shredded Potato Pancakes with Smoked Salmon caught my attention, so I thought I'd make it for the 'guys'.

Along with 'cheesey eggs', they had, no joke, the best potato pancakes I've ever tasted (and yes, I did eat some!).

Their recipe calls for shredded potato, mixed with an egg and some flour, and lemon juice (to stop them from browning); I followed it...mostly.

See, I didn't want to get up an hour earlier, just to peel and shred the potatoes. Instead, Matt ran them through the food processor the night before, and tossed them in a bowl of water, which spent the night in the refrigerator.

In morning, I drained the potatoes, squeezed out as much water as I could, and followed the rest of the recipe (minus the lemon juice). Once it's mixed up, ladle-fulls are dropped into a pan of hot oil, and cooked four or so minutes per side.

So simple, yet so...perfect.

Matt said we could stop searching for a potato pancake recipe!

Topped very thin slices of smoked salmon (for Matt only), and mugs of cocoa, it was a pretty good breakfast.





Tagged with: Food & Drink + Breakfast + Potatoes + Salmon + Cookbooks